Getting the Bugs Out of Genetically Modified Crops – A controversial topic surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops is their possible harmful effect on the environment. A landmark study published in Science this week shows that Bt cotton and Bt corn, which has been genetically modified to carry increased resistance to specific insect pests, has less affect on the local diversity of insects than traditional, pesticide-sprayed crops. This suggests that Bt crops are less damaging to the (non-pest) insect population than traditional crops sprayed with broad-spectrum insecticides. (Also covered here.)

Crop Pesticides May Cause Growth Problems - Like animals, plants also have ‘good’ bacteria that help the plant grow. Researchers found that some pesticides kill off the good bacteria, somewhat like antibiotics in animals, possibly leading to stunted growth and reduced yields. This work is published in PNAS and is also covered here.

Genetically Engineered Crop Containment Strategy Developed – On a related note, and also in PNAS, plant geneticists at Rutgers University have worked out a way to reduce contamination of the environment by genetically modified plant material. Their strategy is to introduce the genetically modified material into the genome of plastids, small cellular components that are responsible for photosynthesis and are rarely found in pollen. This is actually an old idea, dismissed due to earlier data showing that 2% of pollen contain plastids, thus rendering it a somewhat ineffective containment strategy. However, the recent work shows that the old study may have overestimated the percentage of pollen carrying plastids, bringing new promise to the technique.

News Briefs

Agriculture
Sowing Seed On Salty Ground
Potatoes Could Be Used for Bioplastics
Wild Relatives Sweeten Breeding Program
Compost Reduces P (phosphorus) Factor In Broccoli, Eggplant, Cabbage Trial

Alternative fuels
Scientists want to ID good ethanol crops
New Screening Method To Help Find Better Biofuel Crops
Ethanol to take 30 pct of U.S. corn crop in 2012: GAO

Health
Food safety begins as vegetables grow

Climate change
Amazon State Adopts Law To Promote Forest CO2 Abatement Projects
Zimbabwe Forests Under Threat While Cambodia Censors Logging Report
Woods Hole Research Center scientists study impacts of industrial logging in Central Africa

Basic Research
Birds, Bees, and Moths Drive Flower Evolution
Scientists Tests CT Scanners on Trees
Plants raise chemical alarm to protect ‘family’
Musicians allowed to take a bow