Mycoplasma pneumoniae, one of the smallest known species of bacteria, was modified by scientists to re-purpose it into attacking Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a type of bacteria that commonly infects critically-ill patients who require machine ventilators to breathe. This is a promising strategy to address the leading case of mortality in hospitals, according to one of the co-corresponding authors of the study.

Researchers from Nanjing Agricultural University and partners reported that mutation of OsLPR3 improves tolerance to phosphate starvation in rice. Their findings are reported in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Low Phosphate Root (LPR) codes for a protein in the endoplasmic reticulum and cell wall. It has a vital role in plant's reaction to phosphate (Pi) deprivation, particularly in modifying the root system architecture

SCiFi Foods, a food tech startup company based in San Francisco, California, is creating transformational meat products by combining cultivated meat with plant-based ingredients to make burgers that are close in taste to conventional beef. SCiFi burgers are made of real cultivated beef cells that were grown without the animal, and a mix of plant-based ingredients.

ISAAA Inc., in cooperation with the US Department of Agriculture under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) High-Level Policy Dialogue on Agricultural Biotechnology (HLPDAB) Forum, organizes the virtual workshop titled Building Knowledge and Regulatory Capacity in Animal (Livestock and Aquaculture) Biotech (GE and GnEd) in Response to Climate Change to be held on February 27-28, 9 AM-12PM GMT+8 (February 26-27, 8 PM-11 PM EST). ISAAA Inc. will host the event via Zoom.

The economic shock caused by the war in Ukraine - nearly 85% of wheat imports came to Egypt from Russia and Ukraine before the war - added to two years of turbulence associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, says the article.  Since March 2022, 85% of households [in Egypt] have reduced the consumption of meat, 75% -- consumption of chicken and eggs, 61% -- consumption of fish and milk, says the article with reference to IFPRI.

Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2019, Ronald has received numerous honors, including the 2019 American Society of Plant Biologists Leadership in Science Policy Public Service Award, the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences World Agriculture Prize in 2020, the 2022 Wolf Prize in Agriculture, and the 2022 Vinfuture Prize for Innovative Female Scientist, which recognized her pioneering work on disease resistance and environmental stress tolerance in rice.

Millets encompass a diverse group of small-grained, dryland cereals including foxtail, barnyard and fonio, among others.  As whole grains, millets are a good source of essential nutrients. Millets are primarily grown in Asia and Africa, with India being the top producer followed by Nigeria, Niger and China. They were among the first plants to be domesticated and still serve as a traditional staple crop in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

CRISP-Cas9 gene drives could help control infectious diseases by accelerating the spread of engineered traits that limit parasite transmission in wild populations. However, gene drive technology in mollusks has received little attention despite freshwater snails being hosts of parasitic flukes that cause 200 million annual cases of schistosomiasis.

A team of scientists from the University of California San Diego and the University of California Berkeley developed a new system to effectively convert split gene drives (sGDs) into fully-functioning full gene drives (fGDs) using CRISPR-Cas9. The new system could help develop real-world applications to curb global challenges like the spread of malaria.

Experts on gene drive, conservation, population modelling, stakeholder engagement and other fields gathered to discuss the value of establishing a global project registry to coordinate gene drive's research and data, evaluate its potential impacts and facilitate communication with stakeholders and general public on the matter. The result of the workshop was recently published in the journal Nature.