(Eurekalert) The end of the reproductive period, when flowers and fruits are produced, is a crucial moment in the life cycle of plants. However, the factors that control this process still need to be better understood. A research team led by the Research Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP), a joint centre of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spanish National Research Council) (CSIC) and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), has found that a gene called FUL controls the duration of the reproductive phase in crops such as peas. This gene would be used as a biotechnological tool to prolong this phase, thus increasing the production of fruits and seeds in peas and other legumes such as chickpeas, lentils or beans. The work has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Annual plants have only one reproductive season, producing flowers and fruits. Scientists are looking for genetic factors that cause plants to stop flowering to control the length of their reproductive phase. A few years ago, the group led by Cristina Ferrándiz, a CSIC research professor at the IBMCP, identified a gene called FUL (FRUITFULL) as a very important regulator of the flowering stops.
Additional Extract:
"We have seen that mutations that lead to a loss of function of the FUL genes in peas cause the plants to produce flowers, and consequently fruits, for much longer. This tells us that FUL controls the duration of the reproductive phase not only in the laboratory plant Arabidopsis but also in other species, including crop plants," explains Ferrándiz. "The prolonged flower and fruit production means that in certain pea varieties, mutations in the FUL genes can double the seed production, with identical nutritional characteristics to non-mutant plants, both in the greenhouse and the field," he says.
Mutants generated by classical methods
..,"the method for obtaining new plant varieties can be based on traditional mutagenesis, as used today and in this study, or on gene editing using CRISPR, the most promising and powerful tool for precision agriculture in the near future," says Francisco Madueño.
Looks like surf clams may be a component of the diet of the future despite suffering a die off:
Surf Clams Off the Coast of Virginia Reappear – and Rebound April 19, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) The Atlantic surfclam, an economically valuable species that is the main ingredient in clam chowder and fried clam strips, has returned to Virginia waters in a big way, reversing a die-off that started more than two decades ago.
In a comprehensive study of surfclams collected from an area about 45 miles due east from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Rutgers scientists found the population to be thriving and growing. A likely reason could be that environmental conditions improved, and another possibility is that the clams adapted, the scientists said. The report, published in the science journal Estuaries and Coasts, details the characteristics of a population of healthy-size surfclams of different ages living just under the surface of the sandy ocean bottom.
And it’s all a bit of a surprise.
“It’s unexpected and it’s good news,” said Daphne Munroe, an associate professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences in the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, and an author of the study. “They disappeared some time ago – we thought they were gone. But we found there were more clams there than we thought we were going to see. And they are flourishing.”
Surfclams started disappearing from waters off the coast of Virginia in the late 1990s, affected by warming water, Munroe said. By the turn of the 21st century, there were too few present to justify fishing in those waters.
One day in 2021, Munroe received a phone call from one of her fishing partners with whom she often collaborates.
Taiwan-Swiss Collaboration Develops High Vitamin B1 Rice by Michael Nakhiengchanh
April 19, 2024
Introduction:
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwan-Swiss team has developed a new strain of rice that contains three to four times the vitamin B1 compared to normal rice.
The team included researchers from National Chung Hsing University (NCHU), University of Geneva, and ETH Zurich, per CNA. The findings were published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal on March 27.
Department of Plant Sciences Professor Teresa Fitzpatrick from the University of Geneva specializes in the biosynthesis and degradation pathways of vitamins in plants. Fitzpatrick, who led the team, said the research focused on increasing the vitamin B1 content in rice embryos through a process called biofortification.
As most vitamins cannot be produced by the body, they must be supplied by the diet, per myScience. Rice, as a staple crop for half the world’s population, loses up to 90% of its vitamin B1 through polishing.
After undergoing biofortification, the seeds were planted in an experimental field at NCHU’s Agriculture Experimental Station, where the team conducted multiple field trials on the rice varieties.
