Scientists find “Orphan Gene” in a single plant species that’ll boost crops protein value

Research from the University of Iowa State has found a gene in Arabidopsis plants that regulates protein content in the plants leaves and seeds. It is called the Orphan Gene because it is only found in this species of plant. Scientists Li and Wurtele came up with the idea that what if they could transgenic technology to implement this gene into staple crops that we commonly eat. The Orphan gene is gene QQS and binds to protein NF-YC4 which is a protein that appears in all plants and animals. By overexpressing this gene, scientists hope to be able to boost the protein value in plants. Since most of the worlds’ diet consists of plant-based protein diets, this could improve the protein quality and rely less on costly meat-based protein. Although research is very costly and could take years, this is only the beginning of this genes discovery, there is a large possibility more of this gene can be discovered and it already has a large potential.

The discovery of this gene can make a huge impact if it is implemented in other plants. Most people in the world already do not get enough protein in their diet, so this could impact the world if these scientists were able to make this work, as well as make sure it is safe. Since this gene was only discovered in 2004 and has limited research on it, hopefully scientists can unlock more mysteries of this gene and put it to good use.

 The original article can be found here.

Scientists have created a plant that rejects its own pollen to reduce inbreeding and less healthy offspring

University of Birmingham scientists took a plant called Arabidopsis Thaliana which is a self-fertile plant and made it reject its own pollen by inserting two genes found in a field poppy called “Papaver rhoeas.” The poppy creates two proteins, PrpS and PrsS which identifies the plant. When a plants flowers receives its own pollen, it recognizes it is from itself, the pollen begins its programmed cell death, and stops itself from germinating. Research shows that when just these two genes alone were transferred into the Arabidopsis Thaliana, it was enough for it to become self-incompatible. In the future, scientists hope to be able to implement this into more crops and breed hybrid plants which give off better yields and strength. They also plan to make F1 hybrids easier as this would make it cheaper and easier for plant breeders to create superior plants and seeds.

This research in this article is particularly interesting because the poppy plant isn’t even closely related to the Arabidopsis plant. It also amazes me how plants can not only reject itself, but can reject close relatives of itself as well. It is fascinating how two different breeds of plant can use the same genes to make the plants work in the same way. If this works and can become implemented into more plants, food quality will soar as well as hopefully be cheaper which can create a big impact on the world.

The Original articlecan be found here

Millions of Liters of Expensive Juice from One Fruit

Nootkatone is an expensive substance that costs more than $4,000 per kilo and can only be found as an aromatic in small quantities within grapefruits. Nootkatone is used in many different industries for a variety of different things. It can work as an insecticide, actively works against cancer cell lines in medicines, it has a nice smell for beauty products, and is even used in soft drinks for a subtle taste.  

"We have installed new genetic information in the yeast Pichia pastoris, so that our cells are able to produce Nootkatone from sugar," says Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology lab reasearcher Tamara Wrlessnegger. The yeast cells had their genomes altered with the addition of four foreign genes from the cress Arabidopsis thaliana, the Egyptian henbane Hyoscyamus muticus, the Nootka cypress Xanthocyparis nootkatensis and yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The aroma from a single grapefruit is then used to create millions of liters of this functional juice. 

I think the use of synthetic biology to solve the problem of acquiring this expensive substance is brilliant. Not only is the industrial and monetary value from an experiment like this great but it give these researchers a chance to perform a practical application of using cells to produce compounds for everyday use. This reminded me of a recent genetics video where scientists used E. coli to produce synthetic spider silk which is just another example of how synthetic biology is being used today. I hope that these types of experiments continue to provide the world with an even greater quality of life from the different substances that can be synthesized. 

Orginal Article : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150415092837.htm

Spider Silk Video: http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/4b4fe394e8729a35a97a00658bf145c9.htm

New function of DICER protein found in plant

An article in Science Daily recently stated that researchers found the function of DICER protein DCL4, in Arabidopsis thaliana, a type of flowering plant. The protein, which is known to produce tiny RNAs, previously had no known function besides producing RNAs.  Scientists now know that the DICER protein is also involved in the termination processes of transcription. DCL4 plays a part in gene silencing at the end of the termination process of transcription. Scientists say that gene silencing is just as important as the formation of gene product. So, paying more attention to the end of the termination processes is crucial, says Professor Caroline Dean from JIC, which is strategically funded by BBSRC. “When termination fails a lot of aberrant RNA is made -- this is degraded as part of a cell's quality control mechanism. This can have consequences for other sequences in the genome that match the aberrant RNA.” "If a gene ends badly, aberrant RNA will trigger silencing pathways," said Dean. This shows that if the there is an error in termination, DCL4 will step in and try to correct the mistakes taken place.

Plants May Have the Genetic Flexibility to Respond to Climate Change

A recent article reports on plant research conducted by a team of Brown University scientists.  Brown University scientists believe they have found the genetic signature that gives the common European plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, an advantage to surviving adverse climates.  For their research, data for 75,000 plants was collected, each of which existed in different climates that included the Arctic Circle and the Mediterranean coast; in addition, the total lifetime for individual plants was measured for one year.  The next step to this research was to identify the variations in the genome among regional plants.  For this, scientist looked to identify SNPs or single-nucleotide polymorphisms: SNPs result when a single nucleotide in a DNA sequence differs from members of the same species.  The team discovered that SNPs have plenty to do with the survival or fitness of the Arabidopsis plant.  For example, the SNPs that control fitness for the cool climate of Finland were unable to survive in the wet conditions of Spain, where the Arabidopsis plant has an SNP allele (SAG21) that allows it to withstand wet conditions.  The findings for this research are important because they give new insight into the evolutionary adaptation plants.