Agricultural Biotechnology Research Articles

Contributing Factors of Anemia in Pregnancy in the Twifo Atti-Morkwa District in Ghana

The exploding global population is presenting a new challenge of providing food for further billions of people against the backdrop of the challenges of already existing hunger and malnutrition, climate change, emerging destructive crop and animal diseases, and the pressure being exerted on arable lands by several other anthropological demands. Providing food for the world in the foreseeable future, therefore, requires the revolutionization of the agricultural sector as it stands today. Agricultural biotechnology has evolved over three decades and has presented itself as a critical avenue for addressing the perennial food production insecurity situations; particularly in Africa and other food-insecure regions of the world. This study sought to review agricultural biotechnology in Africa by assessing its current state and the future prospects of the technology on the African continent. The adoption and utilization of biotechnology in Africa have been faced with serious challenges of ethical, religious, environmental contamination, and health risks issues. Adoption of biotechnology and genetically modified (GM) products have only been achieved in a few countries in Africa on a small-scale basis and under a few selected crops. Inadequate legislation, unenhanced public education, and the spread of misconceptions by anti-GM technology activists remain a strong challenge to navigate around for the smooth adoption of the technology on the African continent. Smallholder farmers in Africa also harbor serious apprehension over seed monopoly and erosion of the traditional seed quality with neo-colonial intentions by the developers of the technology. Anti-GM sentiments based on misconceptions are deeply rooted in many African countries, heightening fear of its adoption. A stronger and more elaborate public education strategy that highlights the benefits of biotechnology and assures the people of the risk levels of the technology, and further research to alleviate public anxiety is critical for the adoption of biotechnology and GM products in Africa.

Исследование влияния новых комплексных микроудобрений на биологическую активность проростков сельскохозяйственных культур

To obtain high and sustainable crop yields, one of the main conditions is the presence of the necessary trace elements. Macro- and microelements are a necessary component of the fertilizer system for a balanced nutrition of crops. Manufacturers are increasingly paying attention to microfertilizers, which contribute to the intensification of agriculture. The paper considers studies on testing the components of a new microfertilizer and its effect on the growth and development of grain crops, in particular wheat varieties "Moskovskaya 40", conducted at the Central Collective Use "Oryol Regional Center for Agricultural Biotechnology" of the Oryol State Agrarian University. The developed compositions of microfertilizers were used for presowing treatment of wheat seeds. It has been established that a new microfertilizer based on micro- and macroelements, humates and exometabolites of the fungus Trichoderma atrobrunneum VKPM F-1434 increases laboratory germination and germination energy in comparison with the control by 9% and 11%, respectively. There is an increase in growth rates and weight of wheat seedlings. So the length of the seedlings in comparison with the control exceeds by the end of the experiment by 28%, and their weight by 20%, the length of the roots is more by 36%, and the mass exceeds the control by 25%. Keywords: ANTIOXIDANTS, BIOLOGICAL PREPARATIONS, WINTER WHEAT, ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY, REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES, ELICITERS, BIOFLAVONOIDS

Towards social acceptability of genome-edited plants in industrialised countries? Emerging evidence from Europe, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

The agricultural biotechnology world has been divided into two blocks; countries adopting GM crops for commercial cultivation (adopters) and others without any or without relevant cultivation of such crops (non-adopters). Meanwhile, an increasing number of adopter countries have exempted certain genome-edited (GE) crops from legal GMO pre-market approval and labelling requirements. Among them are major exporters of agricultural commodities such as United States, Canada, and Australia. Due to the relaxed legislation more GE plants are expected to enter the market soon. Many countries in the non-adopter group, however, depend on import of large volumes of agricultural commodities from adopter countries. Unlike first generation GM, certain GE crops cannot be identified as unambiguously originating from genome editing using available techniques. Consequently, pressure is mounting on non-adopter jurisdictions to reconsider their policies and legislations. Against this backdrop, the paper explores recent developments relevant for social acceptability in selected non-adopters, Japan, New Zealand, the EU, Norway, and Switzerland in contrast to United States, Canada, and Australia. While Japan is already opening-up and Norway and Switzerland are discussing revisions of their policies, the EU and New Zealand are struggling with challenges resulting from high court decisions. In an attempt to take a closer look into the inner dynamics of these developments, the concept of social acceptability proposed by Wüstenhagen et al. (Energy Policy, 2007, 35(5), 2683–2691) is employed. This aids the understanding of developments in the jurisdictions considered and identifies specific or cross-cutting challenges.