Towards Sustainable Food Systems: Global Initiatives and Innovations April 23, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) Contemporary food systems were originally developed to tackle challenges of the mid-20th century, aiming to supply abundant, efficient, non-perishable starchy calories to accommodate the expanding global population. Although substantial progress has been made in global food security over the past several decades, there still exist large populations experiencing hunger worldwide. Currently, global hunger primarily refers to insufficient calorie intake. Hidden hunger is the presence of multiple micronutrient in the absence of an energy-deficit diet. Hidden hunger, particularly the inadequate consumption of high-quality protein, has resulted in significant but often unnoticed health consequences. Resolving the hidden hunger for people is the central to meeting the UN SDGs, especially for SDG2. The global food system is at a critical juncture, facing a confluence of challenges and opportunities that demand a profound transformation. Transforming the food system can improve access to nutritious and affordable food for vulnerable populations and enhance global food security.
Prof. Lin Ma from Nanjing University and his team proposed a three-step approach to transform the food system by integrating various novel technologies. The primary task at the current global stage is to address the issue of hunger. The first step should focus on addressing people’s calorie needs, which are essential for achieving the SDG Zero Hunger goal. While addressing calorie requirements, efforts should couple crop and livestock cycles to reduce environmental pollution caused during the food production process. The second step should consider people’s demand for high-quality protein, enabling the transition from simply eating enough to eating well. At this stage, emission reduction technologies should be introduced to reduce environmental pollution during the food production process. The third step is to enhance global food production efficiency and environmental sustainability, ensuring that natural resource consumption and environmental emissions associated with food production remain within planetary boundaries.
Green Intelligent Fertilizers Promote Green and Sustainable Development of Fertilizer Industry and Agriculture April 23, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) Fertilizers are an important strategic material for ensuring food security at the national and personal levels. China has emerged as a pivotal contributor to this development, now being the largest producer and consumer of synthetic fertilizers. However, long-term extensive and unevenness fertilizer use has resulted in macronutrient surpluses and micronutrient lacks in many regions. For a long time, the development of China’s fertilizer industry is dominated by industrial production, and whether fertilizer products match agricultural demands has been overlooked. Fertilizer production has always pursued high concentration, purity, and solubility, which not only fails to improve nutrient utilization but also easily leads to plant nutritional imbalance. The existing fertilizer products are increasingly disconnected from agricultural demands. In addition, the fertilizer industry has high resource consumption, energy consumption, and industrial waste discharge, making it a key guiding industry for the country to implement dual carbon emission reduction. To align with the principles of green and sustainability, it is imperative to bridge the gap between fertilizer industry and agriculture, promote ecofriendly green chemical technology practices throughout the fertilizer industry chain and foster innovation in the development of novel fertilizers.
Prof. Fusuo Zhang from China Agricultural University and his team, based on the requirements of green and sustainable development, have innovatively proposed the concept of green intelligent fertilizer and its innovative strategies and pathways from the integration of industry and agriculture and interdisciplinary collaboration, in response to the current production status and existing problems in the fertilizer industry. Green intelligent fertilizers are new types of high-quality fertilizers produced based on the principles of optimized plant nutrition that matches crops, soils and the environment, using the big-data intelligent algorithms for targeted supply-demand matching, activating root-fertilizer synergy or feedback by intensifying crop biological potential, developing advanced green manufacturing technology to stimulate crop rhizosphere effects and fully exploiting mineral resources contained in raw materials. Such fertilizers have the characteristics of high nutrient efficiency, low-carbon production and use footprint, and maximized utilization of nutrient resources in the whole industry chain.
Superfood protein pulled out of thin air massively scales up production
By Bronwyn Thompson
April 24, 2024
The world's first commercial-scale factory for making nutrient-rich and versatile protein from air and sustainable energy has opened its doors in Finland, and the startup behind it aims to have its microbe-made food out in the US later this year. Solar Foods is just one of a handful vying for pole position in a burgeoning 'air-protein' market that's expected to be worth US$100 million by 2032.
