Gene Editing in Plants 2 Garnish Garnish 3 Editorial & Contents Editorial & the Garnet Committee
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GARNish June 2016: Edition 25 Gene Editing in Plants 2 GARNish GARNish 3 Editorial & Contents Editorial & the GARNet Committee Welcome to the June Contents The GARNet Committee 2016 Issue of GARNish Editorial 2 Saskia Hogenhout Geraint Parry, David Salt The GARNet Committee 3 John Innes Centre GARNet Coordinator University of Aberdeen News & Views 4 GARNet Chair Nov 2014–Dec 2016 Committee member Jan 2016–Dec 2018 At the time of publication the Engineering with CRISPR-Cas9 8 British public are being asked to make a decision Jim Murray Sabina Leonelli Plants in Space 10 that might have a significant impact on many University of Cardiff University of Exeter aspects of scientific research. The current EU Funding News 14 GARNet PI (from February 2015) Ex-officio member funding landscape allows UK researchers to easily SLS16 Meeting Report 20 participate in pan-European collaborations – a Katherine Denby Sean May situation that might change, either subtly or more Brassica Information Resource 23 University of Warwick Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre significantly, if there is a vote to leave the EU. UKPSF Annual Meeting Report 25 Committee member Nov 2014–Dec 2017 Ex-officio member Araport11 Annotation 28 Currently, many plant scientists are frustrated by the Christine Raines pace of the EU decision-making process regarding Antony Dodd RTD2 Annotation 30 University of Essex research and cultivation of genetically modified University of Bristol Committee member Jan 2016–Dec 2018 and/or gene-edited crops. If the UK chooses to Spotlight on SLCU 32 Committee member Jan 2013–Dec 2016 ‘Brexit’ then UKGOV might need to consider these regulations at the individual nation level. Under Nicholas Harberd Stephen Spoel the current administration this may result in a more Special thanks to: Darron Luesse, Lisa Martin, University of Oxford University of Edinburgh permissive regulatory environment. However, this is Siobhan Braybrook, Phil Wigge, John Brown, Committee member Jan 2013–Dec 2016 Committee member Jan 2016–Dec 2018 impossible to predict, especially taking into account Chris Town, Agnes Chan, Anne-Marie Eckes, Attila the future implications of interacting with other EU Molner, Douglas Pyott, the BBSRC grant holders Ian Henderson Zoe Wilson countries who have different sets of regulations. and plant science researchers at SLCU University of Cambridge University of Nottingham Committee member Nov 2014–Dec 2017 Committee member Nov 2014–Dec 2017 As highlighted in our cover story, no doubt the advent of gene-editing as a viable technology for generating transgene-less plants is an extremely The strength of plant science in this country to make this available as a community resource. Please enjoy this edition of GARNish, which also exciting development. Upcoming EU decisions is exemplified by the number of high quality This BBSRC-funded research shows that scientific details about recent BBSRC grant funding and a will determine how straightforward it will be for meetings taking place in the UK. This edition of excellence continues to focus on our favourite Spotlight article on the Sainsbury Laboratory at scientists to transfer basic research into the field and GARNish highlights the recent SLS16 and UKPSF weed. In the future, hopefully, Araport will be able Cambridge University. whether the full potential of this technology can be meetings and GARNet are also hosting two to develop linkages with similar resources in other realised. exciting meetings later in 2016: ‘GARNet2016: plant species, such as the Brassica Information Please follow @GARNetweets on Twitter and Innovation in Plant Science’ in Cardiff in Portal, which is highlighted in this edition of Facebook and also remember the ‘Weeding the In the UK, the opportunity provided by the Global September and ‘Natural Variation as a tool for GARNish. Gems’ blog at http://blog.garnetcommunity.org.uk. Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) is an exciting Gene Discovery and Crop Improvement’ in development that will allow plant scientists to take Cambridge in December. Further details of these It’s unlikely that Arabidopsis will become a staple Please contact Geraint (geraint@garnetcommunity. a leading role in the development of tools to benefit can be found on pages 5 and 6. crop in future Martian colonisation, but it will play org.uk) if you would like to write a guest post. those in economically poorer countries. When an important role in our understanding of what is the initial statements of intent are evaluated by We are delighted to be able to provide another necessary to grow food in alien conditions. This Views expressed by authors in GARNish are their own RCUK it will be