Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
The Earth's genetic resources of plants and animals exist mainly in the developing South. The Convention on Biological Diversity, which came into force in December 1993, stipulated that if any external party wishes to access these resources it can do so only with the prior consent of the country where …
FivF. years ago, nobody had heard of :ntisense' technology. Now there are biotechnology companies based on it, and antisense drugs are in clinical trials. To understand antisense technology, consider the double helix structure of DNA that has two inter-locking strands that make up genes, Usually, only one of them makes …
with over 100 million people worldwide, who are officially certified by doctors as obese (body mass index of over 30), management of body weight is as much a nightmare for physicians as it is a challenge for medical scientists. The phenomenal ability of the human body to store fat, an …
Underground and in the dark, there is a subtle chemistry that brings bacteria and plants together in the ultimate marriage of convenience. Legumes like rice and wheat possess the ability to form bulbous nodules
After studying over 500 budding musicians, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, believe that while early musical training is an important factor in the ability to recognise musical notes, genes also play a vital role. The team leader, Nelson Freimer, says that it is a classic case where …
Discovery of a viral protein that slips in and out of living cells by a mysterious route has raised hopes of making gene therapy more effective. Christened viral protein 22, or VP22, the enigmatic protein is made by the virus that causes cold sores ( New Scientist , Vol 153, …
why do humans behave so differently from one another? Behavioural scientists say that a study of this variation is a rather controversial one even while it is exciting. They say that if you look hard enough, genetic influence on behaviour can be easily identified. For example, variation in personality traits …
• Over 90,000 Indian soil samples have been diligently screened by Hoechst, a German multinational company, for their microbial diversity. The company is now building a new, high efficiency screening system in Frankfurt, where it will further screen their Indian soil booty. Remarks Richard Helmut Rupp, head of Hoechst"s research …
The discovery of Thermus acquaticus is an excellent story that includes generation of wealth, both economic and societal. First discovered from one of the hot springs at Yellowstone National Park. US, in 1966 by Thomas Brock, a microbiologist it was deposited by him in the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), …
Major fungi collection centres in India, include the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, Punjab University, Chandigarh, Madras University, Chennai, Lucknow University, Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad University, Uttar Pradesh, Calcutta University, West Bengal, Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, Ut tar Pradesh, Agaharkar Herbarium, Pune, Maharashtra, and the Indian Type …
behind their facade of apparent passivity, plants possess a sophisticated behavioural repertoire. In particular, they respond to pathogens by mounting a variety of self-protection measures. Recent work by Sreeganga Chandra and colleagues at Purdue University, us, provides an insight into the method by which plants resist microbial infection (Proceedings of …
studies over the past eight decades have shown that an individual's inherited characters play a strong role in suggesting whether he or she will become an alcoholic or not. This suggests that a person's genes have a role to play in the onset of alcoholism. However, genes by themselves cannot …
in a recent issue of the journal Current Opinion in Genetics and Development (Vol 6, No 3), D J Weatherall and A O M Wilkie of the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford, uk, provide a succinct introduction to the current state of understanding in the area of human genetics …
The peppered moth has typically white-coloured wings, finely speckled with black. But in the first half of the 19th century, virtually all peppered moths had entirely black wings
indigenous communities across the world must be given exclusive rights over the land they inhabit if they are expected to protect the genetic resources therein and use them sustainably. And governments have to frame laws and policies which ensure that they are not deprived of this right. This was the …
all genetic research begins with isolation of mutants: genes or organisms that appear different from the normal ones (the wild-types). Keith Williams and colleagues from the School of Biological Sciences in Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, have found a solution known as fluorescence-activated cell sorting (facs) for identifying mutants that differ …
a project to study India's genetically diverse population groups has been proposed by the department of biotechnology (dbt). The country has 75 endangered tribal groups among its 465 communities speaking 324 languages. The five-year project is part of the global human genome diversity programme. The project aims to study how …
Soon it may be possible to get resistance against a disease by simply eating a potato. A team headed by Charles Arntzen at the Boyce Thompson Institute of Plant Research in New York, US, has undertaken advanced research on a vaccine for diarrhoea, using raw potatoes. A gene introduced in …
THE issue of protecting the interests of indigenous people against the unauthorised use and piracy of their valuable genetic material and traditional knowledge has become an important one. The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime however, neither recognises such knowledge as being intellectual property nor JOs it contain any provisions to …
