Widespread RNA and DNA Sequence Differences in the Human Transcriptome.

Dear all,

A handful of DNA sequences are not transcribed into their cognate RNA sequences, a finding that could overthrow the 50-year-old central dogma of molecular biology.

To know more about this interesting paper,please find the link attached below.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/05/18/science.1207018.full.pdf

With regards,

Mahantesha

3 Students Finalists In Biotechnology Research Competition

Saturday, April 2, 2011
Three teens have made it through the first round of one of the most prestigious high school science competitions in the country.
Students Kayla Dowell from Manhattan, Megan Haghnegahdar from Shawnee, and Megan Smith from Lenexa were named finalists today in the Kansas BioGENEius Challenge. They will go on to compete May 5 th for the opportunity to advance to the U.S. National BioGENEius Challenge.
These students, along with four finalists from the Greater Kansas City State Science and Engineering Fair, will present their research May 5th to the KansasBio Board of Directors. Ultimately, only three winners out of the seven finalists will be selected to go on to compete in the U.S. National BioGENEius Challenge in Washington, D.C. in June.
Ten U.S. National finalists will be selected to join students from Canada and Australia to compete in the International BioGENEius Challenge. The U.S. National and International BioGENEius Challenges are competitions for high school students who demonstrate an exemplary understanding of biotechnology through science research projects.
Kayla Dowell, Manhattan, is a junior home schooled at the Germann Hills Christian School. Her project title is Using Near-infrared Spectroscopy to Detect the Anti-malarial Artemisinin In Plant Extracts;
Megan Haghnegahdar, Shawnee, is a senior at Shawnee Mission West High School. Her project title is Impact of fluoroquinolone induced resistance on the intrinsic expression of P-glycoprotein phenotype on corneal epithelial cells; and
Megan Smith, Lenexa, is a junior at Shawnee Mission West High School. Her project title is The Effect of Glucose and Sucrose as Dietary Additives on the Lifespan Of Wild-Type and GAPDH Mutant C. Elegans.
The International BioGENEius Challenge is organized by the Biotechnology Institute, the national organization dedicated to biotechnology education, and sponsored by Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis, a leading global pharmaceutical company, and Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.
At the Local, U.S. National and International competitions, students are evaluated on the quality of their research and display, as well as on their responses to questions relating to their scientific knowledge and potential commercial applications of their research.
“For more than 15 years, the aim of the International BioGENEius Challenge has been to engage, excite and educate students about biotechnology and its immense potential for solving human health, food and environmental problems,” said Tom Wiggans, Chairman of the Board of the Biotechnology Institute. “By highlighting the amazing research of these students, we hope to encourage other students to consider pursuing a career in biotechnology.”
The International BioGENEius Challenge emerged from the Aventis Biotech Challenge and BioGENEius Award, which both owe their beginnings to the first BIO International Convention in 1994. Today, the initiative has grown to national and international prominence.
Sanofi Pasteur has supported the BioGENEius Challenge since its inception. In addition to Sanofi Pasteur and Janssen, additional support for the BioGENEius Challenge is provided by International Sponsors Genentech and Amgen and U.S. National Sponsors Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inspire Pharmaceuticals and Sangamo BioSciences.

Biotechnology vital for rapid agriculture growth

KARACHI: The use of biotechnology approach is vital for rapid agriculture development and healthcare in the country, a leadig scientist of the country said on Friday.

“The potential of biotech crops for the future is enormous,” said Dr M Iqbal Choudhary, Director of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi. Droughts, floods, and temperature changes are predicted to become more prevalent and more severe, Choudhary said delivering a lecture at the ICCBS.

“We face the new challenges associated with the climate change, and hence, there will be a need for faster crop improvement programmes,” Choudhary said. There should be a national strategy and plan of action to use this revolutionary science, he said.

Biotech crops already contribute to some of the major challenges facing global society, including: food security and self-sufficiency, sustainability, alleviation of poverty and hunger, help in mitigating some of the challenges associated with climate change and global warming.

Nations are multiplying their agriculture productivity, preventing disease prevalence by universal vaccination, and solving the problem of environmental pollution, Pakistan should also chalk out a national strategy and plan of action to use this revolutionary science for solving preventing problems and for rapid development.

He said that there is a rapid population increase and in view of this Biotech crops can increase productivity and income significantly, and hence, can serve as an engine of rural economic growth that can contribute to the alleviation of poverty for the small and resource-poor farmers.

