Dear Subscribers,

 

Here is the second update of FAO-BiotechNews for the year 2021.

 

As usual, we welcome your feedback.

 

With best wishes

 

John Ruane

The Coordinator of FAO-BiotechNews, 8-4-2021

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),

E-mail address: [log in to unmask]

FAO Biotechnology website: http://www.fao.org/biotech/ (in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian)

 

*** NEWS *** (http://www.fao.org/biotech/biotech-news/en/)

 

1) Biotechnologies and animal genetic resources

 

The Eleventh Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will take place virtually on 19-21 May 2021. Several biotechnology-related items are on the provisional agenda for this meeting. In relation to the 'Draft technical guidelines for the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources', these include “Innovations in cryoconservation” (agenda item 3.2.1) and “Genomic characterization” (agenda item 3.2.2). They also include ""Digital sequence information" on animal genetic resources for food and agriculture" (agenda item 5) and "Review of the work on biotechnologies for the conservation and sustainable use of animal genetic resources" (agenda item 7). Working documents pertaining to each of these agenda items will be made available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish before the meeting. Information documents are provided in English, including one on "Recent developments in biotechnologies relevant to the characterization, sustainable use and conservation of genetic resources for food and agriculture" as well as other biotechnology-related documents associated with new guidelines for management of animal genetic resources for food and agriculture. See http://www.fao.org/animal-genetics/events/events-detail/en/c/1369166/ or contact [log in to unmask] for more information.

 

2) Food fraud

 

As part of its “Food safety technical toolkit for Asia and the Pacific”, the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has just published “Food fraud – Intention, detection and management”. The 32-page document describes the key aspects of food fraud and discusses a set of measures that food safety authorities can take to manage the persistent problem of food fraud. These include legal interventions as well as new technologies such as DNA barcoding, a promising and potentially very accurate tool used to identify the food species involved and detect cases of food fraud by substitution. The document also includes a list of resources on food labelling, technological interventions and food import and export certification systems provided by FAO and the Codex Alimentarius. See http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb2863en or contact [log in to unmask] for more information.

 

3) FAO and IAEA collaboration

 

Building on their lengthy collaboration, FAO and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are aiming to further strengthen and develop their joint activities. The Joint FAO/IAEA Nuclear Technologies Division, operating since the 1960s, has now become a Centre and will continue its well-recognized and respected work whilst increasing synergy and expanding areas of common interest, in particular in relation to transboundary animal and plant diseases. A recent FAO story highlights a number of examples where FAO and IAEA have been working together to improve agriculture and food security. These include the use of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to rapidly detect livestock diseases in Belize, development of a drought-resistant groundnut variety in Sudan using mutation breeding and use of the sterile insect technique (SIT) in Ecuador to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly from its growing areas for three fruit species. See http://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1390726/ (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) or contact [log in to unmask] for more information.

 

4) Meetings of COP 15, Cartagena Protocol COP-MOP 10 and Nagoya Protocol COP-MOP 4

 

On 11-24 October 2021, the Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15); the Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CP COP-MOP 10); and the Fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (NP COP-MOP 4) will take place concurrently in Kunming, China. These meetings collectively are known informally as the UN Biodiversity Conference and were originally scheduled to take place on 15-28 October 2020. Documents for COP 15, CP COP-MOP 10 and NP COP-MOP 4 will be made available in the UN official languages at https://www.cbd.int/meetings/COP-15, https://www.cbd.int/meetings/CP-MOP-10 and https://www.cbd.int/meetings/NP-MOP-04 respectively. For more information, contact [log in to unmask]

 

5) Biopesticides for locust control

 

Biopesticides are mass-produced, biologically-based agents used for the control of plant pests. A recent FAO story looks at the role that biopesticides have been playing in the ongoing desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) infestation that has stripped farming families of food and income and threatened the food security of millions of people in the Horn of Africa. Biopesticides using varieties of the pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae have proven to be very effective against the desert locust. The story looks at the way the biopesticides work against the desert locust, their benefits as well as obstacles to their wider use. See http://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1267098/ (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) or contact [log in to unmask] for more information.

 

6) OIE Specialist Commissions reports

 

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is supported by a number of Specialist Commissions whose role is to use current scientific information to study problems of epidemiology and the prevention and control of animal diseases, develop and revise OIE's international standards and address scientific and technical issues raised by Members. These include the OIE Biological Standards Commission (“Laboratories Commission”), which is concerned with developing internationally agreed standards for laboratory diagnostic tests and vaccines for OIE-listed animal diseases of mammals, birds and bees. They also include the Aquatic Animals Commission, responsible for ensuring that the Aquatic Animal Health Code and the Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals reflect current scientific information. The meeting reports from these Commissions are available in English, French and Spanish from https://www.oie.int/en/standard-setting/specialists-commissions-working-ad-hoc-groups/. For more information, contact [log in to unmask]

 

7) Golden rice

 

A news story from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) reports that the first series of peer-reviewed publications on the GR2E golden rice field trial data are now available. The two publications focus on the agronomic performance of golden rice varieties developed in the Philippines and Bangladesh. The varieties were developed by crossing genetically modified GR2E Kaybonnet rice (produced by addition of the phytoene synthase gene from maize and the carotene desaturase gene from the bacterium Pantoea ananatis to the temperate japonica rice variety Kaybonnet) with popular rice varieties from Asia. Unlike conventional milled rice, golden rice produces provitamin A (beta-carotene), from which humans can make vitamin A, in the endosperm, the starchy portion of the grain left after milling. See https://www.irri.org/news-and-events/news/initial-peer-reviewed-publications-golden-rice-biosafety-data-completed or contact [log in to unmask] for more information.

 

8) Genetic Improvement of cattle in Eastern Europe

 

The FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia recently published “Breeding strategies for sustainable genetic improvement of Caucasian and Carpathian Brown cattle breeds” by C. Egger-Danner, T. Szucs and E. Raizman. The document describes an FAO project whose aim was to elaborate breeding goals and plans for breeding and breed development of Caucasian Brown cattle in Armenia and Georgia and Carpathian Brown cattle in Ukraine. As a first step, phenotypic and molecular genetic characterization, using 64 000 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs), of the selected breeds and description of their production environment were carried out. Breeding programmes for the breeds were then drawn up, involving use of artificial insemination for genetically superior bulls. See http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb2380en or contact [log in to unmask] for more information.

 

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