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Oranges in a hurry
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between auxin and kinetin, and kinetin’s role in cell division. While at Madison (USA), Skoog discovered a new class of hormones, cytokinins, which regulate plant cell division, and regulate plant growth and development. Some research scientists might recognize Skoog’s name from Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium, which is of practical importance in biotechnological development. (The Associated Press, 21 February 2001) TS
TRENDS in Plant Science Vol.6 No.5 May 2001
Biomass Industrial Crops Ltd (Bical), to exploit the plant’s potential. [Newman, C. (2001) The Financial Times (London), 21 February, p. 1; http://www.warwick.ac.uk/news/pr/331] TS
Oranges in a hurry
Exploiting elephants Elephant grass (Miscanthus) is a perennial grass that produces high yields of bamboolike cane up to 3 m tall. In the UK, two groups are touting elephant grass as a viable source of renewable energy and material. The UK agricultural minister, Nick Brown, said at a recent conference that the grass offers ‘real potential as renewable, environmentally friendly fuel for electricity generation.’ Ten experimental sites throughout the UK will test the energy conversion that is possible with the oil, gas and coal replacement. In addition, at the University of Warwick, the Warwick Manufacturing Group is using the grass to produce biodegradable plastic car parts. The university researchers teamed up with farmers and established a company,
sued, claiming that the patents should not have been awarded at all. The central issue before the court is: can plants created from seeds be patented? Although the Patent and Trademark Office declared in 1985 that patent law covered plants created from seeds, the law is now under question. [Chartrand, S. (2001) New York Times, 12 March, Sect. C p. 6] TS
Kenya’s brain drain
Jump around In a frightening case of pathogenic adaptability, the brown algae pathogen known as Phytophthora recently jumped from its normal host of oak (Quercus) to huckleberry bushes (Vaccinium sp.) in California. The pathogen that causes sudden oak death has also been identified in rhododendron plants in nurseries in Germany, The Netherlands and California. Both newly infected plants are in the Ericaceae family of plants, which includes blueberries (Vaccinium sp.) and cranberries (Vaccinium oxycoccos). In California, Phytophthora has killed tens of thousands of oak. Scientists now worry that Phytophthora might be able to spread to more species than originally expected. Matteo Garbelotto, forest pathologist, told reporters ‘the more hosts there are, the more pathogen there is present in the forest. These [newly infected] plants can also serve as a bridge in the natural gaps between oak forests, so it is definitely problematic.’ [Fimrite, P. (2001) The San Francisco Chronicle, 24 February, p. A15] TS
193
Photograph courtesy of USDA, USA.
Tree research suffers from the fact that for woody species, getting to the next generation can take years and even decades. Leandro Peña and colleagues have found a biotechnological way to speed up development in citrus trees and shave off years of research time [Nat. Biotechnol. (2001) 19, 263–267]. Constitutively expressing either the meristem identity genes LEAFY (LFY) or APETELA1 (AP1) in transgenic plants allowed the GM plants to reproduce as early as their first year. Nontransgenic controls flowered after five years. Although the LFY transgenics had altered leaf structures, the AP1 transgenic plants looked normal. TS
Seed patent in question The US Supreme Court will soon decide whether genetically engineered seeds should be awarded utility patents, which currently cover inventions. Although thousands of utility patents have been issued since the laws included plants created from seeds, a new court case has reached the Supreme Court that now challenges patents on seed. The court battle started when Pioneer Hi-Bred International, the world’s largest producer of seed corn, sued J.E.M. AG Supply (IA, USA) for infringing on 17 patents. J.E.M. counter
Kenya is having trouble keeping molecular biologists in the country. For example, only one out of 14 recent recipients of doctoral degrees stayed in the country to continue to conduct research. The others have moved to Europe or North America to work. The exodus is undermining Kenya’s ability to sustain molecular biological laboratories. Onesmo Ole-MoiYoi told the press ‘if we do not create a critical mass of scientists with knowledge of genomics, then we run the danger of benefiting little from the genomics revolution.’ The nation has only one national laboratory, the Katumani biotechnology laboratory, which has molecular and genomics facilities. The deficit in scientists also slows GM crops from biological assessment. A two-year lag in accepting a transgenic potato variety occurred because of a lack of personnel. [The Daily Nation (2001) Africa News, 8 March] TS
Nigel Chaffey [email protected] Trevor Stokes [email protected]
Pictures in Plant Science Have you generated images that are not only visually stunning, but also provide a real insight into the molecular understanding of plant science? Please send these images*, plus a short explanation of the background to the work, to our editorial office: [email protected] *Please contact the editorial office for details of the correct electronic format before sending any images.
