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How to say genetic engineering in Italian

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Kerala cannot afford to overlook the potential of Genetically Modified (GM) crops to emerge as a substitute for toxic chemicals used against plant parasites in polyhouse cultivation, Swapan K. Dutta, Deputy Director General (Crop Sciences), Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) has said.

Talking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the National Biennial Group Meeting of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Nematode pests here earlier this week, he said states like Kerala that were increasingly turning to protected cultivation could no longer ignore the benefits of genetic engineering for pest and disease control.

Dr. Dutta said biotechnology and genetic engineering would assume a greater role in the battle against pathogens and plant diseases that caused crop loss. The controlled conditions that help to optimise crop production inside a polyhouse are conducive for pests as well, forcing farmers to use toxic chemicals for control. Through genetic engineering, the plant itself develops protection against pathogens. That way you avoid toxic chemicals. States like Kerala will soon have to pay attention to GM technology.

Highlighting the potential of plant genetic resources, he said, In nature, plants continuously try to defend themselves against hundreds of thousands of pathogenic bacteria and nematodes. If scientists can understand the genes that plants activate against pathogens or diseases, it will be a million dollar discovery with potential impact on plant as well as human health. Understanding the resistance mechanism of the gene could provide a breakthrough in disease control.

Terming Keralas move to switch over to organic farming as a political gimmick, Dr. Dutta said it had no meaning. It is not possible for a whole State to make the switch to organic farming. Our experiments show that organic farming will not give sustainable production and high productivity.

Observing that farmers in Kerala, like their counterparts elsewhere in the country, used subsidized fertilizers and other chemicals, Dr. Dutta noted that there were some niche areas like speciality and high-value fruits and vegetables that could be kept organic. Organic farming helps in increasing soil fertility. But to keep production and productivity high, you need to have other fertilizers.

Dr. Dutta said plant-parasitic soil nematodes, a microscopic variety of worms, constituted a major threat for protected cultivation of fruits, vegetables and flowers. Surveillance, monitoring and pest management assume more importance in protected cultivation.

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ICAR stresses GM technology for Kerala

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

10-Mar-2014

Contact: David Ruth david@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University

In a significant advance for the growing field of synthetic biology, Rice University bioengineers have created a toolkit of genes and hardware that uses colored lights and engineered bacteria to bring both mathematical predictability and cut-and-paste simplicity to the world of genetic circuit design.

"Life is controlled by DNA-based circuits, and these are similar to the circuits found in electronic devices like smartphones and computers," said Rice bioengineer Jeffrey Tabor, the lead researcher on the project. "A major difference is that electrical engineers measure the signals flowing into and out of electronic circuits as voltage, whereas bioengineers measure genetic circuit signals as genes turning on and off."

In a new paper appearing online today in the journal Nature Methods, Tabor and colleagues, including graduate student and lead author Evan Olson, describe a new, ultra high-precision method for creating and measuring gene expression signals in bacteria by combining light-sensing proteins from photosynthetic algae with a simple array of red and green LED lights and standard fluorescent reporter genes. By varying the timing and intensity of the lights, the researchers were able to control exactly when and how much different genes were expressed.

"Light provides us a powerful new method for reliably measuring genetic circuit activity," said Tabor, an assistant professor of bioengineering who also teaches in Rice's Ph.D. program in systems, synthetic and physical biology. "Our work was inspired by the methods that are used to study electronic circuits. Electrical engineers have tools like oscilloscopes and function generators that allow them to measure how voltage signals flow through electrical circuits. Those measurements are essential for making multiple circuits work together properly, so that more complex devices can be built. We have used our light-based tools as a biological function generator and oscilloscope in order to similarly analyze genetic circuits."

Electronic circuits -- like those in computers, smartphones and other devices -- are made up of components like transistors, capacitors and diodes that are connected with wires. As information -- in the form of voltage -- flows through the circuit, the components act upon it. By putting the correct components in the correct order, engineers can build circuits that perform computations and carry out complex information processing.

Genetic circuits also process information. Their components are segments of DNA that control whether or not a gene is expressed. Gene expression is the process in which DNA is read and converted to produce a product -- such as a protein -- that serves a particular purpose in the cell. If a gene is not "expressed," it is turned off, and its product is not produced. The bacteria used in Tabor's study have about 4,000 genes, while humans have about 20,000. The processes of life are coordinated by different combinations and timings of genes turning on and off.

Each component of a genetic circuit acts on the input it receives -- which may be one or more gene-expression products from other components -- and produces its own gene-expression product as an output. By linking the right genetic components together, synthetic biologists like Tabor and his students construct genetic circuits that program cells to carry out complex functions, such as counting, having memory, growing into tissues, or diagnosing the signatures of disease in the body.

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Rice synthetic biologists shine light on genetic circuit analysis

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

10-Mar-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ruehle kruehle@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, March 10, 2014Nearly $7 billion is spent each year in the U.S. on diagnostic testing of the estimated three million people with symptoms of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). A new blood test that detects specific genes activated in individuals with obstructive CAD could exclude the diagnosis without the need for imaging studies or more invasive tests, reducing health care costs, as described in an article in Population Health Management, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Population Health Management website at http://www.liebertpub.com/pop.

Louis Hochheiser (St. John's Medical Center, Jackson, WY), Jessie Juusola and Mark Monane (CardioDx, Palo Alto, CA), and Joseph Ladapo (New York University School of Medicine, NY), use a decision analysis model to compare the cost-effectiveness of "usual care" for obstructive CAD diagnosis with a strategy that includes "gene expression score (GES)-directed care." They present the results and potential value of this new diagnostic approach in the article "Economic Utility of a Blood-Based Genomic Test for the Assessment of Patients with Symptoms Suggestive of Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease".

"Work like this is vital to our understanding as we move from a world of volume to value," says Editor-in-Chief David B. Nash, MD, MBA, Dean and Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor, Jefferson School of Population Health, Philadelphia, PA.

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About the Journal

Population Health Management is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online that reflects the expanding scope of health care management and quality. The Journal delivers a comprehensive, integrated approach to the field of population health and provides information designed to improve the systems and policies that affect health care quality, access, and outcomes. Comprised of peer-reviewed original research papers, clinical research, and case studies, the content encompasses a broad range of chronic diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic pain, diabetes, depression, and obesity) in addition to focusing on various aspects of prevention and wellness. Tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Population Health Management website at http://www.liebertpub.com/pop. Population Health Management is the official journal of the Population Health Alliance.

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Genomic test to rule out obstructive CAD may reduce need for more invasive diagnostics