Research Results
1. CSIRO ‘gene sandwich’ to enhance wheat rust resistance
Wheat stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici, has been a major pest of wheat the world over and, owing to the formation of multiple races of the fungus, efforts to develop wheat varieties with stable resistance have continued. The most effective and environmentally sound method to manage wheat rust diseases is by deploying resistance genes, genes resistant to one or more races of rust, in wheat varieties. An international research team, with researchers from Australia, the UK, and the USA and led by Mick Ayliffe of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Agriculture and Food, Canberra, Australia, has developed genetic technologies to build and insert a “stack” of five rust resistance genes into a specific location in the genome of a common wheat variety. The result is an advance over conventional wheat breeding methods, where the development of an equivalent disease-resistant wheat would require a long succession of crosses, and the resulting resistance could be lost in later crosses.
Over the decades, the adoption of rust-resistant wheat varieties by all countries that grow wheat has been essential, since the rust fungi produce trillions of spores that can be carried by winds for thousands of miles, even across oceans. thus infecting vulnerable wheat crops. The researchers developed novel genetic technologies that combine and insert the five different wheat resistance genes together. The ‘bundling’ or ‘stacking’ prevents separation in later breeding generations of the plant. Ayliffe, the lead CSIRO researcher, said this novel approach of building multiple layers of protection will make it much harder for rust pathogens to successfully attack wheat. “Our approach is like putting five locks on a door—you’re making it very difficult (for the spores) to get in,” Dr Ayliffe said. This study targeted wheat stem rust, but the same technology can be used to create durable resistance for wheat stripe and leaf rust diseases, which also attack wheat crops.
For more, see https://www.thefencepost.com/news/nature-biotechnology-publishes-research-on-wheat-resistant-to-rust-fungal-diseases/ And https://www.farmweekly.com.au/story/7085235/aussie-research-leads-global-rust-resistance-stacking-breakthrough/?cs=5159
Access the abstract at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-020-00770-x
2. Scientists uncover gene for rice adaption to low soil nitrogen
The application of heavy doses of inorganic nitrogenous fertilizers can boost production in most crops, but excessive N2 use can have disastrous effects on the environment and ecosystems. This makes imperative the need to reduce the total amount of inorganic nitrogen (along with other inputs) but enhance its efficiency so that there is no drastic reduction in crop yield and crop production is sustained. Chinese scientists from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, jointly led by Bin Hu & Chengcai Chu, have found a gene that plays a key role in helping rice adapt to low soil nitrogen.
They have reported the genetic basis of nitrogen-use efficiency associated with adaptation to local soils in rice (Oryza sativa L.), by using an array of diverse rice germplasm, collected from different ecogeographical regions, and conducting a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on the tillering response to nitrogen—the trait that is most closely correlated with nitrogen-use efficiency in rice. They found OsTCP19 as a modulator of this tillering response through its transcriptional response to nitrogen and its targeting to the tiller-promoting gene DWARF AND LOW-TILLERING (DLT). They also carefully checked and evaluated the diversified rice population derived from different ecogeographical regions, to see how various agronomic traits responded to nitrogen in fields with different nitrogen supply conditions. They also analysed global soil nitrogen content data and found a strong correlation between the allelic variation of OsTCP19 and global soil nitrogen-content distribution. OsTCP19-H introgression into modern cultivars can improve nitrogen-use efficiency by 20-30% under conditions of decreased nitrogen supply.
Access the abstract at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03091-w
3. Scientists discover plants’ roadblocks to speciality oil production
Hundreds of naturally occurring speciality fatty acids (the building blocks of oils) have the potential to be used as raw materials for making lubricants, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and more—if only they could be produced on a large scale by crop plants. Although the genes that go to make speciality fatty acids have been discovered, attempts to put those genes into crops have so far failed. Now, researchers, led by John Shanklin, Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NY, USA, appear to have produced a system to overcome the problem. In the case of plant oils, the key machinery that controls production is an enzyme called ACCase. Elevated levels of ordinary fatty acids, or even small amounts of speciality hydroxy fatty acids, trigger a substitution in the machinery: biotin attachment domain-containing (BADC), which acts as a gear with no teeth, takes the place of biotin carboxyl carrier protein (BCCP), slowing oil production down.
