Enviornmental Plant Bio. Blog

Biome and Photosynthesis

mesmith — Thu, 04 May 2006 19:27:39 +0000

Scoliopus bigelovii are located in the biome known in California as the chaparral. This biome is also commonly called the scrub forest.

Scoliopus bigelovii undergo C3 photosynthesis.

Article: Latest ‘golden rice’ gets go-ahead for trials

mesmith — Mon, 01 May 2006 19:48:52 +0000

Approvals have been made to being planting seed to producte "golden rice" in India and the Phillipines. This new stand of rice will hopefully overcome the vitamin a deficiencies present in children and adults mostly in the far east. "Golden Rice" has 23 times as much vitamin A as the normal strand. Thus a portion of only about 200g would fulfil the dietary needs for vitamin A. This crop has great potentional for health benefits in the future and researchers are waiting for human test trials. This new strand of rice will be tested on volunteers in the United States for health risks.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/gm-food/mg18624934.000-latest-golden-rice-gets-goahead-for-trials.html

Articles:Biotech researchers create safer soybeans

mesmith — Mon, 01 May 2006 19:37:29 +0000

The protein P34 in soybeans is the cause of the mostly youth allergy the the bean. Although usually no serious illnesses or symptoms come from the allergy, the protein has been removed from a strand of soybeans and is one example of GM foods can have health benefits.

The protein was removed through the gene sliencing technique. Additional copies of the gene that codes for P34 were "spliced" into the cell and instead of creating more p34 the opposite effect was seen. The plant interprets the extra genes as a viral attack and destroy all of the RNA that creates P34. No other effects were found from the sliencing of P34. The new soybeans are not being sold or distributed to the public yet, but growth has begun in Hawaii.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/gm-food/dn2782-biotech-researchers-create-safer-soybeans.html

Article: Genetic engineers decaffeinate coffee

mesmith — Mon, 01 May 2006 01:11:06 +0000

Researchers in Japan have “silenced” the gene in coffee plants that plays the key role in producing caffeien through RNA interference. These new coffee plants have a decreased level of caffeine of about 70%. Researchers state that this is a good GM due to the possible health risks involved in drinking large quantities of caffeine. Another postive attribute of this processes is that it should make decaffinated coffee less expensive.

The silencing of the gene occurs through the addition of a small bit of RNA that is complimentary to mRNA. This addition adds and destroys the mRNA therefore inhibiting the production of caffeine.

These new coffee plants with the silenced gene will take four years to produce beans for consumption so until then no new knowledge about this process will be available.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/gm-food/dn3851-genetic-engineers-decaffeinate-coffee.html

Article: Potato-based vaccine success comes too late

mesmith — Mon, 01 May 2006 00:45:17 +0000

A potato with the hepatitis B vaccine was produced and used succesfully in a human trial. It sounds like good news to most, however this type of testing using "staple" foods as the source of the vaccine has been stopped. Researches are nervous and have large concerns about what would happen if food containing the vaccine was unknowningly injested. Now researches are studying the use of non-edible plants' leaves as the host for vaccines. Research using a strand of tobacco has been undertaken and the animal tests are yielding postive results. Although potatoes are not in further use as the host for vaccines, researches are very proud of their work since it proves that plants can be hosts for vaccines and excited for the future possibilties and implications.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/gm-food/dn7006-potatobased-vaccine-success-comes-too-late.html

Article: Tear-inducing onions get the chop

mesmith — Mon, 01 May 2006 00:30:41 +0000

Japanese researchers have discovered the gene that makes people's eyes water when cutting them. First believed to be invovled in a biochemical process, these scientists nowe believe that it is made in a separate enzyme. Removing the gene, they say, would not greatly change the flavor or taste of onions. A larger production of thiosulphinate might alter the taste, but these scientists don't believe it would in a way that would truely change the overall flavor (possibly just the intensity of it). Furthermore, to people who say that this would hurt the onion plant, researches have a rebuttle to that too. Although onions use this gene as protection against herbavores, a new fungus uses this gene to identify it.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/gm-food/dn2935-tearinducing-onions-get-the-chop.html

Article: Plant Biotechnology: Advances in Food, Energy, and Health

mesmith — Mon, 01 May 2006 00:21:00 +0000

This article discusses the rising need for the world to increase crop production whiledecreasing the needed amounts of water, minerals, and land used. The authors have multiple major needs that are necessary for the future.

1.crop production needs to be increased due to the rising demand.

2.required inputs for growth must be decreased

3.new crops need to be able to grow and survive under extremely harsh conditions.

4.pesticide and herbicide use must be decreased due to envrionmental effects

5.crops need to be modified for helath and nutrition needs

6.crops need to be developed that can be used as a source of fuel due to the dependence on petrolium

It was explained that the only way to accomplish these necessesary goals is through biotechnology. Nutrition around the world must be increased and due to economic reason food is the only true way to accomplish this task. Society has kept up with new demands through technology for centuries and the same must be achieved through biotechnology and gene modification in order to meet all the of above demands.

http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/ites/1005/ijee/hamilton.htm

Article: Elimination of deleterious mutations in plastid genomes by gene conversion

mesmith — Mon, 01 May 2006 00:05:55 +0000

Asexual reproduction does not have the ability to cancel out mutations carried over time. This theroy is known as the Muller's ratchet. One idea however is that polyploidy can help asexual plants escape this occurance. This idea howeer has almost no actual experimental evidene of gene converstion between genetic molecules to correct for mutations. There is some eveidence supporting gene converstion as correcting for mutations using a tobacco plant. The current hope is that gene conversion may contain biases and provide a connection between lower mutation occurances and asexual reproduction.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-313X.2006.02673.x?cookieSet=1

Article: Reproductive biology and pollinator limitation in a deceptive orchid, Serapias vomeracea (Orchidaceae)

mesmith — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 20:23:38 +0000

This article explored two types of orchid species that do not offer rewards to visiting pollinators. Serapias vomeracea were studied due to thier "deceptive strategy" or having its sepals, petals, and lateral lobes form small tubes appearing to look like a spot where visiting insects could rest. Three types of pollination were studied with results of the percentage of fruit sets being analyzed. Overall, the experimentors of this study concluded that there is a positive correlation between fruit set and the "pollinator visitations" of Serapias vomeracea.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-1984.2005.00121.x

Article: Can improvement in photosynthesis increase crop yields?

mesmith — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 18:44:26 +0000

This article, published in the March 206 edition of Plant, Cell, and Environment, examined the theory that improvements in photosynthesis could increase crop yields. Photosynthesis was chosen as the variable to manipulate because other involved properties, efficiency of light capture, conversion of absorbed light into biomass, and proportion of biomass partitioned into grain were constant properties. The original thought was that improving leaf photosynthesis would not increase crop yields. However, contrasting results were found after running the experiment. Six different modifications on the leaves for “photosynthetic efficiency” were examined with an end result of a possible increase of up to 50%. Overall, it appears from this article and the experiment run that improving photosynthetic abilities does increase crop yields.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2005.01493.x