The protein, called Solein (no, not soylent green; solar-protein), is the brainchild of Pasi Vainikka and bioprocesses scientist Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, who started Solar Foods on the back of this creation. Pitkänen knew of single-cell soil-dwelling microbes that oxidize hydrogen for energy, and he was certain they could be harvested and harnessed to produce cellular food.
While the pair remains secretive of the exact microbial species and origin – not surprising, there's a whole lot of money to be made in this burgeoning industry of alternative food production – they have revealed they're found close to the shore in the Baltic Sea.
Plastic Food Packaging Contains Harmful Substances April 25, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) Plastic is a very complex material that can contain many different chemicals, some of which can be harmful. This is also true for plastic food packaging.
“We found as many as 9936 different chemicals in a single plastic product used as food packaging,” said Martin Wagner, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU’s) Department of Biology.
Wagner has been working with chemicals in plastic products for several years. He is part of a research group at NTNU that has now published its findings in the Environmental Science & Technology journal. PhD candidates Molly McPartland and Sarah Stevens from NTNU are the lead authors of both studies.
Interfering with hormones and metabolism
In one study, the researchers looked at 36 different plastic products that are used to package food. These products came from five countries; the United States, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany and Norway.
“In most of these plastic products, we found chemicals that can affect the secretion of hormones and metabolism,” Wagner said.
Artificial Intelligence to Make Crop Production More Sustainable May 6, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) Drones monitoring fields for weeds and robots targeting and treating crop diseases may sound like science fiction but is actually happening already, at least on some experimental farms. Researchers from the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn are working on driving forward the smart digitalization of agriculture and have now published a list of the research questions that will need to be tackled as a priority in the future. Their paper has appeared in the European Journal of Agronomy.
That the Earth feeds over eight billion people nowadays is thanks not least to modern high-performance agriculture. However, this success comes at a high cost. Current cultivation methods are threatening biodiversity, while the production of synthetic fertilizers generates greenhouse gases, and agricultural chemicals are polluting bodies of water and the environment.
Many of these problems can be mitigated by using more targeted methods, e.g. by only applying herbicides to those patches of a field where weeds are actually becoming a problem rather than treating the whole area. Other possibilities are to treat diseased crops individually and to only apply fertilizer where it is really needed. Yet strategies like these are extremely complicated and virtually impossible to manage at scale by conventional means.
Harnessing high tech and AI to become more sustainable and efficient
“One answer could be to use smart digital technologies,” explains Hugo Storm, a member of the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence. The University of Bonn has partnered with Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing in Sankt Augustin, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research in Müncheberg and the Institute of Sugar Beet Research in Göttingen on the large-scale project geared toward making farming more efficient and more environmentally friendly using new technologies and artificial intelligence (AI).
(European Journal of Agronomy) The rapid decline in the cost of sensors, robots, and computing power, as well as rapid advances in AI, offer opportunities for sustainable intensification (Grieve et al., 2019). Existing precision agriculture tools are becoming increasingly connected, accurate, efficient, and widely applicable (Finger et al., 2019). Combining these tools with process-based agro-ecosystem models enables new ways of crop management by predicting plant ideotypes for specific environments (Lynch et al., 2022), by predicting the performance of crops in a specific environment, the development of diseases, pests, and weeds or the demand for nutrients (Caubel et al., 2017, Colbach et al., 2014, Seidel et al., 2021). These models also enable the assessment of the impacts of novel technologies from local to landscape or regional scales (Duru et al., 2015, Kersebaum et al., 2015), which may contribute to the design of more effective policies and regulations and enable new field arrangements.
New $3.7 Million Climate Crop Lab Will Create Food for ‘Tomorrow’s Atmosphere Today’ May 8, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) A unique $3.7m plant lab will put researchers on the frontline in the fight against climate change and create crops for “tomorrow’s atmosphere today”.
The new flagship facility at the University of Essex will allow scientists to adapt plants for a hotter drier planet as food security is increasingly threatened.
It boasts a cutting-edge commercially standard vertical farm, an indoor field that replicates real environments anywhere in the globe, and suites that imitate a warming world – with researchers able to raise CO2 concentration and temperature levels at will.
