An international research team from Europe and the United States have sequenced the genome of the seagrass Zostera marina, an eelgrass taken from the Archipelago Sea off Finland. It is the first marine flowering plant to be fully sequenced, and its genome provides insight to extreme genetic plant adaptations.

Researchers from Purdue University found that engineering plants to produce high levels of the protein PYL9 dramatically boosted drought tolerance in rice and the model plant Arabidopsis. The new study offers insights into the drought survival mechanisms of plants and presents a possible means of protecting crops from severe drought stress.

Small RNAs (sRNAs) are endogenous sRNAs that play regulatory roles in plant growth, development, and biotic and abiotic stress responses. In plants, one subset of sRNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) exhibit tissue-differential expression and regulate gene expression mainly through direct cleavage of mRNA or indirectly via production of secondary phased siRNAs (phasiRNAs) that silence cognate target transcripts in trans.

For more than 50 years, IRRI has been the home of the most brilliant minds in rice research and agriculture. Thousands of scientists from all across the globe had been trained at IRRI, and later on became leaders and policy makers in their fields and home countries. IRRI offers intensive training in rice research with the goal of empowering scientists, farmers, and other rice workers and ensuring that they have the proper knowledge and crop management strategies that they can share with their respective communities.

WHO 22 January 2016 -- Today, there are over 10 000 survivors of Ebola virus disease. A number of medical problems have been reported in survivors, including mental health issues. Ebola virus may persist in some body fluids, including semen. Ebola survivors need comprehensive support for the medical and psychosocial challenges they face and also to minimize the risk of continued Ebola virus transmission.

WHO is calling on governments to rate movies that portray tobacco use in a bid to prevent children and adolescents from starting to smoke cigarettes and use other forms of tobacco.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) called for written submissions on applications to seek approval for food derived from a genetically modified corn line MZIR098 that is tolerant to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium and protected against corn rootworm. The application for approval was submitted by Syngenta Australia Pty Ltd.

Grafting is an agricultural practice that dates back nearly 3,000 years when people from ancient China to Greece realized that joining a cut branch from one plant to the stalk of another could improve crop quality. Recently, a study conducted by researchers from the Salk Institute and Cambridge University has shown that grafted plants share epigenetic traits. The team discovered that the two grafted plants keep their original genomes and do not share DNAs, but epigenetic information is being communicated within the plant.

An international team of researchers from the University of Turin (Italy), and the University of California Davis (USA) has sequenced the genome of globe artichoke. The globe artichoke was domesticated in the Mediterranean region, with Italy as the top producing country and has the richest primary gene pool. The globe artichoke genome assembly covers 725 of the 1,084 Mb genome. The sequence codes for about 27,000 genes, which were also structurally and functionally annotated

ISAAA releases annual report in 2015. The report features the efforts and accomplishments of ISAAA for 2015 as its contribution for the global populace. ISAAA continues to feed the world with knowledge, strengthen skills, and unify voices with the hope that crop biotechnology will provide solutions to the most pressing needs of farmers, consumers, and the whole community.