Scientists at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science reported their discovery of a hormone-like small protein that helps plants increase their tolerance to excessive salt. The report is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS). They started the study by looking for small proteins linked to salinity tolerance through microarray analysis.

Heterosis is a fundamental biological phenomenon and important to crop and animal production. However, molecular mechanisms for heterosis remain elusive. Ethylene promotes fruit ripening but inhibits vegetative growth. Here we report that diurnal down-regulation of ethylene biosynthesis genes in Arabidopsis thaliana F1 hybrids corresponds to the decrease of ethylene production and biomass heterosis. Expression of ACS genes is diurnally and indirectly regulated by CCA1 during the day and directly regulated by PIF5 at night.

Filipino lawmakers on Monday called for the continued advancement of biotechnology in the country during the opening of the Biotechnology Exhibit in the House of Representatives themed Bioteknolohiya: Pambansang Hamon, Pambansang Solusyon (Biotechnology: Our Nation's Challenge, Our Nation's Solution). The exhibit was organized by the Department of Agriculture's Biotechnology Program Office from May 21-24, 2018 at the North Wing Lobby of the House of Representatives.

 - Dr. Nguyễn Hữu Hỷ leaving for Thailand to participate the Third Asian Cassava Breeding, December 2-7, 2017.

 - Dr. Trương Vĩnh Hải leaving for China to join APEC meeting on agricultural data sharing and technology services; December 07-09, 2017.

Mr. Kang, Beom Kyu, The National Institute of Crop Sciences (NICS), Korea, collaborated with Hung Loc Centre’s scientists to Development of efficient soybean breeding system by improving generation acceleration and seed multiplication methods projects; April 16 – 20, 2018.

After the study on DNA structure (April 25, 1953) by James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin; rice genome as well as crop species has been developed in term of a new era of green revolution with the emphasis on genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics.

Following impressive GDP growth of 6.81 per cent in 2017, the government has released a set of measures and priorities to achieve socio-economic development targets in 2018. Vietnam set a target of 2.94 per cent growth for the agriculture sector, with exports hitting $36.37 billion (a new record). The economy of Vietnam is the 47^th largest economy in the world measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and 35^th largest in the world measured by purchasing power parity (PPP).