interesting to understand the level update from Araport as they continue to develop issue of GARNish includes an article from Darron opinions and do not necessarily represent the view of of basic research that will be supported under the resources to facilitate Arabidopsis research. In Luesse that provides an introduction into the GARNet or the BBSRC. GCRF, given the impact that it will have on many addition we introduce the new RTD2 genome excitement and challenges of being involved in Arabidopsis researchers. annotation generated by John Brown and space research. colleagues. They are working with Araport in order 4 GARNish GARNish 5 News & Views News & Views UK Plant Sciences At PlantSci16 the RSB confirmed that the The GPC has recently itself become a member in Brighton, 4-7 July. Please stop by the GPC’s Federation Update Roadmap will have significant support from the of the Plant Science Research Network (PSRN), booth and say hello! In the meantime, don’t forget BBSRC, other funding bodies and GOV.UK. This which “will use dedicated workshops to devise you can interact with us on Facebook (www. Geraint Parry, will be critically important for its uptake and novel solutions to broaden participation in facebook.com/GlobalPlantGPC) or Twitter (@ GARNet Coordinator acceptance by the wider scientific community and plant sciences and to reimagine plant science GlobalPlantGPC and in Spanish the public. graduate student and postdoctoral training.” It was @GPC_EnEspanol), stay up to date with our Following last year’s adoption of the UKPSF established thanks to a Research Coordination monthly e-Bulletin newsletter (http://tinyurl. into the Royal Society of Biology (RSB; see The most recent UKPSF committee meeting took Network award from the NSF to the Boyce com/GPCebulletin), visit our website (www. GARNish24), it has been focusing its work in place at the end of May. It was decided that in Thompson Institute and the American Society globalplantcouncil.org) or our blog, and if you two main areas. UKPSF recently organised the the next phase of the Roadmap, UK stakeholders of Plant Biologists (ASPB). With the GPC’s have a Plantae account, you can also join our PlantSci16 conference at the John Innes Centre, would be asked to help define the most important involvement we will offer a broader international group (https://community.plantae.org/groups/ from which there is a report on page 28. components of nine categories that have emerged perspective on this valuable US-based initiative. home/54)! from the Roadmap process to date. Therefore, In addition, it is supporting the ‘Building a please look out for your Head of Department (or Plantae.org, “the digital ecosystem for plant Roadmap for UK Plant Science’ project, which equivalent), who will be asking your opinion on science”, which we launched in beta with aims to prepare a comprehensive report examining these topics in the upcoming weeks. Without your the ASPB last year, continues to grow as an the directions that the plant science community input then the Roadmap will not succeed. online hub for plant science news, jobs, policy GARNet2016: Innovation in the might take over the next 25 years. This project information, and career, teaching and outreach Plant Sciences. is being conducted in collaboration with the resources – and much more. The team is still Institute for Manufacturing from the University of Global Plant ironing out some bugs and making improvements September 6-7th 2016, Cambridge. The first part of the process involved Council Update to the interface so if you haven’t already signed Cardiff University connecting with a wide range of stakeholders up for an account, why not do so today and let us from across all aspects of UK plant science, Lisa Martin, know what you think? It’s a great place to host a Registration is now open for the next exciting including academics, breeders, members of agri- GPC Outreach & public or private group, start or join in discussions GARNet2016 meeting. We have put together talks business, environmental consultants, educators Communications Manager and network with plant scientists from all over the on a broad range of subjects that are linked by and ecologists. These participants were brought [email protected] world! www.plantae.org. their use of novel experimental techniques. together in two-day-long ‘roadmapping sessions’ held in London and Edinburgh to discuss what The six months since the last issue of GARNish Finally, we were sad to say goodbye to one of Session 1: Frontiers in Plant Imaging should populate the Roadmap. have passed by in a flash as it’s been busy as usual our New Media Fellows recently, Amelia Frizell- Session 2: Enabling the Translational Pipeline at the Global Plant Council! Armitage – or should I say Dr Amelia Frizell- Session 3: Plant Synthetic Biology The GARNet PI and Coordinator attended