Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8472 / SEEDWORLD.COM JANUARY 2017 STATUS AUSTRALIA Australian researchers have discovered that the common Panic grasses could hold the secret to increasing the yields of cereal crops and help feed the world with increasing temperature extremes and a population of nearly 10 billion people by 2050. The findings, published in Nature Plants, show the potential to improve crop yields for staple foods by transplanting enzymes from Panic grasses. The research was conducted by members of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, the Australian National University Research School of Biology and Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment. “Panic grasses contain an enzyme that captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere more efficiently than other plants in the extreme cli- mate conditions predicted in coming decades,” says lead researcher Robert Sharwood from the Australian National University. “We are aiming to enhance the growth and yield of crops such as wheat and rice by trans- planting this more efficient enzyme into them,” he says. The discovery is a significant development in the quest to use the natural genetic diver- sity of grasses to increase crop yields in response to concerns that improvements world STATUS A look at seed industry developments around the globe. From grass to cowpeas to maize, countries are conducting research for crop improvement to help farmers. Despite the benefits of higher yields, there are still concerns around GM and its potential risk. in global crop productivity have stalled. The researchers have focused on the Rubisco enzyme, which captures carbon dioxide from the air to begin the production of sugars that plants need to grow. “We were very excited to discover considerable variabil- ity in the efficiency of Rubisco from different Panic grasses to convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates under a wide range of temperatures,” says Oula Ghannoum, an associ- ate professor from Western Sydney University. “Using mathematical simula- tions of the data, we identi- fied Rubisco enzymes that are best-suited to crops growing under both hotter and cooler temperature con- ditions,” she says. Spencer Whitne, also an associate professor from Australian National University highlights that as viable agricultural land runs out, the world needs to do more with the available farming lands. “On top of this are the changes in climate coming our way in the next few decades and the growing demand for food,” he says. Sharwood says that the ARC Centre of Excellence in Translational Photosynthesis aims to discover how to use the world’s plant diversity to secure important food crops in a changing world. STATUS MEXICO Delegates from Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) held a half-day forum Dec. 3 at the Cancun Convention Center, to prepare for COP13 Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Piet van der Meer of PRRI provided an introduction on the Biodiversity Convention and Biosafety Protocol and the Conference and Meetings of the Parties (COPMOPs), as well as the Topics of COP13, COPMOP8 and COPMOP2. Participants included 45 delegates comprising scien- tists, communicators, regula- tors and students from 16 countries. For the first time, the forum included students from the U.S., Belgium and Mexico to provide an under- standing about the COP, its importance, and how to make statements in support of bio- technology. The Conference of the Parties on its 13th meeting (COP13) is the highest governing body of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that runs from Dec. 3-17. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto gave a message in a plenary declaring his commitment to providing a propitious space and facilitates the develop- ment of the work of the country’s party to support the fulfilment of the objectives of the CBD, the Strategic Plan