Determining GMO awareness among students of agricultural engineering in Turkiye

Courses on GMOs in Agricultural Faculties are included in the curriculum of the departments under different names. It was aimed to determine the knowledge level of 273 agricultural engineering students from Faculty of Agriculture studying at Kırsehir Ahi Evran University, Turkiye in this study. The questionnaire consisted of a test on Personal Information Scale to measure their knowledge about GMO Foods. The data obtained showed that the students in the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology had the highest level of awareness about GMOs and GMO based foods. It was concluded that awareness and knowledge of the students was related to their subject of the study, grade and gender. It was understood that male students had a higher GMO awareness compared to the female students. The results of the study revealed that it was appropriate and necessary to include more detailed courses about GMOs in the curricula of the departments in faculties of agriculture. The findings obtained from this study can be used as a source to prepare or rearrange curricula of the departments in agricultural faculties.

Advances of CRISPR/Cas9 activation system

Gene editing technology has been a hotspot in the field of biotechnology. CRISPR/Cas systems are efficient gene editing tools because of its specificity, simplicity and flexibility, these features enabled the rapid application of CRISPR/Cas systems in a variety of organisms. Moreover, the combination of transcriptional activator with dead Cas protein can achieve specific regulation of gene expression at the transcription level, which has made important contributions to the development of biotechnology in medical and agriculture. Overexpression of foreign genes is a common method to verify gene function and regulation. However, due to the limitation of vector capacity, it is difficult to achieve overexpression of multiple genes. CRISPR/Cas9 activation system can regulate the expression of multiple genes under the guidance of different guide RNAs to verify gene functions at the regulatory level. This review summarizes the composition of the CRISPR/Cas9 activation system and different activation strategies, and summarizes solutions for excessive activation. It may facilitate the application of CRISPR/Cas9 activation system in genetic improvement of cotton and herbicide resistance research.

Genetically Modified Rice: Do Chinese Consumers Support or Go Against It? Based on the Perspectives of Perceived Risk and Trust

Rice is a staple food in China, and, thus, its security has drawn much attention. The Chinese government proactively fuels the application of biotechnology in agriculture and food to cope with increasingly severe food security issues. However, most consumers resist the commercialization of genetically modified (GM) rice. One of the important reasons is the consumer perception of its various risks. Conversely, trust in the government, scientists, and media can stimulate consumer purchase. On the basis of the dual perspectives of perceived risks and trust, this study establishes a model of purchase intention for GM rice to explore the structural relationship between variables. Perceived risks explore how exclusion can weaken the purchase intention from the consumer perspective; trust examines the benefits that support can provide. Based on the structural equation model, online survey results of 564 consumers in eight provinces and cities are analyzed. The following observations are offered: health risks, moral risks, and purchase intention are negatively correlated; environmental, functional, and economic risks have no significant correlation with purchase intention; and trust and purchase intention have a significant positive correlation.

Food and feed safety of the Bacillus thuringiensis derived protein Vpb4Da2, a novel protein for control of western corn rootworm.