The results show that BADC is the mechanism for reducing ACCase activity in both scenarios: the accumulation of excess endogenous fatty acids and the presence of hydroxy fatty acid. “We are now testing to see if this mechanism is limited to hydroxy fatty acids, or, as we suspect, common to other ‘foreign’ fatty acids that also reduce acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) activity,” Shanklin said. Because both BADC1 and BADC3 mediate ricinoleic acid-dependent inhibition of fatty acid synthesis (FAS), the authors propose that BADC-mediated FAS inhibition is a general mechanism that limits FA accumulation in specialized FA-accumulating seeds. “This is a good example where a fundamental mechanistic understanding of biochemical regulation can be deployed to enable progress towards a practical, sustainable bioeconomy,” he added. “We can use this approach to make valuable renewable industrial starting materials at low cost in plants from carbon dioxide and sunlight, instead of relying on petrochemicals.”
Access the full paper at https://academic.oup.com/plphys/article/185/3/892/6117247?login=true
4. Applications of CRISPR/Cas to improve crop disease resistance: beyond inactivation of susceptibility factors
As most present crops come under increased pathogen pressure, traditional resistance breeding faces a daunting challenge. Consequently, a good understanding of molecular plant-pathogen interactions, the availability of crop and pathogen genomic information, and new tools like genome editing, allows a novel approach to breeding resistant crop cultivars. Disease resistance breeding starts with the identification of target genes, which can be found in several ways, for example by text mining on effector research, and by “de novo” functional genomics. So far, attention on the latter has focused on knocking out susceptible genes.
Dirk Schenke and Daguang Cai at the Institute of Phytopathology, Christian-Albrecht-University of Kiel, Germany, show that genome editing can be used as a much more flexible tool to boost resistance breeding in several other ways. They present a brief review of the applications of clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein as the most popular genome-editing technique to improve crop resistance to pathogens. Up-regulated host genes potentially encode, e.g., for susceptibility factors induced by the pathogen or defence-related genes. The authors suggest that genome re-writing via homology-directed repair or base editing can prevent host manipulation by changing the targets of pathogen-derived effectors or molecules beyond recognition, which also decreases plant susceptibility. They conclude that, in the future, genome editing by CRISPR/Cas will become increasingly indispensable to generate beneficial resistance traits in crops in a relatively short time.
For more, see the full paper at https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(20)30670-2?utm_campaign=iScience&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=101783552&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-%E2%80%A6%201/67#%20
5. Climate change is hurting children’s diets, global study finds
Climate change will have negative effects on human wellbeing, by adversely influencing both food security and diet diversity. Diet diversity is critical, especially in children, as it correlates with macro and micronutrient intake, important for development. An international study of 107,000 children from 19 countries, conducted by Meredith Niles of the University of Vermont at Burlington, USA, and colleagues finds that higher temperatures are an equal or even greater contributor to low-quality diets and child malnutrition than poverty, inadequate sanitation, and poor education. Researchers focused on diet diversity, a metric developed by the United Nations to measure diet quality and micronutrient intake. Micronutrients, such as iron, folic acid, zinc, and vitamins A and D, are critical for child development. The study finds that the negative effects of climate—especially higher temperature—on diet diversity are greater in some regions than the positive effects of education, water, sanitation, and poverty alleviation.
“These results suggest that, if we don’t adapt, climate change could further erode a diet that already isn’t meeting adequate child micronutrient levels,” said Brendan Fisher, co-author from the University of Maryland, USA. The study also found that higher rainfall, another potential effect of climate change in some regions, was associated with higher child diet diversity. These results suggest that warming temperatures and increasing rainfall variability could have profound short- and long-term impacts on child diet diversity, potentially undermining widespread development interventions aimed at improving food security.