http://plants.trends.com 1360-1385/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
between auxin and kinetin, and kinetin’s role in cell division. While at Madison (USA), Skoog discovered a new class of hormones, cytokinins, which regulate plant cell division, and regulate plant growth and development. Some research scientists might recognize Skoog’s name from Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium, which is of practical importance in biotechnological development. (The Associated Press, 21 February 2001) TS
TRENDS in Plant Science Vol.6 No.5 May 2001
Biomass Industrial Crops Ltd (Bical), to exploit the plant’s potential. [Newman, C. (2001) The Financial Times (London), 21 February, p. 1; http://www.warwick.ac.uk/news/pr/331] TS
Oranges in a hurry
Exploiting elephants Elephant grass (Miscanthus) is a perennial grass that produces high yields of bamboolike cane up to 3 m tall. In the UK, two groups are touting elephant grass as a viable source of renewable energy and material. The UK agricultural minister, Nick Brown, said at a recent conference that the grass offers ‘real potential as renewable, environmentally friendly fuel for electricity generation.’ Ten experimental sites throughout the UK will test the energy conversion that is possible with the oil, gas and coal replacement. In addition, at the University of Warwick, the Warwick Manufacturing Group is using the grass to produce biodegradable plastic car parts. The university researchers teamed up with farmers and established a company,
sued, claiming that the patents should not have been awarded at all. The central issue before the court is: can plants created from seeds be patented? Although the Patent and Trademark Office declared in 1985 that patent law covered plants created from seeds, the law is now under question. [Chartrand, S. (2001) New York Times, 12 March, Sect. C p. 6] TS
Kenya’s brain drain
Jump around In a frightening case of pathogenic adaptability, the brown algae pathogen known as Phytophthora recently jumped from its normal host of oak (Quercus) to huckleberry bushes (Vaccinium sp.) in California. The pathogen that causes sudden oak death has also been identified in rhododendron plants in nurseries in Germany, The Netherlands and California. Both newly infected plants are in the Ericaceae family of plants, which includes blueberries (Vaccinium sp.) and cranberries (Vaccinium oxycoccos). In California, Phytophthora has killed tens of thousands of oak. Scientists now worry that Phytophthora might be able to spread to more species than originally expected. Matteo Garbelotto, forest pathologist, told reporters ‘the more hosts there are, the more pathogen there is present in the forest. These [newly infected] plants can also serve as a bridge in the natural gaps between oak forests, so it is definitely problematic.’ [Fimrite, P. (2001) The San Francisco Chronicle, 24 February, p. A15] TS
193
Photograph courtesy of USDA, USA.
Tree research suffers from the fact that for woody species, getting to the next generation can take years and even decades. Leandro Peña and colleagues have found a biotechnological way to speed up development in citrus trees and shave off years of research time [Nat. Biotechnol. (2001) 19, 263–267]. Constitutively expressing either the meristem identity genes LEAFY (LFY) or APETELA1 (AP1) in transgenic plants allowed the GM plants to reproduce as early as their first year. Nontransgenic controls flowered after five years. Although the LFY transgenics had altered leaf structures, the AP1 transgenic plants looked normal. TS
Seed patent in question The US Supreme Court will soon decide whether genetically engineered seeds should be awarded utility patents, which currently cover inventions. Although thousands of utility patents have been issued since the laws included plants created from seeds, a new court case has reached the Supreme Court that now challenges patents on seed. The court battle started when Pioneer Hi-Bred International, the world’s largest producer of seed corn, sued J.E.M. AG Supply (IA, USA) for infringing on 17 patents. J.E.M. counter
Kenya is having trouble keeping molecular biologists in the country. For example, only one out of 14 recent recipients of doctoral degrees stayed in the country to continue to conduct research. The others have moved to Europe or North America to work. The exodus is undermining Kenya’s ability to sustain molecular biological laboratories. Onesmo Ole-MoiYoi told the press ‘if we do not create a critical mass of scientists with knowledge of genomics, then we run the danger of benefiting little from the genomics revolution.’ The nation has only one national laboratory, the Katumani biotechnology laboratory, which has molecular and genomics facilities. The deficit in scientists also slows GM crops from biological assessment. A two-year lag in accepting a transgenic potato variety occurred because of a lack of personnel. [The Daily Nation (2001) Africa News, 8 March] TS
Nigel Chaffey [email protected] Trevor Stokes [email protected]
Pictures in Plant Science Have you generated images that are not only visually stunning, but also provide a real insight into the molecular understanding of plant science? Please send these images*, plus a short explanation of the background to the work, to our editorial office: [email protected] *Please contact the editorial office for details of the correct electronic format before sending any images.
http://plants.trends.com 1360-1385/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.