Western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, LeConte, is an insect pest that poses a significant threat to the productivity of modern agriculture, causing significant economic and crop losses. The development of genetically modified (GM) crops expressing one or more proteins that confer tolerance to specific insect pests, such as WCR, was a historic breakthrough in agricultural biotechnology and continues to serve as an invaluable tool in pest management. Despite this, evolving resistance to existing insect control proteins expressed in current generation GM crops requires continued identification of new proteins with distinct modes of action while retaining targeted insecticidal efficacy. GM crops expressing insecticidal proteins must undergo extensive safety assessments prior to commercialization to ensure that they pose no increased risk to the health of humans or other animals relative to their non-GM conventional counterparts. As part of these safety evaluations, a weight of evidence approach is utilized to assess the safety of the expressed insecticidal proteins to evaluate any potential risk in the context of dietary exposure. This study describes the food and feed safety assessment of Vpb4Da2, a new Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal protein that confers in planta tolerance to WCR. Vpb4Da2 exhibits structural and functional similarities to other insect control proteins expressed in commercialized GM crops. In addition, the lack of homology to known toxins or allergens, a lack of acute toxicity in mice, inactivation by conditions commonly experienced in the human gut or during cooking/food processing, and the extremely low expected dietary exposure to Vpb4Da2 provide a substantial weight of evidence to demonstrate that the Vpb4Da2 protein poses no indication of a risk to the health of humans or other animals.

Metabolomics and Chemoinformatics in Agricultural Biotechnology Research: Complementary Probes in Unravelling New Metabolites for Crop Improvement.

Simple SummaryThe world is facing an overarching threat to food security, particularly in developing nations. The issue is further exacerbated by the apparent impacts of biotic and abiotic stresses driving down crop yields and productivity. Conventional strategies to improve yields and sustain productivity have been employed, including plant breeding for favourable and resilient agronomic traits. However, the efficacy and success rates of these methods are declining, partly due to the rapid changes in climate variability and the emergence of new and resistant phytopathogens. Additionally, the process of creating new and improved transgenic varieties of crops is long and can be expensive. Thus, new and innovative technologies are required for crop improvement. This review explores recent advances in the science of metabolomics and chemoinformatics, which have presented an avenue for rapid and robust analysis; moreover, it explores the elucidation of the complex plant metabolome, providing the opportunity to decipher the reactionary mechanisms of plants to the surrounding environment through their metabolic activity. As such, specific metabolites can, thus, be selected as biomarkers for crop improvement based on their functional characteristics under varying environmental conditions (growth, development, and defence). This new knowledge can enhance breeding practices through rapid and robust metabolic engineering techniques for sustainable agriculture.The United Nations (UN) estimate that the global population will reach 10 billion people by 2050. These projections have placed the agroeconomic industry under immense pressure to meet the growing demand for food and maintain global food security. However, factors associated with climate variability and the emergence of virulent plant pathogens and pests pose a considerable threat to meeting these demands. Advanced crop improvement strategies are required to circumvent the deleterious effects of biotic and abiotic stress and improve yields. Metabolomics is an emerging field in the omics pipeline and systems biology concerned with the quantitative and qualitative analysis of metabolites from a biological specimen under specified conditions. In the past few decades, metabolomics techniques have been extensively used to decipher and describe the metabolic networks associated with plant growth and development and the response and adaptation to biotic and abiotic stress. In recent years, metabolomics technologies, particularly plant metabolomics, have expanded to screening metabolic biomarkers for enhanced performance in yield and stress tolerance for metabolomics-assisted breeding. This review explores the recent advances in the application of metabolomics in agricultural biotechnology for biomarker discovery and the identification of new metabolites for crop improvement. We describe the basic plant metabolomics workflow, the essential analytical techniques, and the power of these combined analytical techniques with chemometrics and chemoinformatics tools. Furthermore, there are mentions of integrated omics systems for metabolomics-assisted breeding and of current applications.

Counting and Classification of Seed Using Machine Learning Methods

Deep learning, machine learning and image processing techniques have become important tools used in facilitating agricultural work and developing solutions to different problems in the production phase. In this study, a seed number and type detection algorithm was developed using YOLO deep learning architecture, a real-time object detection algorithm employing the CNN structure in AugeLab Studio sofware. With the developed model average loss factor of 0.417 was achieved after 3000 iterations. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that the bean classification accuracy varies between 97% and 100%, while the chickpea classification accuracy varies between 91% and 100%. In addition, the total number of 11 beans and 10 chickpea seeds in a single image was determined with 100% accuracy. The results demonstrated that AugeLab, a software employing artificial inteligence based image processing techniques, can be used by seed production companies, agricultural biotechnology laboratories and seed certification institutions in counting and classification of seeds. It can also be used in variety and/or species separation, separating and detecting germinated seeds, or detecting and proportioning foreign mixtures in seed certification processes within shorter time and less costs.

