More incentive for US wheat growers Wheat growers in the US are experiencing ever-increasing incentives to switch to maize production. The availability of new maize varieties, especially those with biotech traits, are making maize profitable in areas formerly only hospitable to wheat production. With GM drought-tolerant maize set to increase maize yields by as much as 50 percent in in Kansas, it may be hard for US farmers to justify growing wheat anywhere. More†

GM crops - the next generation In the field of crops modified for improved nutrition, there's a lot more going on than Golden Rice. So much, in fact, that describing the current state of the art fills 328 pages, in a new book published by the Crop Science Society of America. Titled Modification of Seed Composition to Promote Health and Nutrition, it addresses a wide array of seed modification topics ranging from oils to proteins to allergens. More†

New version of Arabidopsis sequence Arabidopsis thaliana is a favorite experimental plant with researchers in over 120 countries around the world. The genes, proteins, and other traits of this fast-growing, tiny mustard plant reside in a vast database dubbed the Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) -- and a new version of the genome sequence of this plant has again been released. More†

Phytozome.net expanded An enhanced version of Phytozome.net, a web portal for comparative plant genomics geared to advance biofuel, food, feed, and fiber research, has been released by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI). The 4.0 release of Phytozome now spans fourteen plant genomes, including eight that have been sequenced at the DOE JGI. More†

Getting plants to clone themselves Left to their own devices, plants reproduce sexually -- by combining genetic information from male pollen and female egg cells. What if it were possible to get plants to clone themselves, instead? This would allow a superior crop plant to be replicated, in quantity. A team of researchers in France and Austria is closing in on how to reproduce a plant that produces perfect potatoes, maize or rice, without the lottery of reassortment that each meiotic division and ensuing fertilization introduces. More†