Access the full paper at https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abd0ab
6. Research brings new insights into watermelon quality
Watermelon, the fifth most consumed fleshy fruit worldwide, is rich in water and nutrients (amino acid sugars, carotenoids, lycopene, organic acids, etc.). These phytochemicals make watermelon one of the most nutritious fruits, supplying substantial nutritional supplements to the human diet. Sugars and organic acids have a strong influence on organoleptic fruit quality, and they are crucial components involved in the development of fruit flavour and consumer acceptability. Recently, a research team, led by Wenge Liu at the Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, China, studied the regulation of sugar and organic acid in watermelon fruit. These results supply a theoretical basis for watermelon quality breeding, which has important scientific significance for the development of the watermelon industry and the improvement of watermelon breeding in China.
The sensory quality of watermelon fruit is decided by the content of sugar and organic acid, which decides the taste of watermelon during the development and maturation of the fruit. The sweet watermelon ‘203Z’ and sour watermelon ‘SrW’ of its isogenic line were used as materials, and the genes and gene networks co-expressed with glycolic acid metabolism were searched through WGCNA analysis of transcriptional and metabolite data. The team found 7 genes involved in the metabolism of sugars and organic acids. The expression profiles of those 7 genes in diverse watermelon genotypes revealed consistent patterns of expression variation in diverse types of watermelon. The findings add significantly to the extant knowledge of sugar and organic acid metabolism in watermelon.
For more, see https://www.labmanager.com/news/research-brings-new-insights-into-watermelon-quality-24869
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41438-020-00416-8
7. Decoding the development of plant tissue using AI
How do genes control the formation of entire organisms or the morphogenesis of an organ? This is the most fundamental question in biology. Morphogenesis is a complex process that incorporates several processes that work on various scales—from the molecular control of gene expression to cell coordination in a tissue. Scientists from Germany, led by Athul Vijayan from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, have determined, for the first time, the cellular composition of the ovules of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, using the latest microscopy methods, with image processing based on machine learning.
Using plants and state of the art microscopy, the scientists created a digital 3D atlas of the development of ovules of A. thaliana. Using machine-learning-based digital image analysis, researchers generated a three-dimensional atlas of ovule development, enabling the quantitative spatio-temporal analysis of cellular and gene expression patterns with cell and tissue resolution. The atlas is characterized by complete cellular dissolution, even in deep tissue layers. The unusual establishment of a new tissue layer in the ovule could be described for the first time, and specific cell division patterns in deeper layers could be associated with the ovule’s curvature. Work is in progress to investigate how the results can be used to discover new functions of known genes, or better explain a mutant phenotype.
For more, see https://www.techexplorist.com/decoding-development-plant-tissue-using-ai/37497/
Access the full paper at https://elifesciences.org/articles/63262#content
Potential Crops/Technologies/Concepts
1. Promising breakthrough that can curtail huge crop losses caused by nematodes
Eight genera and 121 species of cyst nematodes have been found parasitizing a wide range of crop plants, causing extensive damage and making the plants weak, and thus causing extensive losses to crop yield. Cyst nematodes induce a multicellular feeding site within roots, called a syncytium, and secrete CLAVATA3/EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION (CLE) peptide effectors to invade the cells. Once a field is infested by nematodes, it is almost impossible to root them out. A recent study, led by Melissa Mitchum, University of Georgia, Athens, USA, shows that the nematode CLEs provide a way for the nematode peptide to get outside of the cell to interact with the plant protein receptor through the plant’s secretion system, a process that is not well-studied in plants.
Normally occurring plant CLE peptides regulate aspects of cell differentiation in the plant, communicating to the plant’s stem cells, which are constantly regenerating, whether to develop into a root cell, a leaf cell, or a cell in another part of the plant. Nematodes appear to have found a way to trick the plant by secreting these similar peptides in the root cell to make a feeding site, Mitchum said. The authors propose that it might be possible to change the receptor in the plant to keep its function in plant growth and development, but not to recognize nematode CLEs. It can then block the ability of the nematode peptide to be injected into the plant’s secretion system or prevent the nematode from making and secreting CLEs.