The automated cell counter for the analysis of morphological characteristics and the quantitative estimation of starch granules in different potato varieties

Relevance. Potato starch is widely used in the food, textile, perfume and pharmaceutical industries. The starch content and the size of starch granules in potato tubers are varietal characteristics (Solanum tuberosum L.). The knowledge of morphological properties of starch plays a key role in the technologies for the production of consumer and industrial goods.Materials and methods. The studies were carried out in 2020-2021 at the experimental base of Federal State Budget Scientific Institution “Federal Scientific Center of Agricultural Bio-technology of the Far East named after A.K. Chaiki” (Primorsky Krai). The object of the research were 11 varieties of different maturity dates. Morphological structure of starch granules was evaluated by image analysis on Countess II FL automated cell counter.Results. The varieties studied had predominantly rounded and oval pellets regardless of maturity and genetic origin. Differences in starch granule size depending on tuber size and ripeness group were noted. Early maturing varieties had granule size less than 20 microns regardless of tuber fraction. The exception is the variety Queen Anne, in small tubers of this variety starch granules larger than 20 microns is 67.86%. It was noted that the proportion of medium and large grains increased in varieties with a longer growing season. For example, the variety Augustin medium-ripening had a proportion of medium and large grains in the large and small tuber of 47.72 and 41.48%, respectively. The maximum number of grains larger than 20 microns was observed in the mid-late varieties Kazachok (63.77%) and Smak (92.22%).Conclusion. The method using a cell counter and subsequent processing of microphotographs of starch granules is an accessible, economical, simple and effective approach to phenotyping potato varieties and hybrids of Solanum tuberosum L. by physical and chemical parameters of starch. This method can be used for accelerated analysis of a large number of samples on a limited amount of natural material, including in field and farm laboratories.

COMPARATIVE INHERITANCE INDEX IN ELITE WHEAT LINES THROUGH RAPD MARKERS

The experiment was conducted at Centre for Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), university of Agriculture Faisalabad. The 15 genotypes were evaluated for heredity. Through 15 primers, 1181 bands were amplified using PCR based identifiers-rapid DNA markers. FSD-2008, KOHISTAN97, 4072, 9021, 9189, 9244, 9272, 9277, 9381, 9428, 9249, 9451, 9452, 9481 and 9476 are the genotypes which were evaluated to check heredity similarities. The elevated number of bands were produced by K7- (88) and lowest by primer 17 that were 16. FSD-2008 and 9481 showed 82% similarities while 9381 and 9249 depicted 81% heredity. Similarly, KOHISTAN-97 and 9277 showed 81% heredity. 88% heredity was found among 4072 and 9021 accessions.

Adaptative Mechanisms of Halophytic Eutrema salsugineum Encountering Saline Environment.

Salt cress (Eutrema salsugineum), an Arabidopsis-related halophyte, can naturally adapt to various harsh climates and soil conditions; thus, it is considered a desirable model plant for deciphering mechanisms of salt and other abiotic stresses. Accumulating evidence has revealed that compared with Arabidopsis, salt cress possesses stomata that close more tightly and more succulent leaves during extreme salt stress, a noticeably higher level of proline, inositols, sugars, and organic acids, as well as stress-associated transcripts in unstressed plants, and they are induced rapidly under stress. In this review, we systematically summarize the research on the morphology, physiology, genome, gene expression and regulation, and protein and metabolite profile of salt cress under salt stress. We emphasize the latest advances in research on the genome adaptive evolution encountering saline environments, and epigenetic regulation, and discuss the mechanisms underlying salt tolerance in salt cress. Finally, we discuss the existing questions and opportunities for future research in halophytic Eutrema. Together, the review fosters a better understanding of the mechanism of plant salt tolerance and provides a reference for the research and utilization of Eutrema as a model extremophile in the future. Furthermore, the prospects for salt cress applied to explore the mechanism of salt tolerance provide a theoretical basis to develop new strategies for agricultural biotechnology.

