Brassica vegetables are economically important vegetables with high nutritional value. CRISPR-Cas9-mediated gene editing has been demonstrated in several crops but not in Brassica vegetables. For the first time, researcher Haoru Tang from Sichuan Agricultural University in China and colleagues demonstrate the applicability of CRISPR-Cas9 in editing genes in Chinese kale, a Brassica vegetable that has good flavor and high levels of antioxidants and anticarcinogenic compounds, including vitamin C, carotenoids, total phenolics, and glucosinolates.

The European Commission's chief scientific advisors urged the EC to revise the existing GMO directive 2001/18/EC because the recent ruling of the European Court of Justice has revealed that it is not in line with scientific evidence. "There is a need to improve EU GMO legislation to be clear, evidence-based, implementable, proportionate and flexible enough to cope with future advances in science and technology in this area," they said

Scientists from VIB and Ghent University led by Prof. Dr. Jenny Russinova uncovered a novel mechanism in plants that controls an important decision step in stomatal lineage to divide asymmetrically or to differentiate. It has been known that a GSK3-like kinase simultaneously promotes and inhibits stomatal formation, but it wasn't clear how this exists in the same stomatal lineage cell.

Economists Jesse Tack from Kansas State University and Ariel Ortiz-Bobea of Cornell University published a study in Environmental Research Letters that looked at the impact of climate change on corn yields in eight Midwestern states. They paired 35 years of climatic data with United States producers' adoption of genetically engineered (GE) corn to find out if incorporating a new technology can offset the effects of higher temperatures and other weather impacts.

Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) Senior Research Fellow Dr. Lee Hickey said that plant speed breeding could be part of the solution to minimize the devastating effects of drought and climate change on crops in the future. He added that the technique can enable researchers and plant breeders to deliver more tolerant varieties of crops to farmers sooner.

The Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) applauds the World Trade Organization's (WTO) International Statement on Agricultural Applications of Precision Biotechnology and supports continued global coordination on biotechnology. Canada, together with other countries including the United States of America signed the Statement on October 30, 2018 during the WTO Committee on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures in Geneva.

As Vietnam rapidly progresses towards sustainable rice production, there is an increasing need for the rice sector, such as farmers’ organizations, exporters, food companies, research institutes, and other development oriented groups, to work together for the common vision of the country in becoming a global supplier of sustainable rice.
 

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) guide RNA scaffolds have been adapted to carry multiple binding sites for fluorescent proteins to enhance  brightness for live cell imaging of genomic loci. However, many of these modifications result in guide RNA instability and thus produce lower genome-labeling efficiency than anticipated.

Drought is one of the effects of climate changethat needs serious attention. This year's decreased rainfall and abnormally hotter temperatures in northern and eastern Europe caused large losses in cereals and potato crops and in other horticultural species. Experts have long believed that that to ensure food security, it is becoming necessary to use plant varieties that are productive in drought conditions.

Eighteen senior high school students and their teachers from seven provinces (Laguna, Pampanga, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Agusan del Norte, Iloilo, and Leyte) in the Philippines were selected to represent their respective schools at the Agri-biotech Boot Camp organized by the SEARCA Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA BIC) on November 6-8, 2018.