These findings promise to be of application to biotechnology and synthetic biology alike, for novel broad-spectrum parasite control such as designing more effective RNAi constructs and enlistment of microRNA (miRNA) expressed in nematode feeding sites.
For more, see https://www.caes.uga.edu/news-events/news/story/8535/Parasitic-Hijackers.html
Access the full paper at https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.16765
2. Energy sorghum may combine best of annual, perennial bioenergy crops
With increased emphasis on reduction in the use of fossil fuels for energy, the focus has been shifting to alternate sources, for example, the production of energy from biological material, or bioenergy. Large perennial grasses like miscanthus are a primary target for use as bioenergy crops because of their sustainability advantages, but they take several years to set up and aren’t ideal for crop rotation; thus their sustainability benefits can be cancelled through land reversion. Photoperiod-sensitive energy sorghum, a hefty annual plant with the ecological benefits of a perennial, may offer a significant advantage.
A study investigated how energy sorghum compares to maize and miscanthus grown in the Midwest USA, supplying critical data for biogeochemical and ecological models used to forecast crop growth, productivity, and sustainability. A research team, led by Caitlin Moore from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), USA, found that sorghum could be a “middle-road crop,” with an annual growth cycle but with the ability to use considerably less water than maize to produce a large amount of biomass. “It certainly holds promise as a crop that supports the bioenergy economy,” says Moore. The researchers conducted ecosystem-scale comparisons of carbon, nitrogen, water, and energy fluxes of Sorghum bicolor with maize and Miscanthus x. giganteus at the UIUC Energy Farm during the 2018 growing season, a near-average year in terms of temperature, rainfall, and soil moisture. The researchers conducted a quantitative assessment, which is a critical part for calibrating biogeochemical and ecological models used to forecast bioenergy crop growth, productivity, and sustainability, and found that energy sorghum compares well with maize and miscanthus grown in the midwestern United States and holds promise for the future development of more efficient bioenergy. Further development will need a detailed understanding of the interaction between crop type, climate, and management. Such an understanding will be critical for forecasting the long-term sustainability of these key bioenergy crops that will play an important role in the development of cellulosic bioenergy plans.
Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18923-6
3. Making wheat and groundnut less allergenic
Wheat and groundnut are among the group of “big eight” foods that the United States Department of Agriculture names as the cause of 90% of food allergies. Allergic reactions caused by wheat and groundnuts can be prevented by avoiding those foods, but doing so is difficult in practice and those two important nutritious foods are lost to those who need to avoid them. The way out would be to grow cultivars devoid of allergens. To this end, Sachin Rustgi and his colleagues at the Department of Crop & Soil Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, USA, are using plant breeding and genetic engineering to develop less allergenic varieties of wheat and groundnut. Their goal is to increase the food options for people with allergies.
Rustgi and the research team are evaluating many varieties of wheat and groundnut to find ones that are naturally less allergenic than others. In addition to traditional breeding efforts, Rustgi is also using genetic engineering to reduce allergenic proteins in wheat and groundnut. “Disrupting the gluten genes in wheat could yield wheat with significantly lower levels of gluten. A similar approach would work in peanuts,” says Rustgi. They have screened wheat and groundnut germplasm for reduced gluten/arachin genotypes to crossbreed them to develop reduced to non-immunogenic wheat/peanut lines. They plan to use a CRISPR-based multi-gene editing approach to silence genes encoding major allergenic proteins. To induce site-specific mutations, guide RNAs from gliadin and low-molecular-weight glutenin gene sequences in wheat and the Ara h1, Ara h2, Ara h3, and Ara h6 gene sequences in peanuts were developed and assembled in single guide RNA modules. Further work is in progress.