THE PROSPECTS OF AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY TO ENGENDER ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA

The Nigerian government has openly publicized its intentions in commercializing agricultural biotechnology as an aid to realize food security in the nation. With a population estimated to be 200 million, the avoidance of food crises is at the core of the efforts of the federal government. One of the solutions to this problem adopted by major economies is agricultural biotechnology. Notwithstanding this truism, the country has not benefited exponentially from this technology. This paper will therefore investigate the issues hindering ample development of agricultural biotechnology in Nigeria while seeking a potential workable improvement to the trajectory in order to impact economic growth positively. The findings show agricultural biotechnology has the capacity to maneuver the underperforming agricultural sector into a viable one that can drive tremendous growth in Nigeria if a culture of Science and Technology on agric-biotechnology is embarked on, budgetary allocations that can fund research and development in this field is made and close monitoring to ensure compliance and quality control by all stake holders is maintained. Keywords: Biotechnology, Agriculture, Economic Growth, Nigeria.

Opportunities for Orphan Crops: Expected Economic Benefits From Biotechnology.

An enabling, evidence-based decision-making framework is critical to support agricultural biotechnology innovation, and to ensure farmers’ access to genetically modified (GM) crops, including orphan crop varieties. A key element, and often a challenge in the decision-making process, involves the balancing of identified potential risks with expected economic benefits from GM crops. The latter is particularly challenging in the case of orphan crops, for which solid economic data is scarce. To address this challenge, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in collaboration with local economists analyzed the expected economic benefits to farmers and consumers from the adoption of GM crops in 5 sub-Saharan African countries. This paper focuses on case studies involving insect-resistant cowpea in Nigeria and Ghana; disease-resistant cassava in Uganda and Tanzania; and disease-resistant banana in Uganda. Estimations from these case studies show substantial economic benefits to farmers and consumers from the timely adoption and planting in farmers’ fields of GM orphan crops. Our analysis also shows how the benefits would significantly be reduced by regulatory or other delays that affect the timely release of these crops. These findings underscore the importance of having an enabling policy environment and regulatory system—covering, among other elements, biosafety and food/feed safety assessment, and varietal release registration—that is efficient, predictable, and transparent to ensure that the projected economic benefits are delivered and realized in a timely manner.

Preface: 3rd International Symposium on the Frontiers of Biotechnology and Bioengineering (FBB 2022)

This proceeding includes original and peer-reviewed research papers from the 3rd International Symposium on the Frontiers of Biotechnology and Bioengineering (FBB 2022: http://www.fbbconf.org/), in Hong Kong, China during May 14-15, 2022.
 For thousands of years, humankind has used biotechnology in agriculture, food production, and medicine. Biotechnology is the research and development in the laboratory using bioinformatics for exploration, extraction, exploitation and production from any living organisms and any source of biomass by means of biochemical engineering. Bioengineering is the application of the principles of engineering and natural sciences to tissues, cells and molecules. FBB aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects of Biotechnology and Bioengineering. It also provides a platform for academic scientists, researchers and research scholars, doctors, doctoral students and related professionals to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the fields of Biotechnology and Bioengineering. All authors and participants are kindly encouraged to contribute to and help shape the conference through submissions of their research abstracts, papers and posters.
 FBB 2022 received 103 submissions, and more than 30 of them had been accepted by our reviewers in FBB 2022. By submitting a paper to FBB 2022, the authors agreed to the review process and understood that papers undergo a peer-review process. Manuscripts were reviewed by appropriately qualified experts in the field selected by the Conference Committee, who gave detailed comments and-if the submission was accepted the authors would submit a revised version that took into account this feedback. All papers were reviewed using a double-blind review process: authors declared their names and affiliations in the manuscript for the reviewers to see, but reviewers did not know each other’s identities, nor did the authors receive information about who had reviewed their manuscript. The Committees of FBB 2022 invested great efforts in reviewing the papers submitted to the conference and organizing the sessions to enable the participants to gain maximum benefit.
 Hopefully, all participants and other interested readers will benefit scientifically from the proceedings and also find it stimulating in the process.
 With our warmest regards,
 Wei He
 Conference Organizing Chair

