SCIENCE: Non-GE solution for food and agriculture

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                                  PART I
------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------
TITLE:  Scientists discover how wheat can stick-it-out in the salt
SOURCE: Molecular Plant Breeding CRC, Australia
AUTHOR: Press Release
URL:    http://www.molecularplantbreeding.com/news/releases/070411.asp
DATE:   11.04.2007
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Scientists discover how wheat can stick-it-out in the salt

It may not be quite as salt-loving as a mangrove, but scientists have  
discovered that wheat has more in common with the coastal dweller than  
anyone realised.

The Molecular Plant Breeding CRC's Dr Yusuf Genc has found that  
different varieties of wheat have different ways of dealing with  
salinity.

The research has implications for cereal breeders, who have long  
sought to breed varieties that are resistant to salinity.

When most people think of salinity they imagine vast and desolate  
tracts of land, too salty for even the hardiest crop to grow. But the  
conspicuous 'dryland' salinity is only part of Australia's salinity  
problem. Transient salinity, the seasonal movement of salt in and out  
of the soil profile, is not as severe, but is responsible for losses  
of up to $1.3 billion per year for the Australian farming economy.

Some 67% of the dryland cropping area in Australia has potential for  
transient salinity; and when it hits, the toxicity and resulting  
decrease in growth makes for meagre yields.

While no small effort has gone into the development of new  
salt-tolerant varieties, researchers have so far had limited success.

But with new insight into the mechanisms that wheat uses to cope with  
salt, breeders may soon be able to select for salt tolerance.

"People have been working on this for 50 years and guess what? There  
are very few varieties that have been released from breeding programs  
with any kind of salinity tolerance," says Dr Genc.

According to Dr Genc, keeping the salt out is not the only coping  
mechanism. Rather, much like a mangrove tree, it seems that some wheat  
varieties take the salt up into their roots, but are less affected by  
it than other varieties.

"The majority of people working in this field are trying to improve  
the ability of the plant to exclude the salt."

"Our research has shown that keeping the salt out is not the only  
coping mechanism. Rather, some wheat varieties take the salt up into  
the plant and tolerate it."

The mechanism, known as 'tissue tolerance', could result in dramatic  
yield increases for salinity-affected growers if it could be bred into  
other wheat varieties.

Genc and his team grew two wheat varieties, Berkut and Krichauff, at  
varying salt concentrations, and evaluated their salt uptake and grain  
yields.

While both are known to be good salt tolerators, they found that  
Berkut does not prevent the salt from entering the plant as well as  
Krichauff. Instead, it takes the salt in but still yields as much as  
Krichauff if not more.

"This was at first puzzling, because traditionally researchers thought  
high salt concentration meant poor ability to withstand the salt,"  
says Genc. "It was then that we realised there were two mechanisms at  
work in these wheat varieties."

Some varieties had the exclusion ability whereas other varieties had  
the tissue tolerance ability. Genc says that this could be the reason  
breeders have had such difficulty selecting for salt tolerance.

"When you test such varieties together, the relationship between salt  
content in the plant and salinity tolerance tends to disappear because  
you have different varieties with different abilities."

"Our research has shown that salt exclusion is definitely not the only  
mechanism at work for all varieties," he said.

Now, with a better understanding of the physiology of salt tolerance,  
Genc is looking to identify DNA markers, a kind of genetic  
'fingerprinting', which will allow breeders to screen for salt  
tolerance.

With field trials planned for later this year, Genc hopes to find the  
same effect in the field.

"We've picked two sites. Both are saline affected sites. I really  
can't wait to plant this population," he says. "The results from these  
trials could be a major step forward towards salt-tolerant wheat."

Dr Genc is a Molecular Plant Breeding CRC researcher based at the  
University of Adelaide and South Australian Research and Development  
Institute.


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                                  PART II
------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------
TITLE:  Polish canola rescues organic market
SOURCE: Farm Business Communications, Canada
AUTHOR: Lee Hart
URL:    http://www.agcanada.com/custompages/stories_story.aspx?mid=46&id=1204
DATE:   13.04.2007
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Polish canola rescues organic market

Highwood Crossing Farms of High River, Alta., pays $15 to $20 per  
bushel for organic canola, which it crushes and bottles for sale in  
gourmet shops.

Polish canola is preferred for organic because it doesn't outcross  
with Argentine canola, most of which is genetically modified

When it comes to growing a niche-market crop like organic canola,  
Alberta producers Marcel and Vivian Laliberte figure smaller is  
better. For the Laliberte's who farm near Jean Cote in Alberta's Peace  
River region, cropping about 160 acres of organic Polish canola will  
produce as much return as perhaps 2 or 3 times that many acres of a  
popular hybrid herbicide-tolerant variety.