Access the abstract and listen to the presentation at https://scisoc.confex.com/crops/2020am/prelim.cgi/Paper/127096
4. Fighting citrus greening disease by breeding new fruit
Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as the “Citrus greening disease” is a serious microbial disease affecting major citrus-growing regions of the world. It is caused by a gram-negative bacterium named Candidatus Liberibacter, spread by the psyllids Trioza erytrea and Diaphorina citri, acting as natural vectors. Since 2013, scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), USA, have been trying to breed citrus varieties that resist HLB. The disease has ravaged citrus around the world and wiped out 75% of Florida’s once-abundant orange crop, a UC Davis report said.
For eight years now, Chandrika Ramadugu and her team at UCR, jointly with Texas A&M University, the University of Florida, Washington State University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, have been breeding mandarin orange trees with the Australian relative of citrus (Finger lime or Citrus australasica) that tend not to succumb to citrus greening disease. The team has made more than 10,000 crosses to date, Ramadugu said, and 350 hybrid trees are growing at the university research station, while thousands of seedlings are growing in a greenhouse. The team members are trying to find just the right mix of genes that will deliver a fruit both delicious and disease-free—and big enough to attract grocery-store buyers, Ramagadu said.
For more, see https://www.pe.com/2021/01/06/uc-riverside-scientists-fight-citrus-greening-disease-by-breeding-new-fruit/
See a related post at https://www.pe.com/2018/05/05/uc-riverside-study-may-help-save-californias-2-billion-citrus-industry/
5. A step forward to improve quinoa palatability
The Australian quinoa industry has taken a step forward with the development of a more correct and efficient processing and breeding tool to ensure that the ancient superfood maximises palatability. Adel Yousif at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), Baron-Hay Court, South Perth, and his colleagues developed a process to change a water droplet surface tension technique used in the resources sector, to accurately quantify the saponin concentration and satisfy international quinoa specifications. Saponins, a bitter anti-nutritional compound, need to be removed before consumption.
Yousif and colleagues investigated where and how quinoa can be grown across Australia, and it resulted in the development of the new variety, Kruso White, by DPIRD. The team developed innovative the Water Droplet Surface Tension (WDST) saponin quantification method that had a saponin measurement (0.05–0.15 mg.ml−1) accuracy greater than the Afrosimetric method previously used. The project leader, research scientist Harmohinder Dhammu, said the WDST supplied an innovative, correct, and low-cost method to estimate the saponin content, which could generate wide-ranging benefits to the quinoa industry around the globe.
For more, see https://www.farmweekly.com.au/story/7101321/research-to-improve-quinoa-palatability/
Access the abstract at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308814620323451
News
1. Where are the women in food insecurity analysis?
Women are more likely to experience food insecurity than men, and the pandemic has worsened this divide. Women continue to shoulder more household responsibilities, but also now bear the burden of increased poverty and health risks. The World Food Programme finds women as a vulnerable population that faces increased risks of food insecurity, as per the hunger and malnutrition estimates for pregnant and nursing women.
“If we had a better understanding of exactly who was in need and in which type of need, we’d be able to tailor responses in a way that would address critical gaps earlier,” says Sarah Fuhrman, a humanitarian policy specialist, CARE International. And no single country “has come up with a system for producing gender-disaggregated data on food insecurity that we can use in our analyses and work,” according to Justus Liku, a senior adviser in emergency food and nutrition security at CARE International.
For more, see https://www.devex.com/news/where-are-the-women-in-food-insecurity-analysis-98804?utm_so%E2%80%A6+1%2F4=
2. A drastic change in the way we eat and farm could considerably reduce destruction of habitat
Presently, most lifestyles are consumption-driven. Planet Earth has finite resources, and it is up to us how best we use them, so that future generation inherit them with minimal change. As populations grow and the demand for food goes up, more land would be brought under cultivation, and this agricultural expansion will reduce significantly wild habitat across the planet by 2050. David Williams at the University of Leeds, UK, and colleagues argue that the projected loss of millions of square kilometres of natural ecosystems to meet future demand for food, animal feed, fibre, and bioenergy crops is likely to increase threats to biodiversity.