Bioprospecting fungal-derived value-added bioproducts for sustainable pharmaceutical applications

Fungi is a diverse group of microorganisms with over 1.5 million species worldwide. It lives in a variety of environments and develops a variety of survival mechanisms that allow it to manufacture a wide variety of chemicals, i.e., biomolecules. Organic acids, enzymes and secondary metabolites have been shown to be useful in the production of biomolecules. They may be used in a broad range of fields, including pharmaceutical research, agricultural and food biotechnology, commodities biochemicals, agri-foods, chemical engineering, diagnostics, medicines, and medical device development. It also explores fungal macromolecules' health and healing properties, regulates phytohormone synthesis or breakdown in plant roots, improves hormone production, and supports bio-stimulant composition. There are a variety of antimicrobial/antifungal biomolecules in agriculture that may be employed to minimize crop yield-reducing pest and diseases. These biomolecules, which are useful in both the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries, are the focus of this review.

Safety assessment of the insecticidal protein IPD079Ea from the fern, Ophioglossum pendulum

As agricultural biotechnology continues to develop solutions for addressing crop pests through newly expressed proteins from novel source organisms, with different modes or sites of action and/or different spectra of activity, the safety of these proteins will be assessed. The results of hazard-identification and characterization studies for the insecticidal protein IPD079Ea, which is derived from a fern (Ophioglossum pendulum) and active against the maize pest western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are provided. Collectively these results indicate that IPD079Ea is unlikely to present a hazard to human or animal health and support the safety of genetically modified maize expressing IPD079Ea.

Strategies to Enhance the Use of Endophytes as Bioinoculants in Agriculture

The findings on the strategies employed by endophytic microbes have provided salient information to the researchers on the need to maximally explore them as bio-input in agricultural biotechnology. Biotic and abiotic factors are known to influence microbial recruitments from external plant environments into plant tissues. Endophytic microbes exhibit mutualism or antagonism association with host plants. The beneficial types contribute to plant growth and soil health, directly or indirectly. Strategies to enhance the use of endophytic microbes are desirable in modern agriculture, such that these microbes can be applied individually or combined as bioinoculants with bioprospecting in crop breeding systems. Scant information is available on the strategies for shaping the endophytic microbiome; hence, the need to unravel microbial strategies for yield enhancement and pathogen suppressiveness have become imperative. Therefore, this review focuses on the endophytic microbiome, mechanisms, factors influencing endophyte recruitment, and strategies for possible exploration as bioinoculants.

Transatlantic Divergencies in the Regulation of Uncertain Risks: Co-Production, Normative Frames and Ideal Evidence-Based and Socially Acceptable Risk Approaches

AbstractThis article analyses the US and the EU systems of risk regulation through the lens of two ideal models: evidence-based and socially acceptable risk approaches. The examination is conducted against the backdrop of these ideal regulatory paradigms, which broadly inform US and EU risk governance. The article employs an analysis of transatlantic divergencies in the regulation of pesticides and agricultural biotechnologies to illustrate that neither approach can lay claim to neutrality and objectivity; non-scientific normative frames are always at stake in the field of risk regulation. Through these case studies, the article thus challenges the narrative that transatlantic divergencies result from a focus on “risks” or “hazards,” “science” or “politics.” The US and the EU systems reflect different approaches to scientific uncertainty, the pursuit of different levels of protection, and consideration of different non-scientific factors. They also have very different implications. The conclusive section of the article sketches out some final considerations on the strategic vision of the Biden administration. Environmental and public health protection are high on President Biden’s agenda; further, public interest litigation is thriving in the US. Will this be sufficient to break regulatory path dependency and lay the foundations for a paradigm shift in US risk governance?

Making a meal out of bugs

Making a meal out of bugs