Sunday Evening News January – Januar 2018 Selected and Edited by BGF Jany ______Woche 01 – Week 01 (01.01
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Sunday Evening News January – Januar 2018 Selected and edited by BGF Jany ____________________________________________________________________________ Woche 01 – Week 01 (01.01. – 07.01.2018) Press releases - Media Gibney E. - Nature What to expect in 2018: science in the new year Moon missions, ancient genomes and a publishing showdown are set to shape research. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00009-5 Evolution News Peer-Reviewed Science: A “Mathematical Proof of Darwinian Evolution” Is Falsified https://evolutionnews.org/2018/01/peer-reviewed-science-a-mathematical-proof-of-darwinian-evolution-is- falsified/ Tarek Abd El-Galil | Al-Fanar Media Egypt develops high-yield arid-resistant GMO wheat but activist opposition blocks biotechnology advances https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/01/04/egypt-develops-high-yield-arid-resistant-gmo-wheat-activist- opposition-blocks-biotechnology-advances/ In Egypt, Genetic Crop Modification Is On Hold https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2017/12/egypt-genetic-crop-modification-hold/#.Wjqm-5GWCvw.twitter Letters to the Editor: Opinion – Washington Post Is GMO opposition immoral? https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-gmo-opposition-immoral/2018/01/01/2c9e6a54-ecc3-11e7- 956e-baea358f9725_story.html Letters in respect to: Daniels M: Avoiding GMOs isn’t just anti-science. It’s immoral. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/avoiding-gmos-isnt-just-anti-science-its- immoral/2017/12/27/fc773022-ea83-11e7-b698-91d4e35920a3_story.html?utm_term=.f141cd16a9d7 ____________________________________ Genome Editing – New Techniques KWS: Genome Editing Die neuen Züchtungsmethoden ergänzen den Werkzeugkasten der Pflanzenzüchter und bieten zusätzliche Möglichkeiten, Pflanzen züchterisch gezielt zu verbessern. Die Folgen des Klimawandels, neue Schadpilze, der Wunsch nach weniger Dünger auf dem Acker und einer hohen Qualität landwirtschaftlicher Produkte: Auf alle diese Herausforderungen an eine nachhaltige Landwirtschaft reagieren Pflanzenzüchter mit neuen Sorten und nutzen dafür die jeweils am besten geeigneten Züchtungsmethoden. Wir sehen deshalb in den neuen Züchtungsmethoden mit ihrer Einfachheit in der Anwendung großes Potenzial. https://www.kws.de/innovation/zuechtungsmethoden/genome-editing/ Albrecht S., Diekämper J., Marx-Stölting L. und Sauter A. (2017): Grüne Gentechnik und Genome Editing Erfordernisse einer Neuausrichtung der Wissenschaftskommunikation. ATuP – Zeitschrift für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Theorie und Praxis https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.26.3.64 Genome Editing gilt als Technologiesprung in der Gentechnologie. Die potenzielle Reichweite der Verfahren und die damit verbundenen Chancen und Risiken geben Impulse für eine neue Runde in der Debatte über Gentechnologien, die vor allem im Bereich der Grünen Gentechnik bislang durch Lagerdenken und einen Mangel an Zwischenpositionen gekennzeichnet ist. Um in Zukunft sachgerechter und unter Einbeziehung unterschiedlicher gesellschaftlicher Interessen über Optionen der weiteren Entwicklung der neuen Technologien diskutieren zu können, werden in diesem Beitrag Anforderungen an eine Neuausrichtung der Wissenschaftskommunikation umrissen. http://www.tatup.de/?journal=tatup&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=71 Carroll D. (2017): Genome Editing: Past, Present, and Future. YALE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 90 (2017), pp.653-659. The CRISPR-Cas genome editing tools have been adopted rapidly in the research community, and they are quickly finding applications in the commercial sector as well. Lest we lose track of the broader context, this Perspective presents a brief review of the history of the genome editing platforms and considers a few current technological issues. It then takes a very limited view into the future of this technology and highlights some of the societal issues that require examination and discussion. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5733845/ Harrison P.T. and Hart. S. (2017): A beginner's guide to gene editing. Experimental Physiology, DOI: 10.1113/EP086047 Genome editing enables precise changes to be made in the genome of living cells. The technique was originally developed in the 1980's but largely limited to use in mice. The discovery that a targeted double stranded break (DSB) at a unique site in the genome, close to the site to be changed, could substantially increase the efficiency of editing raised the possibility of using the technique in a broader range of animal models and potentially human cells. But the challenge was to identify reagents that could create targeted breaks at a unique genomic location with minimal off-target effects. In 2005, the demonstration that programmable zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) could perform this task, led to a number of proof-of-concept studies, but a limitation was the ease with which effective ZFNs could be produced. In 2009, the development of TAL-effector nucleases (TALENs) increased the specificity of gene editing and the ease of design and production. However, it wasn't until 2013 and the development of the CRISPR Cas9/guideRNA that gene editing became a research tool that any lab could use. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/EP086047/abstract;jsessionid=57503DCBB92C14259BBF43C8ACF9 3EF1.f01t03 Sunkar R., Maheswari M. and Supriyo Chakraborty S. (2017): Small RNAs: regulators of plant development and climate resilience. Ind J Plant Physiol. (October–December 2017) 22(4):369–370¸ https://doi.org/10.1007/s40502-017-0349-1 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs40502-017-0349-1.pdf Shah et al. (2018): Tyrosine-1 of RNA polymerase II CTD controls global termination of gene transcription in mammals. Molecular Cell doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2017.12.009 http://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/supplemental/S1097-2765(17)30937-1 Amy Watson A. et al. (2018): Speed breeding is a powerful tool to accelerate crop research and breeding. Nature Plants, 2018; DOI: 10.1038/s41477-017-0083-8 The growing human population and a changing environment have raised significant concern for global food security, with the current improvement rate of several important crops inadequate to meet future demand1. This slow improvement rate is attributed partly to the long generation times of crop plants. Here, we present a method called ‘speed breeding’, which greatly shortens generation time and accelerates breeding and research programmes. Speed breeding can be used to achieve up to 6 generations per year for spring wheat (Triticum aestivum), durum wheat (T. durum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and pea (Pisum sativum), and 4 generations for canola (Brassica napus), instead of 2–3 under normal glasshouse conditions. We demonstrate that speed breeding in fully enclosed, controlled-environment growth chambers can accelerate plant development for research purposes, including phenotyping of adult plant traits, mutant studies and transformation. The use of supplemental lighting in a glasshouse environment allows rapid generation cycling through single seed descent (SSD) and potential for adaptation to larger-scale crop improvement programs. Cost saving through light-emitting diode (LED) supplemental lighting is also outlined. We envisage great potential for integrating speed breeding with other modern crop breeding technologies, including high-throughput genotyping, genome editing and genomic selection, accelerating the rate of crop improvement. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-017-0083-8 Dale J. et al. (2017): Transgenic Cavendish bananas with resistance to Fusarium wilt tropical race 4. Nature Communications 8, Article number:1496 (2017); doi:10.1038/s41467-017- 01670-6 Banana (Musa spp.) is a staple food for more than 400 million people. Over 40% of world production and virtually all the export trade is based on Cavendish banana. However, Cavendish banana is under threat from a virulent fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4 (TR4) for which no acceptable resistant replacement has been identified. Here we report the identification of transgenic Cavendish with resistance to TR4. In our 3-year field trial, two lines of transgenic Cavendish, one transformed with RGA2, a gene isolated from a TR4-resistant diploid banana, and the other with a nematode-derived gene, Ced9, remain disease free. Transgene expression in the RGA2 lines is strongly correlated with resistance. Endogenous RGA2 homologs are also present in Cavendish but are expressed tenfold lower than that in our most resistant transgenic line. The expression of these homologs can potentially be elevated through gene editing, to provide non-transgenic resistance. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01670-6 pdf-file: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01670-6.pdf Peanut Genome Initiative: 2012-2017 Research Accomplishment Report to the U.S. Peanut Industry http://peanutfoundation.org/images/Peanut_Genome_Initiative_2017_Final_Report.pdf Agricultural parasite takes control of host plant's genes https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180103132751.htm Shahid S. et al. (2018): MicroRNAs from the parasitic plant Cuscuta campestris target host messenger RNAs. Nature, 2018; 553 (7686): 82 DOI: 10.1038/nature25027 Dodders (Cuscuta spp.) are obligate parasitic plants that obtain water and nutrients from the stems of host plants via specialized feeding structures called haustoria. Dodder haustoria facilitate bidirectional movement of viruses, proteins and mRNAs between host and parasite1, but the functional effects of these movements are not known. Here we show that