To this end, researchers have developed a geographically explicit model of future agricultural land clearance, based on observed historical changes, and combined the outputs with species-specific habitat preferences for 19,859 species of terrestrial vertebrates. About 1,280 species are projected to lose ≥25% of their habitat. In wealthy nations, dietary shifts away from meat and dairy and towards more plant-based foods could be one of the most reliable ways to limit the expansion of livestock pasture and therefore limit the destruction of habitat.
Access the abstract at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00656-5
3. How different plants can share their genetic material with others
The genetic material of plants, animals, and humans is well protected in the nucleus of each cell, which stores all the information that forms an organism. As so far known, the genetic material can migrate from cell to cell; as shown in recent grafting studies, it can even be exchanged between different organisms. Plant cells can engage in horizontal genome transfer (HGT) between grafted plants.
During the proliferation of wound-induced callus, plastids dedifferentiated into small, highly mobile, amoeboid organelles, and moved to neighbouring cells through connective pores formed due to cell wall disintegration. The HGT through grafting for plant improvement still needs to be explored. In the future, the deepening of our knowledge of plant grafting could lead us to take advantage of all the possibilities plant grafting offers, or even manipulate it in favour of agricultural production.
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2021-01-genetic-material.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the full paper at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abd8215
4. Need to change: Banks in Southeast Asia lack recognition of deforestation and biodiversity risks
Two-thirds of Southeast Asian banks do not recognise deforestation and biodiversity risks, although more than half of the world’s GDP—$44 trillion of economic value generation—is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services. In its fourth Sustainable Banking Assessment (SUSBA) (see https://susba.org/pdfs/report-2020.pdf), WWF found that while banks have made progress in integrating environmental and social considerations into their financial activities, there are large gaps that leave their portfolios vulnerable to risks arising from climate change and nature loss.
Japanese banks tended to score well on climate-related criteria, as all the five banks assessed were found in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures recommendations of climate-related governance strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets. Among others, the report recommends that banks formulate and strengthen climate-related and natural capital risk strategies for the entire portfolio, supply mandatory training on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues at all levels, and develop sector-specific policies.
5. Biotech key to eliminating devastating cotton pest from US and Mexico
For much of the past century, the invasive pink bollworm wreaked havoc in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico (and in many other cotton-growing countries, such as India)—inflicting tens of millions of dollars in damage annually. After female moths lay their eggs on cotton plants, the caterpillars hatch, bore into cotton bolls, and devour the seeds within. Although Bt cotton kills 100% of susceptible pink bollworm caterpillars, the pest rapidly evolved resistance to Bt proteins in laboratory experiments at the University of Arizona and Bt cotton fields in India.
In a concerted, binational effort, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and research scientists, led by Bruce Tabashnik, joined forces with cotton growers, the biotech industry, and government partners to devise the first programme of its kind to eradicate the invasive pest. Their analyses of computer simulations and 21 years of field data from Arizona show that the transgenic Bt cotton and sterile insect releases (done in 2006) interacted synergistically to reduce the pest’s population size. it also eliminated the environmental and safety hazards associated with insecticide. The economic and social benefits achieved show the advantages of using agricultural biotechnology in concert with classical pest control tactics.
For more, see https://news.arizona.edu/story/biotech-cotton-key-eliminating-devastating-pest-us-and-mexico
Access the full paper at https://www.pnas.org/content/118/1/e2019115118
6. How plants produce toxins that kill pests and not themselves
Many plant species produce chemical defences to protect themselves against being eaten by herbivores. As protection from autotoxicity, plants store these substances in a non-toxic form. Jiancai Li and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany, investigated this process, using wild tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata) as a model plant. They described in detail the biosynthesis and exact mode of action of an important group of defensive substances, the diterpene glycosides, in wild tobacco plants.