"We were conventional farmers for many years," explains Marcel, "But  
then we just got fed up with the cost of chemicals and we also had  
concerns about the environment, so we made the move to organic  
farming. And it has worked out very well." The Laliberte's, who began  
organic crop production in 1998, farm only about 1,000 acres and much  
of that is seeded down to alfalfa. The legume is an important part of  
an 8 to 9 year rotation that sees 6 to 7 years of alfalfa followed by  
summerfallow and then annual crops such as flax, canola and cereals  
and, in some years, peas. Alfalfa provides good weed control, helps  
fix nitrogen in the soil, and builds soil organic matter.

The Lalibertes' canola yields are 20 bushels per acre, on average, but  
depending on the year, they can market it for at least twice the  
amount of conventional canola. The crop sold for $16 per bushel in  
2006 and he expects it to be close to $20 per bushel in 2007. That's a  
quarter section grossing between $50,000 and $54,000. "Yes it has  
lower yield, but it returns way more dollars," Marcel says. "Seed cost  
is my only real expense, so I can accept a lower yield, and still get  
a much better return per acre than if I was seeding a conventional  
variety." His seed costs average $20 per acre ($4 per pound times a  
seeding rate of 5 pounds per acre.)

Marcel usually seeds canola and flax the year following summerfallow.  
He works the land once in the fall and cultivates twice more in the  
spring to control any weed seedlings. He then seeds with a hoe-press  
drill. There are no other inputs. The 6 to 7 years of alfalfa help to  
improve nitrogen reserves in the soil, and also control weeds. "I was  
really amazed when we started this system that following the alfalfa  
we had no wild oats and no Canada thistle -- the fields were clean,"  
he says. "You may get a few annual weeds germinating in the spring but  
the tillage takes care of them."

While Marcel maintains a buffer between organically grown canola and  
neighboring farmland of conventional canola, he says producing a  
Polish variety greatly reduces the risk of cross pollination with  
conventional Argentine canola varieties. "We maintain a good distance,  
but the 2 crops aren't suppose to inter-pollinate," he says.

The Lalibertes receive annual certification from the Canadian Organic  
Crop Improvement Association (OCIA). And they are among a small group  
of organic canola and flax growers who supply crop to one of the few  
organic oilseed processing facilities in the Canada. Highwood Crossing  
Farm, near High River south of Calgary, has been processing and  
marketing premium organic vegetable oils for about 10 years. As the  
fourth generation of the long-time conventional mixed farming  
operation, Tony and Penny Marshall switched to organic farming methods  
in 1989 and have operated a certified organic farm for about 12 years.  
Wheat, rye, barley, oats, flax and hay are among the organic crops  
grown today.

"With only about 320 acres in annual cropping the farm wasn't large  
enough to support a family, so we knew that value-added was the way to  
go," says Tony. The Marshalls set their sites on producing high  
quality, premium-priced canola and flax vegetable oils for the gourmet  
food market. While the organic vegetable oils are still an important  
part of their business, Highwood Crossing has expanded into several  
other organic food products in recent years.

"In total we produce more than 20 different products with the cereal  
products now representing a larger part of our business," Tony says.  
Along with vegetable oils, the company also produces rolled oat  
flakes, porridge, quick cooking instant oats, a sunflower/flaxseed  
granola, wheat-free hot cereals and muffin mixes.

The Marshalls initially grew their own organic canola for processing,  
but the dramatic increase in herbicide-tolerant canola acres in recent  
years made it increasingly difficult for them to a produce a pure  
organic crop they could assure had not been cross-pollinated with the  
genetically modified varieties. "With our farm surrounded by more GM  
canola, the challenge was to find true organic canola," says Tony. "So  
a number of years ago we began to develop alliances with growers in  
the other areas such as northern Alberta where there were greater  
distances between farms and reduced risk of cross pollination."

The Lalibertes are one of 5 farms supplying organic Polish canola to  
Highwood Crossing Farms. Along with buying oilseed from certified  
organic growers, the Marshalls also complete a DNA test on each seed  
batch to confirm there has been no cross-pollination with Argentine  
varieties. Organic canola is not a huge market, with only about 5,000  
bushels of seed needed each year for Highwood's on-farm processing and  
bottling operation.

A main feature in producing Highwood Crossing vegetable oil is the  
small-scale, cold-process canola seed press they brought from Germany.  
"It's generally regarded that the cold-pressed process protects the  
beneficial properties of the oil much better than you find in  
commercially refined oils," says Tony. "Heat, light and oxygen are the  
most damaging elements for oil, so in our process temperatures are  
low, and the canola is processed with a complete exclusion of light  
and oxygen." The final product is also packaged in dark-glass bottles  
to protect the quality.

