PARTIAL TABLE OF CONTENTS, relevant to seed professionals (links are to the ISB News Report website)

Information Systems for Biotechnology program to end

After twenty years of serving the agricultural and environmental biotechnology research community, the National Biological Impact Assessment Program (NBIAP) grant which funds Information Systems for Biotechnology was not included in the Federal appropriations budget this year. Without continued funding, the ISB program will terminate.

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/artspdf/jun0801.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/news08.jun.htm#jun0801

Harmonizing the non-target risk assessment for GM crops
Jörg Romeis

Since the commercialization of Bt maize in 1996, the global area planted to maize or cotton varieties expressing Cry proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has steadily increased and reached a total of more than
42 million hectares in 20071. Several crops expressing novel insecticidal proteins derived from Bt or other sources are currently under development and will be commercialized in the near future.

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/artspdf/jun0802.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/news08.jun.htm#jun0802

PLANT RESEARCH NEWS

Can a foreign protein improve the amino acid balance of corn?
Paul Scott

Corn grain is an important component of feed for non-ruminant animals and food for humans. Maize protein is deficient in certain amino acids—lysine, tryptophan, and methionine—that are required by non-ruminant animals (including humans). Genetic improvements that increase the levels of lysine, tryptophan, and methionine have been actively sought by researchers for the past fifty years. Recently, several approaches involving one or more transgenes have been successful.

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/artspdf/jun0803.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/news08.jun.htm#jun0803

Transgenic wheat has increased polyamines
Teresa Capell

Although drought and salt tolerance genes are present in wheat, breeding for stress tolerance is complicated by the multigenic nature of stress tolerance and the complexity of wheat genetics. The polyamine biosynthetic pathway in higher plants is a useful model in which to examine the components that affect the levels of intermediates and end products in the pathway. By introducing appropriate transgenes into plants and measuring the effects of transgene products on end product accumulation, we may begin to understand how individual components of the pathway contribute towards their concerted regulation.

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/artspdf/jun0804.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/news08.jun.htm#jun0804

REGULATORY NEWS

Prior art: the skeleton in a patent's closet
Phill Jones

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?
Sure. If a document is placed on an Internet-accessible site, is that document prior art? Well, maybe. A 1978 case, Application of Bayer, concerned alleged prior art in the form of a graduate thesis stored in a university library. Read about the patent dispute between Bayer and Monsanto that involves prior art from an abstract in a poster session.

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/artspdf/jun0804.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/news08.jun.htm#jun0804

The entire news report is available at http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/Jun08.pdf