Hi everybody! Frank N. Foode™ here. Biofortified is workin’ on building its community of editors, contributors, and readers with the new profile system. We’re also coming up on our first Biennial celebration on the 31st of the month, making this an exciting month for talking about plant genetics. Plus we’ll have more to say about our own Rally to Restore Sanity in the debate over genetic engineering, and if that was not enough, there will be opportunities for everyone to be able to win fabulous prizes – and I’m going to tell you about your first chance!
The first Biofortified Community Contest is on, and it will be a contest for the best comment or comments. That’s right, just by writing just one awesome comment that contributes to the discussion here, you can win a prize! It could be about some of the many things we talk about on the blog such as the science, politics, social and philosophical issues, personal beliefs, or a collection of helpful links that you have scoured the internet for.
Here are the rules:
- Anyone can nominate someone for this contest, but must link to at least one comment (can be several) by that author.
- You may nominate yourself!
- Editors (and me) are ineligible for the contest – but contributing authors can get in on the action.
- Comments can be from any date in the past, present, or future. They can be comments on posts or in the forum.
- In order to accept the award, comment author must be registered, fill out at least some of their profile, and have a picture uploaded for their avatar. (Profile can be done after the winner is announced. Picture need not be a human photo – how about a cool plant?)
- The winner(s) will be judged on how awesomely smart, cool, funny, and productive their comments are. We want to reward people that help elevate the discussion and give them a special status in the community.
- Nominations will close on Friday October 15th at midnight Pacific Standard Time. (End of the day, not the beginning!)
- Winner(s) will be decided by Biofortified’s editors, and will be announced on the 17th of October.
What do you win, aside from eternal glory? Why, some genetically engineered blog schwag.
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Cotton like Candy
Or Cottonseed you can Eat thanks to Genetic Engineering.
A few years ago, I read about a research group that had used genetic engineering to remove a poisonous compound from cotton seed. Now, it seems, they are one step closer to making a positive impact on the availability of food for people in developing countries and beyond. Time Magazine reports that Dr. Keerti Rathore and his team, who made the development years ago have now moved on to field trials, a necessary step to test the resilience and effectiveness of the trait in real-world conditions.
RNA that Interferes
Let me tell you how this works. They used a technique called RNA interference, or RNAi. When plants (and other organisms we are finding) are infected with a virus that uses RNA as its genetic material, they defend themselves by chopping up the offending molecule. Cells use the double-stranded DNA as genetic material, and use the very similar single-stranded RNA to carry information from the genes to the rest of the cell for making proteins. But the RNA that these viruses use is double-stranded, like DNA. Since plants don’t use RNA as a double-strand, this gives them something different to detect and destroy, and that’s what they do.
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