TTTT: Tools To Tweek Tomatoes . . .

THE TOMATO GENOME has been sequenced. According to ScienceDaily: "Tomato Genome Gets Fully Sequenced -- Paves Way to Healthier Fruits, Veggies". The genomes from the "Heinz 1706" and a wild precursor were sequenced.

Of course, from this, improving yield, nutrition, disease resistance, taste and color may be more easily and effectively done. But this implies Genetic Modification, and thanks to Monsanto and other agribiz giants, people are wary, and with good reason.

But GM isn't going away, no matter what. That's the bad news; the good news is that with time, the techniques of genetic analysis and modification become more widespread as costs fall, so benefits get beyond the control of the greedy. As a result, the tomato was sequenced by members of the Tomato Genomics Consortium, an international collaboration between Argentina, Belgium, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, United Kingdom, United States and others.

So it's not just Monsanto or Archer Daniels Midland anymore.

James Giovannoni, a scientist at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, located on the campus of Cornell University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said this:
"Tomato genetics underlies the potential for improved taste every home gardener knows and every supermarket shopper desires and the genome sequence will help solve this and many other issues in tomato production and quality."

Sol Genomics Network

Unlike agribiz genetics which are proprietary, this is meant to be shared. To provide access to the gene sequences of the tomato and related species, Boyce Thompson Institute scientist Lukas Mueller and his team have created an interactive website, sol genomics network.

Check it out and GMOD, or the Generic Model Organism Database project: these show the future of genetic research. Just add time . . . why should you care? Well, for starters, with climate change, growing stuff with less water might be a good idea? 

E Pluribus . . .

WHAT IF THEY CLONED THE SUMBITCH? Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Superspuds . . .

THE NEW SCIENTIST has a report by Debora MacKenzie, "Transgenic Indian superspuds pack more protein". It's not Monsanto, so restrain the knee-jerk, and check it out.

A genetically modified (GM) potato has been created that makes up to 60 per cent more protein per gram than ordinary potatoes. But even with that help spuds don't contain much protein, so that's not the most interesting part: in a surprise result, the GM crop also yielded more potato per hectare. This is the first time that a simple genetic modification has increased yield.

There is a fungus among us . . .

Oregon State scientist Mary Verhoeven is among those working to develop wheat varieties resistant to a strain of “stem rust” that a colleague calls “a time bomb.” | picture: Katharine Kimball / for The Times

THE L.A. TIMES has a disturbing article by Karen Kaplan on a wheat fungus that threatens to wipe out 80% of the world's wheat crop. According to Ms. Kaplan, the Ug99 fungus, called stem rust, could wipe out more than 80% of the world's wheat as it spreads from Africa, scientists fear. The race is on to breed resistant plants before it reaches the U.S.

Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80% of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from eastern Africa. It has already jumped the Red Sea and traveled as far as Iran. Experts say it is poised to enter the breadbasket of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind will inevitably carry it to Russia, China and even North America -- if it doesn't hitch a ride with people first.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico estimates that 19% of the world's wheat, which provides food for 1 billion people in Asia and Africa, is in imminent danger. American plant breeders say $10 billion worth of wheat would be destroyed if the fungus suddenly made its way to U.S. fields.

Fear that the fungus will cause widespread damage has caused short-term price spikes on world wheat markets. Famine has been averted thus far, but experts say it's only a matter of time.

Stem rust destroyed more than 20% of U.S. wheat crops several times between 1917 and 1935, and losses reached nearly 9% twice in the 1950s. The last major outbreak, in 1962, destroyed 5.2% of the U.S. crop, according to Peterson, who chairs the National Wheat Improvement Committee.

Well, there's always Rye.