Diterpene glycosides allow plants to fend off herbivores. Researchers investigated the less understood molecular mechanisms underlying their defence and autotoxicity. They showed that silencing two cytochrome P450s involved in diterpene biosynthesis in the wild tobacco causes severe autotoxicity symptoms that result from the inhibition of sphingolipid biosynthesis by noncontrolled hydroxylated diterpene derivatives. Thus, by regulating metabolic modifications, wild tobacco plants avoid autotoxicity and gain herbivore defence. Further studies are needed to show that a similar mechanism operates in other crop plants, which can pave the way for an alternative method to fight pests.
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2021-01-defensive-toxins.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Access the abstract at https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abe4713
7. Step up action and adapt to ‘new climate reality’, UN environment report urges
Though countries have made progress in planning for climate change adaptation, there are significant financing shortfalls for efforts to supply real protection against droughts, floods, and rising sea levels, a new UN environment report has found. According to the 2020 Adaptation Gap Report, as temperatures rise and climate change impacts intensify, nations must urgently step up action to adapt to the new climate reality or face serious costs, damages, and losses.
Its analysis of four major climate and development funds (the Global Environment Facility, the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund, and the International Climate Initiative) suggested that support for green initiatives with a slight element of nature-based solutions has risen over the last two decades. At the same time, the report noted that there were serious shortfalls that need to be urgently filled so that the gaps can be bridged, especially to support those nations least responsible for climate change but most at risk.
For more, see https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/01/1082072
8. Open-source seeds and commoning mushrooms: the Iriaiken Philosophy
Inspired by the success of the General Public License (GPL) and free and open-source software over the past three decades, a few leading players in the seed movement decided to align behind the banner of “open-source seed (OSS).” The OSS Movement has adopted two general approaches to restoring user sovereignty over seeds: new types of licenses like the GPL, and campaigns to create strong community cultures of seed sharing. However, the OSS Initiative, because of diverse motivations among growers, decided to promote a vernacular seed law in the form of a pledge (mostly ethical force): “You have the freedom to use these OSSI seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict others’ use of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include this pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives.”
Despite the philosophical and tactical differences between the two open-source seed projects, both share a concern with treating seeds as a common resource, i.e., as something that does not belong exclusively to any individual owner, but whose value arises precisely because it can circulate freely and be shared. The open-source seed movement looks to affirm seeds as something that has deep, symbiotic relationships with other aspects of the ecosystem and human life, as well as to past and future generations.
For more, see https://www.resilience.org/stories/2021-01-07/open-source-seeds-and-commoning-mushrooms-the-iriaiken-philosophy/
Read the book from which this is an excerpt at http://www.freefairandalive.org/read-it/
9. New climate change study: Number of people suffering extreme droughts will double
Michigan State University, USA, is conducting a global study, led by Yadu Pokhrel of its Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, to offer the first global view of how climate change could affect water availability and drought severity in the decades to come. “More and more people will suffer from extreme droughts if a medium-to-high level of global warming continues and water management is maintained at its present state,” Pokhrel said.
Terrestrial water storage (TWS) controls the hydrological cycle and is a key determinant of water availability and an indicator of drought. The team studied future changes in TWS and the linkages to droughts. To help such studies, researchers, using ensemble hydrological simulations, show that climate change could reduce TWS in many regions, especially those in the southern hemisphere.
“Our findings highlight why we need climate change mitigation to avoid the adverse impacts on global water supplies and increased droughts we know about now,” Pokhrel said.
Events
ICEA: International Conference on Ecological Agriculture, 08-09 March 2022, Bangkok, Thailand.
For more, see https://conferenceindex.org/event/international-conference-on-ecological-agriculture-icea-2022-march-bangkok-th
ICSPAT: International Conference on Sustainable Agriculture Practices and Techniques, 11-12 Mar 2022, Miami, United States.
ICAMB: International Conference on Agricultural Modernization and Biodiversity, 22-23 Mar 2022, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
For more, see https://waset.org/agricultural-modernization-and-biodiversity-conference-in-march-2022-in-dubai
ICAPSS: International Conference on Agriculture, Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, 05-06 Apr 2022, Cancún, Mexico.