In the cold press system, the oil expeller operates at temperatures  
between 37°C and 40°C, compared to a commercial refinery that uses  
steam and pre-heats the crushed seed at double those temperatures  
before removing the oil. In the commercial refinery a number of  
additives such as phosphate, caustic soda and diatomaceous earth are  
used in the process to purify and deodorize the oil before it is  
packaged.

"The cold press system is very simple," says Tony. "The seeds are  
crushed at low temperatures, and the oil is allowed to settle before  
it is bottled and sealed in oxygen-free opaque dark glass bottles. It  
is 100% virgin oil that is delivered to retailers the same week it is  
ordered." Along with being darker in color, the cold pressed oil also  
has a distinctive nutty flavor. "We've marketed this oil as a gourmet  
food item," he adds. "Some have described it as Canada's olive oil. It  
has a fatty acid profile very similar to extra virgin olive oil but  
has only about half of the saturated fats, and it has a unique taste.  
It's not intended as an industrial oil or as a cooking oil. It works  
nicely as a salad oil and adds a distinctive flavor to baking."

In the family farm operation, Penny, a home economist by training,  
looks after quality control of products, new product development and  
on-farm crop rotations. Tony is responsible for all aspects of  
production and marketing, while their 2 children, Megan and Kerry,  
help with production and sales. While the bulk of their products are  
marketed by Alberta-based health food stores and specialty food  
markets, Highwood Crossing does sell product across Canada. The  
company also supplies gourmet vegetable oil to about a dozen high-end  
restaurants from Halifax, N.S. to Peachland, B.C.

"The key is to maintain good quality control and bring healthy, high  
quality products to the marketplace," says Tony. "As we moved into  
value-added the processing and marketing side certainly became a much  
larger part of the operation than growing crops. Today I spend 1% of  
my time on the tractor and 99% on the telephone or in front of the  
computer. But marketing is an aspect of the business I enjoy. For me I  
would rather maximize our opportunities with new products and new  
markets than maximize bushels per acre." c

Lee Hart is a field editor for Country Guide Magazine in Calgary.  
Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com


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                                  PART III
------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------
TITLE:  Food fight: Cheese bacteria fight off viral attacks
SOURCE: Scientific American, USA
AUTHOR: Reuters, by Julie Steenhuysen
URL:     
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=B5EDED274DBFE983C9A4BB1F5ED640CC
DATE:   22.03.2007
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Food fight: Cheese bacteria fight off viral attacks

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists have found a way to ensure starter  
cultures used to make cheese can ward off attacks from bacteria-eating  
viruses -- a finding that could mean the difference between a great  
Gouda and wasted milk.

Attacks by viruses known as phages pose a particular problem for  
companies like Danish food ingredient maker Danisco, whose starter  
cultures are used in about half of all the ice cream and cheese  
produced in the world.

"Phages are one of the major causes of product failure for the food  
industry, especially in the dairy industry," said Philippe Horvath, a  
scientist at Danisco's laboratory in Dange-Saint-Romain, France.

The tiny viruses that infect bacteria enter the cell and rapidly  
replicate until the cell ruptures, spreading the virus in a series of  
repeating cycles.

"It's an explosive propagation," he said in a telephone interview.

Horvath and colleagues at Danisco have discovered how to harness  
bacteria's own natural defense mechanisms to produce phage-resistant  
bacteria. They reported their results in Friday's issue of the journal  
Science.

The study helps explain the role of a new family of repetitive  
sequences in the genome of bacteria called CRISPR sequences. They  
resemble some of the DNA sequences in the phages.


"LET NATURE DO THE WORK"

In computer models, scientists proposed that the CRISPR sequences  
allow bacteria to hijack a bit of the virus' genetic code, helping it  
to fight off attacks.

"Our results are the first biological demonstration that CRISPR  
provides a resistance against phages," Horvath said.

The researchers tested their theory on Streptococcus thermophilus, a  
bacteria used in making cheese and yogurt.

They were able to manipulate the DNA within the bacteria, adding a new  
spacer that gave it immunity against the attacking virus.

"We replicated what happens naturally in the lab using molecular  
biology tools. We've also shown that when we artificially take them  
out, the bacteria loses resistance," Horvath said.

Although the Danisco researchers could use the finding to produce  
genetically modified starter cultures for cheese and yogurt, they will  
not, out of respect for concerns over genetically modified organisms  
or GMOs in foods.

"We'll let nature do the work for us by simply challenging the  
bacterium with the phage," he said.

Then, they will simply choose the resistant bacteria for their cell  
cultures, he said


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