AGRICULTURE GENETICS & GENOMICS
Genome of promising biofuel grass sequenced A lot of fuel is required to keep our country running. Americans use an average of 390 million gallons of motor gasoline and 197 million gallons of aviation gasoline, per day, to fuel planes, trains, and automobiles.
USDA, EPA update biotechnology crop regulations In America, crops developed with ge- netic technology are regulated by three federal agencies. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees whether any genetically engineered (GE) plant poses a risk to become a plant pest in the environment. The United States Environmental Pro-
Most of the fuel that we currently consume is fossil fuel formed from the fossilized, buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Fossil fuels are an exhaustible resource that will eventually run out. Burning fossil fuels can also have negative impacts on our envi- ronment through air and water pollution and the release of carbon dioxide. Biofuels are promising substitutes for fossil fuels that are produced from renewable, organic (carbon-containing) materials like plant matter and animal waste. These materials, termed biomass, include agricul- tural crops and agricultural waste, algae, dedicated energy crops, and forestry residues. Miscanthus grasses, which are used in gardens, paper production, and roofing, are a promising source of biomass. A team of researchers recently sequenced the full genome of an ornamental variety of miscanthus. The high-quality genome sequence will help researchers identify genes associated with traits of interest in miscanthus so they can breed or modify plants to improve certain pro- cesses such as biomass output and the ability to bounce back after winter. The genome sequence will also allow researchers to better understand other grasses that may be useful as biomass crops. n
tection Agency (EPA) regulates those GE plants that produce biochemicals used as pesticides. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ensures the safety and labeling of all GE plant-derived food and feed. The USDA and the EPA modified their regulatory require- ments in 2020, allowing certain categories of GE plants to bypass the regulatory process if they met specific conditions. Previously, developers of GE crops had to undergo a lengthy approval process to show their products weren’t plant pests. Under the modified USDA regulations, plants created with biotechnology are exempt from regulatory approval if:
REFERENCE: Mitros T. et al. Genome biology of the paleotetraploid perennial biomass crop Miscanthus, Nature Communications (2021) 11:5442. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18923-6.
• the modified plants don’t pose a plant pest risk • conventional breeding techniques could have developed the same type of plant • the trait combinations are identical to previously-approved plants
The laboratory of HudsonAlpha faculty researcher Kankshita Swaminathan PhD contributed to this work.
How do plants handle stress? Stress impacts the health and wellbeing of all life, even plants. Rice is an important crop, serving as the primary source of daily calories for more than 45% of the global population. Rice thrives in water-logged valleys. However, increased flooding and drought world- wide cause less productive rice plants, impacting the global rice food supply. Scientists are trying to understand how rice plants react to stress in hopes of opening pathways to develop crops that can thrive in marginal conditions and changing climates. Detailed investigations of rice root responses to various water conditions, both excess and drought, have revealed how rice plants respond to water stress and their ability to recover from it. Research- ers identified genetic pathways that allow rice roots to pause the cell cycle and stop growing when the rice shoots are submerged in water, then rapidly return to growing once the shoots have access to air. The investigators also found key differences in how the plant produces a cork-like lipid molecule called suberin under water stress. Suberin insulates plant tissue from water loss during drought and protects against oxygen loss during flooding. Rice roots respond to stress with increased suberin production in both conditions. Suberin has another important characteristic, it resists degradation by soil microbes. Carbon incorporated in suberin remains in the soil and could help with carbon sequestration. These findings show not only how rice responds to climate change but also a new way plants could help us reduce atmospheric carbon. n REFERENCE: Reynoso, M. A., et al. Gene regulatory networks shape developmental plasticity of root cell types under water extremes in rice. J. Dev. Cell (2022) 57:9 1177- 1192.e6. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2022.04.013
The regulations also affirm that as long as there is no plant pest risk, crops developed using gene editing techniques will not require regulatory approval. The USDA has published
a list of exempt plant-trait combinations, which developers can use to determine whether a new GE plant requires regulatory approval. Developers can also submit an “Am I Regulated?” request to the USDA for regulatory determination. Similarly, the EPA's updated rules state that plants engineered to produce pesticides are exempt from regulatory approval if they have a low-risk and could have been created using traditional breeding approaches. Proponents note the new rules are based on decades of scientific research on agricultural biotechnology. They argue that streamlining the regulatory process reduces regulatory burdens for low-risk plants increasing the likelihood of innova- tion in new product development. However, some environmental and public health advocacy groups say the rules now leave most genetically engineered plants unregulated by the USDA and the EPA, leaving consumers unaware of new biotech products. The new rules don’t affect the food safety oversight role of the FDA. n REFERENCES: www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/biotechnology/bio- tech-rule-revision/secure-rule/secure-about www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2020-09/documents/10014-10- prepub-fr-doc-admin_esignature2020-08-31.pdf
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