Dr Iqbal said that several biotech crop tools, including tissue culture, diagnostics, genomic, molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) and biotech crops can be used Choudhary collectively for speeding up the breeding and help mitigate the effects of climate change.

Cultivable land shrinks in India

The cultivable land in India has shrunk marginally by 0.43% to 182.39 million hectare in last five years.

This is due to shift in area for non-agricultural purposes such as buildings, road and railways among others.

The total agricultural land in 2003-04 was 183.19 million hectares against 182.39 million hectare in 2008-09, a fall of 0.80 million hectare, according to the government data.

Major foodgrains producing states like Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar and Kerala are also witnessing this disturbing trend as it does not augur well for the agriculture sector

In Punjab, "the food basket of the nation", the agricultural land has shrunk by 0.33% to 42.15 lakh hectare in 2008-09 from 42.29 lakh hectare in 2006-07, according to the data.

Similar is the case with West Bengal and Bihar, the major rice producing regions of the country, where area under agricultural land declined by 62,000 hectare and 1000 hectare respectively in 2008-09 as compared to 2006-07.

Among Southern states, Kerala saw a drop in agri land by 24,000 hectare due to this factor during the period.

Interestingly, Gujarat, Odissa and Tripura remained unaffected.

In order to stop conversion of agriculture land for non-agriculture purposes, the government has formulated the National Policy for Farmers and the National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy.

The National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy 2007 envisages that projects should be set up on waste land, degraded land or un-irrigated land.

Besides this, the policy has stated that the acquisition of cultivable land for non-agriculture purposes should be kept to the minimum.

Agriculture sector green house emissions decline 3 pct in India

Emissions of harmful green house gases (GHG) from the agriculture sector in India declined 3 per cent in a period of about 13 years to 2007 due to the adoption of advanced farm technologies.

CHG emissions declined from 344.48 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 1994 to 334.41 million tonnes in 2007, according to the government data.

The data has been provided by Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA), a programme that brings together over 120 institutions and over 220 scientists from across the country to undertake scientific assessments of different aspects of climate change.

Agriculture has been seen as producing significant effects on climate change, primarily through the production and release of CHGs like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide and also by altering the earth's land cover, which can change its ability to absorb or reflect heat and light, thus contributing to radiative forcing.

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Methane and Nitrous Oxide are the two major GHGs emitted from rice ecosystems due to conventional method of rice cultivation, soil management and crop residue burning.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and different state Agricultural Universities (SAUs) have been evolving technologies to reduce these emissions without compromising the foodgrain production.

These technologies include improved irrigation management, cultivation of aerobic rice, direct-seeded rice and system of rice intensification (SRI) and use of neem coated urea.

Recently, ICAR has initiated a programme "National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture" to strengthen the climate change resilient research in agriculture and allied sectors and demonstrate climate resilient technologies at farmers field.

Lab25_joining_treat_22-03-2011

Adapting biotechnology is a must - Scott

Accra, March 15, GNA - Mr George Scott, Chief Director of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, on Tuesday said adapting to the use of biotechnology in Ghana and other developing countries 93is a must".

He however cautioned that care must be taken in formulating laws on biotechnology and bio-safety issues since there were risk elements to using biotechnology in food production.

"Ghana is yet to pass a law on bio-safety and biotechnology, the draft law is before parliament," Mr Scott said at the opening of a four-day workshop organized by the Ministry with support from the Economic Commu nity of West African States (ECOWAS) to analyze a draft document.

The document drafted by ECOWAS is to ensure that all 16 member countries apply similar laws on biotechnology and bio-safety issues. Biotechnology involves the use of genes, cells and tissues to manufacture substances including food.

Mr Scott said Ghana did not have all the needed capacity to manage modern biotechnology as in the developed countries hence the need to critically examine the law to suits the country. He said modern biotechnology complemented traditional technologies in effectively addressing food security problems while increasing farmers' income.

"Biotechnology has a role to play in forest regeneration through the supply of large quantities of planting materials," he said and added that it also offered the opportunity for the development and application of rhizobia for nitrogen fixation and mycorriza fungus for enhanced phosphorous availability.

Mr Bougonou Djeri-Alassan, Head of Policies and Regulation of Environment Directorate at the ECOWAS Commission, said the Commission wanted member-countries to be involved in drafting laws that suited their countries and at the same time to be similar to all countries. He said ECOWAS was involved because of the issue of free movement of people and goods and the fact that one country's Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) could easily cross borders to another country.