Computer plant scanning technology will also be used to monitor plants as they grow – and pinpoint precise changes in photosynthesis.
The research will be underpinned by AI and robotics that will develop new ideas, technologies, and strategies to predict how agriculture and the natural world are changing.
Why are some people making it harder for other people to do good and actually move their country forward? Not only scientists need to do difficult and costly science for extended periods of time, but also entrepreneurs need to be wary of difficult people, including politicians who make their lives harder and the world worse off...
Latin American Snacks Eat at U.S. Market by Marina E. Franco
May 21, 2024
Introduction:
(Axios) Latin American treats like Gansitos and Canelitas cookies are slowly growing their share of the U.S. snack market — and not just in Latino communities.
The big picture: The boom in these snacks comes as the purchasing power of Latino communities has been rising, and as the U.S. Hispanic population has soared in numbers and spread across the country.
• The products' popularity among U.S. Hispanics has slowly "influenced American food culture" and "consumers across cultural and linguistic barriers" are now embracing these brands, according to statements made last year by Luis Alfaro, brand leader of Tajín for the U.S.
• A 2023 Mondelez report on the "State of Snacking" also notes that, as immigration makes certain flavors more readily available, people's palates change and general consumers are increasingly drawn to those "global tastes."
State of play: In the past few years, brands like Takis and Topo Chico have become staple goods sold in supermarkets and coffee shops across the U.S., even garnering "product of the year" prizes and recognition as goods that "have successfully disrupted the market," per NielsenIQ.
This sort of news (see article cited below) has the potential of affecting food consumption patterns in the future, especially in the so-called developed countries.
Eating More Ultra-processed Foods Tied to Cognitive Decline and Stroke May 22 , 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) MINNEAPOLIS – People who eat more ultra-processed foods like soft drinks, chips and cookies may have a higher risk of having memory and thinking problems and having a stroke than those who eat fewer processed foods, according to a new study published in the May 22, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that eating ultra-processed foods causes memory and thinking problems and stroke. It only shows an association.
Ultra-processed foods are high in added sugar, fat and salt, and low in protein and fiber. They include soft drinks, salty and sugary snacks, ice cream, hamburger, canned baked beans, ketchup, mayonnaise, packaged breads and flavored cereals. Unprocessed or minimally processed foods include meats such as simple cuts of beef, pork and chicken, and vegetables and fruits.
“While a healthy diet is important in maintaining brain health among older adults, the most important dietary choices for your brain remain unclear,” said study author W. Taylor Kimberly, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “We found that increased consumption of ultra-processed foods was associated with a higher risk of both stroke and cognitive impairment, and the association between ultra-processed foods and stroke was greater among Black participants.”
For the study, researchers looked at 30,239 people age 45 or older who self-identified as Black or white. They were followed an average of eleven years.
When posting to social media channels about this research, we encourage you to use the hashtags #Neurology and #AANscience.
Below is the sort of news I suppose most of you expect (or hope) to read in this thread. It is more technologically oriented.
Gene Could Unlock Big Wheat Yields for a Growing Population May 22, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) A study from the University of Adelaide has discovered molecular pathways regulated by a gene traditionally used to control wheat-flowering behaviour could be altered to achieve greater yields.
The gene is called Photoperiod-1 (Ppd-1) and it is used regularly by breeders to ensure wheat crops flower and set grain earlier in the season, avoiding the harsh conditions of summer. However, there are known drawbacks.
“While this variation benefits wheat productivity by aligning pollination and grain development with more favourable environmental conditions, it also penalises yield by reducing the number of grain-bearing florets and spikelets that form on the wheat inflorescence,” says Dr Scott Boden, a Future Fellow at the University of Adelaide’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine.
By examining genes whose expression is influenced by Ppd-1, Dr Boden’s research team discovered two transcription factors that can be edited to influence the number and arrangement of grain-bearing spikelets that form on a wheat ear, as well as the timing of ear emergence.