ICCSAD: International Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture and Development, 19-20 Apr 2022, Paris, France.
Other Topics of Interest
1. Nature needs rights to safeguard biodiversity
For more, see https://pressreleases.responsesource.com/news/100621/nature-needs-rights-to-safeguard-biodiversity/
Access the full paper at https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/690/1/012059/meta
2. Making money from development without development
For more, see https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9b1def95-e779-4808-8c5b-513a1b6f46fa
3. Foraging for medicinal plants gains popularity
For more, see http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/01/07/foraging-for-medicinal-plants-gains-popularity/
4. The new Green Revolution: A just transition to climate-smart crops
5. Research aims to help Astronauts grow veggies better in space
For more, see https://www.labmanager.com/news/research-aims-to-help-astronauts-grow-veggies-better-in-space-24834
6. The world needs genetically robust corpse flowers
For more, see https://slate.com/technology/2021/01/corpse-flower-at-risk-and-smelly.html
7. Study looks at how land acquisitions affect climate change
8. Framework sheds light on nitrogen loss of producing common food items
9. Tracking, targeting, and conserving soil biodiversity
Access the abstract at https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abd7926
10. Indigenous peoples wary of UN biodiversity rescue plan
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2021-01-indigenous-peoples-wary-biodiversity.html
11. Changes in farming are urgent to rescue biodiversity
For more, see https://www.myvetcandy.com/newsblog/2020/7/21/changes-in-farming-urgent-to-rescue-biodiversity
12. Researchers to help feed the world, protect the planet
For more, see https://www.sasktoday.ca/north/local-news/researchers-to-help-feed-the-world-protect-the-planet-4161495
13. How the suburbs could help save biodiversity
For more, see https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-suburbs-could-help-save-biodiversity/
14. Promoting CRISPR crops at the expense of GMOs to appease activists undermines both technologies
15. ‘Crop Science’ special issue shows why crops need to get wild
For more, see https://news.globallandscapesforum.org/49393/crop-science-special-issue-shows-why-crops-need-to-get-wild/
16. Figs show that non-native species can invade ecosystems by forming unexpected partnerships
17. Aphids suck: Invasive aphid found on Danish apple trees
18. Bottom-up biodiversity
For more, see https://www.resilience.org/stories/2021-01-14/bottom-up-biodiversity/
19. Mutant roots reveal how we can grow crops in damaged soils
For more, see https://theconversation.com/mutant-roots-reveal-how-we-can-grow-crops-in-damaged-soils-153140
20. Invasive evergreen acutely reduces water resources in Ethiopia, costing rural livelihoods
21. Increasing soil pH reduces fertilizer-derived nitrous oxide emissions For more, see https://phys.org/news/2021-01-soil-ph-fertilizer-derived-nitrous-oxide.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
22. Explanation for more efficient maize growth
Access the full paper at https://academic.oup.com/plcell/article/33/3/531/6067409
23. First ever ‘pioneer’ factor found in plants enables cells to change their fate
For more, see https://phys.org/news/2021-01-factor-enables-cells-fate.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter Access the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20883-w
24. Soil degradation costs U.S. corn farmers a half-billion dollars every year
Access the full paper at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020EF001641
25. Tapping genes to make chickpeas resistant to droughts
For more, see https://researchmatters.in/news/tapping-genes-make-chickpeas-resistant-droughts
Access the full paper at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0234550
26. Effort to improve climate-resilient wheat varieties
For more, see https://www.agriculture.com/news/crops/effort-on-to-improve-climate-resilient-wheat-varieties
27. Understanding disease-induced microbial shifts may reveal new crop management strategies
Access the full paper at https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/PBIOMES-04-20-0027-R
28. Home gardeners test tomato varieties for the University of Florida
For more, see https://www.thepacker.com/news/produce-crops/home-gardeners-test-tomato-varieties-university-florida