Information Systems for Biotechnology (ISB) News Report
November 2004

PARTIAL TABLE OF CONTENTS (links are to the ISB News Report website)

• Novel Genes for Control and Deterrence of Sucking Insect Pests
  Maarten Jongsma
  Current GM crops are thus far the almost exclusive domain of herbicide and insect resistance traits. The Bt toxins used for insect control have a narrow specificity against lepidopteran and coleopteran pests only. Yet, aphids and thrips are highly important pests worldwide, causing severe direct losses and transmitting devastating viruses such as Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV). So far, few useful traits against aphids or thrips have been reported. The ideal of an insecticide-free culture of GM crops like cotton or potato is, therefore, currently compromised by the continued need in those crops to fight sucking pests using chemical means.
   
• Designer Constructs for T-DNA and Dissociation (Ds) Mediated Insertional Mutagenesis in Plants
  Andrew L. Eamens, Qian-Hao Zhu, Elizabeth S. Dennis, and Narayana M. Upadhyaya
  Following completion of the genome sequencing of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and rice (Oryza sativa), international focus has now turned to identification of specific functions encoded by each of the predicted ~50,000 plant genes. One of the most direct approaches to determine gene function is production of insertion mutations and study of their effects on the plant’s phenotype. In these insertion lines, the inactivated gene contains a known insertion sequence, which simplifies the task of isolating
  this gene, as it effectively has been "tagged" by the inserted sequence.
   
• Aberrant mRNA Expression of Maize Rust Resistance Gene in Wheat and Barley
  P Janaki Krishna
  Although originally believed to provide durable resistance, only a few exceptional R genes proved able to control pathogens for an extended period. Though in some cases functional R gene transfer was successful, in other cases it was limited to members of the same family. In other words, sometime host signal transduction molecules are conserved among non-sexually compatible plant species. By exploiting new developments in plant transformation technology, isolated R genes can be transferred from donor species to sexually incompatible recipients. However, the ability of heterologous R genes to recognize pathogen species is still unclear.
   
• Biotech Bug Conference Speakers Call for Regulation and Public Involvement
  Phillip BC Jones
  According to the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, genetically modified (GM) insect projects may advance from confined field trials to full environmental release within three to five years. In January 2004 the Pew Initiative released its study on scientific and legal issues arising from insect bioengineering. The Initiative sponsored a two-day workshop on biotech bugs during September 2004, in Washington, D.C. Conference speakers stressed that, while the technology steadily progresses, mechanisms for regulating biotech bugs—at both national and international levels—have failed to keep pace.
   
• Continued Losses Put Pressure on Monsanto Product Launch
  Anastasia L Thatcher
  Since 2000 when U.S. patent protection expired for its flagship product, Round-Up®, Monsanto has been struggling to keep market share and stay in the black. This year, despite near perfect global farming weather, Monsanto has been unable to stem the tide of falling sales and prices for its Round-Up brand herbicide, a situation exacerbated by global glyphosate (active ingredient in Round-Up) dumping by Chinese manufacturers. Continued erosion of sales has increased expectations for the agrochemical giant’s newest product: low linolenic VISTIVE™ soybeans.
   
• The Center for Food Safety Refutes Criticisms of its GM Rice Report
  Phillip BC Jones
  As detailed in last month’s ISB News Report ("Plant-made pharmaceuticals: progress and protests"), Sacramento-based Ventria Bioscience sparked a controversy with its plan to cultivate rice engineered to synthesize pharmaceutical proteins. After describing concerns about the genetically modified rice, environmental groups urged a moratorium on pharmaceutical-producing crops until state agencies have investigated potential impacts on human health and the environment. A few weeks after the release of the report, representatives of the International Academy of Life Sciences (IALS) published its views countering that the report does not present an objective or accurate perspective of the risks.

Full report in HTML format: www.isb.vt.edu/news/2004/news04.Nov.html
Full report in PDF format: www.isb.vt.edu/news/2004/nov04.pdf