Genetics & Molecular Biology

Does genetic engineering have a role to play in developing sustainable agricultural systems? Many of the claims of the proponents of agricultural biotechnologies are being challenged by a coalition of public interest groups who represent a range of environmental, food safety and economic concerns. These groups question the compatibility of genetically modified food with sustainable agriculture. For example, Friends of the Earth, a UK-based environmental group, notes: ‘…we promote sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty/security, acting as a counter-balance to the models promoted by…

HIGH FREQUENCY MULTIPLE SHOOT REGENERATION FROM TISSUE CULTURES OF ASPARAGUS RACEMOSUS NEETU VIJAY AND ASHWANI KUMAR* Plant Biotechnology Lab, Department of Botany , University of Rajasthan, Jaipur-302004, ` Email- msku31@yahoo.com asp_neetu@yahoo.co.in * Corresponding author ABSTRACT: Attempts at inducing differentiation in various explants of Asparagus racemosus resulted in the production of abundant shoot buds from the nodal…

 An international team of researchers probing the nerve-insulating myelin sheath have uncovered how mutations affect the structure of myelin, a focal point of research in multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders. The findings were central to the group's broader conclusion that a set of protein processes required in the early-stage conversion of glucose into fatty acids are critical to the proper formation and layering of myelin membrane. The researchers report their  in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Boston College biologists partnered with Dutch,…

Obituary Prof. Dr. Karl-Herrmann Neumann passed away on October 13th 2009. He was born on a farm in Morgendorf near Leitmeritz, now part of Chech Republic. In 1945 his family was transferred to Bernburg, Saxonia-Anhaltinia which became later part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Following some problems with the communist administration, he moved to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1956 where he finished his schooling and entered Justus-Liebig-University Giessen to study agriculture. This included one year mobility to Copenhagen, Denmark majoring in agricultural chemistry, and in…

   

The magnificent plant of Euphorbia Tirucalli, most commonly known as the pencil plant, has a great potential. It naturally produces a poisonous latex...COOL right? Well that isn't the interesting part yet. This latex can be genetically engineered into none other than the very petrolium that the world is so dependent on. This is an amazing discovery right?? Well unfortunately it is little research being done on the topic. The great Melvin Calvin (may he RIP) was researching this topic and predicted that this plant is capable of 10-50 barrels of petrolium per acre. The…

Plant genetic transformation and molecular markers By Ashwani Kumar Pointer Publishers Jaipur India pp 288 ISBN 978-81-7132-613-6 The last three decades have seen momentous developments in plant transformation technologies; such that a large number of transgenic crop plants have now been released for commercial production. Advances in the technology have been due to development of range of Agrobacterium-mediated and direct DNA delivery techniques, along with appropriate tissue culture techniques for regenerating whole plants from plant cells or tissues in a large number of species. Now a…

Biotechnology for food, health and environment Ashwini Kumar Department of Botany University of Rajasthan Jaipur 302004. biotechnology has been increasingly applied to crop agriculture. The manipulation of whole organisms, populations of organisms and nucleic components holds much promise for improving crop productivity designing crops for specific environments Monsanto (St Louis, MO, USA), Novartis (Basel, Germany) and Archer, Daniel, Midlands (ADM) (Decatur, IL, USA) believe so Genetic engineering is applied for crop improvement. Designing crops for specific environments. The…

"What should be the role and focus of biotechnology in the agricultural research agendas of developing countries?" 1. Introduction The second conference to be hosted in the year 2002 by the FAO Electronic Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture deals directly with a topic that has arisen on various occasions in previous conferences of the Forum - the role and focus that biotechnology should have in the agricultural research agendas in developing countries. By dedicating an entire conference to this theme we hope to encourage a useful and positive dialogue that will provide food for…

Conventional types of genetic analysis may not be as accurate as believed, according to researchers writing in Trends in Genetics. Their analysis of penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that they say challenges the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating the age of many specimens by 200 to 600 percent.  So a biological specimen determined by traditional DNA testing to be 100,000 years old may actually be 200,000 to 600,000 years old. They say their…