Site-directed mutagenesis (SDM) is used to study the resulting translation product for functional characterization. Meanwhile, homologous recombination (HR) is a process where homologous DNA fragments exchanges nucleotides to repair DNA breaks. This mechanism was eventually used to modify plasmids and is now called recombineering.

A seed takes months to develop and grow before it yields its bounty, but conflict or natural disasters can — sometimes in a matter of seconds — wipe out an entire season's crop. And slow onset-crises like those associated with climate change sap fields and livestock, taking a steady toll on plant and animal health and culminating in "slow-motion" harvest failures.
 

Scientists at Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), the University of Edinburgh's Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Edinburgh Genomics facility, and Rothamsted Research have sequenced and explored the genome of Ramularia collo-cygni, the pathogenic fungus causing Ramularia leaf spot in barley.

Oil spills garner much public attention and anguish, but "biological spills" represent a greater long-term threat and do not have the same high public profile. It was an exotic fungus that wiped out billions of American chestnut trees in the early 20^th century, dramatically altering the landscape and ecosystem, while today the emerald ash borer - another pest that hitch-hiked along global trade routes to new habitats - threatens to do the same with a valuable tree long used by humans to make tool handles, guitars and office furniture.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced to the public the final version of Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc.'s (OSF) petition seeking regulatory approval for Arctic^® Fuji apples, a genetically engineered (GE) nonbrowning variety. APHIS has previously reviewed and deregulated this trait in other apples.

Researchers at the University of California Davis and Wageningen UR have unravelled the DNA of Pseudocercospora fijiensis, the fungus that causes black Sigatoka disease in bananas globally. The Sigatoka complex's three fungal diseases — yellow Sigatoka (P. musae), eumusae leaf spot (P. eumusae) and black Sigatoka (P. figiensis) — emerged as destructive pathogens in the last century

With this year's main planting season winding down in Ethiopia, there is still a small window of opportunity in September for farmers to plant the last set of crops this year and grow food for millions facing hunger, provided the necessary support arrives on time.

Researchers are constantly tinkering with plant breeding strategies to further improve the development of new high-yielding, stress-tolerant cereal varieties. Small RNAs (sRNA) are small gene-regulating molecules in plant cells involved in stress adaptation. University of Adelaide researchers, led by Haipei Liu (figure), now believe they could be exploited to breed and develop plants with favorable stress tolerant traits.

A report released by Australia's Productivity Commission, Regulation of Agriculture, urges the lifting of state bans on cultivating genetically modified crops. The Commission is calling for regulation to be better informed by evidence. "Some regulation is simply not supported by the evidence, such as bans on genetically modified crops in some states. These regulations are not in the public interest and should be unwound," said Commissioner Paul Lindwall.

Regulators from China's Ministry of Agriculture met with the members of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) in the U.S. to discuss the need to better synchronize regulatory systems and the importance U.S. farmers place upon the availability of new technologies.