Category Health & Science

Mimicked red algae enzyme has potential to improve crop production

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Paddy fields near Battambang, a city on the Sangkae River in northwestern Cambodia. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 05.10.2020 (SciDev.Net): Australian scientists have discovered a way to engineer more efficient versions of the plant enzyme Rubisco by using a red algae-like Rubisco from a bacterium, which has the potential to improve production of crops like sorghum, wheat and rice in the Asia Pacific region and the world.

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on 29th September 2020, aims to improve the process of photosynthesis to increase growth and yield of major crops.

Rubisco (Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase), the most abundant enzyme on earth, performs the carbon dioxide fixing step of photosynthesis and its slow activity often limits the growth rate of plants. The Rubisco from red algae and Rhodobacter sphaeroides, a kind of purple bacterium that can obtain energy through photosynthesis, share a common lineage, say researchers.

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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.

Nations can learn from others on lifting lockdowns

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By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 02.10.2020 (SciDev.Net): As the second wave of COVID-19 infections sweep many countries, governments are facing the challenge of when and how to ease restrictions and lockdowns while balancing health with socio-economic consequences.

A health policy paper published in The Lancet medical journal on 24 September recommends that governments consider five key factors — knowledge of infection levels, community engagement, public health capacity, health system capacity, and border control measures — while lifting restrictions.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that a premature lifting of lockdowns could spark a resurgence of infections and cause worse damage to the economy than caused by lockdowns.

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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.

Improving Asian buffalo breeds with genomics

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By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 24.09.2020 (SciDev.Net): Selective breeding of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and cattle with the help of genomics could help increase livestock productivity, thereby improving food security, nutrition and incomes for millions of smallholder farmers in Asia, says a new study.

The study is one of the first to examine multiple water buffalo genomes. A genome is an animal or organism’s complete set of DNA. The study was published in Nature Communications on 21 September by The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, UK, with collaborators from Asia and Africa.

The researchers found that improvement via domestication in a species’ key traits, including milk production, coat colour, body size and disease resistance, leaves detectable signals in their genomes. This paves the way for improved farm animal health and production for smallholders through selective breeding.

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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.