“The deletion of one transcription factor, called ALOG1, increases branching in both wheat and barley, which normally form unbranched inflorescences, and suggests that this gene could be a major regulator of unbranched spikes in the Triticeae family of crops,” Dr Boden says.
Roots are a Key to Drought-tolerant Maize May 22 , 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) Maize can grow successfully in very different local conditions. An international study headed by the University of Bonn has now demonstrated the important role of the plant root system. The researchers analyzed more than 9,000 varieties in the study and were able to show that their roots varied considerably – depending on how dry the location is where each variety was cultivated. They were also able to identify an important gene that plays a role in the plant’s ability to adapt. This gene could be the key to developing varieties of maize that cope better with climate change. The results were recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Genetics.
It is a bushy plant with highly branched stems. Finger-length ears grow from the axils of their elongated leaves and every one of them consists of a dozen rock-hard seeds.
You have to look very closely to recognize kinship with one of the world’s most important cultivated plants. And yet experts all agree that the genus teosinte is the ancestral form of all modern varieties of maize. Farmers in southwest Mexico began to select the progeny of teosinte plants that produced the most grains, and the tastiest grains, more than 9,000 years ago. Modern maize crops were cultivated in this way over the course of many generations and now maize is cultivated across all the continents. “We know that the appearance of the plants changed significantly during this time and, for example, the cobs have become much bigger and more prolific,” explains Prof. Dr. Frank Hochholdinger from the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES) at the University of Bonn. “Up to now relatively little has been known, however, about how the root system developed over this period of domestication and afterwards.”
Roots in paper cigars
This has now changed thanks to the new study. Over the last eight years, the participating research groups have investigated around 9,000 varieties of maize and 170 varieties of teosinte around the world.
“Whole Fruit” Chocolate Could be Healthier and More Sustainable by Eth Zurich
May 22, 2024
Introduction:
(Futurity) Chocolate’s main components are cocoa mass and cocoa butter, which are extracted from the cocoa fruit. What is less known, however, is that the cocoa fruit contains additional valuable ingredients that have been underutilized until now.
As part of an Innosuisse project, a research team led by Erich Windhab, professor emeritus at ETH Zurich, worked together with start-up Koa, which is dedicated to sustainable cocoa fruit cultivation, and Swiss chocolate manufacturer Felchlin to develop a recipe for cocoa fruit chocolate.
The cocoa fruit is similar to the honeydew melon, says Kim Mishra, main author of the study in the journal Nature Food. “These fruits have similar structures. Both have a hard outer shell that reveals the flesh of the fruit when cut open, as well as the cocoa beans or melon seeds and pulp in the interior.”
Conventional chocolate only makes use of the beans, but the researchers were able to use the flesh and parts of the fruit shell—or the endocarp, to use the field-specific term—for their cocoa fruit chocolate recipe. They process it into powder and mix it with part of the pulp to form cocoa gel. This gel substance is extremely sweet and can replace the added powdered sugar that is normally part of the chocolate experience.
However, it was not easy for the scientists to find the perfect recipe for cocoa fruit chocolate. They systematically tested the texture of various compositions in the lab. Too much fruit juice extracted from the pulp made for a clumpy chocolate, but too little resulted in an insufficiently sweet product.
Improved Refrigeration Could Save Nearly Half of the 1.3 Billion Tons of Food Wasted Each Year Globally May 28 , 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) ANN ARBOR—About a third of the food produced globally each year goes to waste, while approximately 800 million people suffer from hunger, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization.
A new University of Michigan study concludes that nearly half of the food waste, about 620 million metric tons, could be eliminated by fully refrigerated food supply chains worldwide.
At the same time, fully refrigerated supply chains, or "cold chains," could cut food waste-related emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases by 41% globally, according to the study published online May 28 in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Letters.
Further Extract:
The study accounts for the greenhouse gases emitted during food production. It does not include emissions tied to refrigeration or other supply-chain operations and does not include emissions from food waste in landfills.
