Horizon Scanning

During the horizon scanning process, scientific publications are screened and evaluated to identify and analyze possible environmental effects of new technical developments and their applications in the field of genetic engineering/biotechnology considering the precautionary principle. The results of the horizon scanning are made available to the public in form of short summaries. It is an ongoing collection of current literature that does not claim to be complete and is continuously updated.
The current focus of the horizon scanning process can be found → here and a glossary with explanations of the most important terms can be found  here

Genetic modification of flavone biosynthesis in rice enhances biofilm formation of soil diazotrophic bacteria and biological nitrogen fixation

Basics about the biological significance and uptake of nitrogen Nitrogen is essential for organisms and is found in proteins, nucleic acids and other compounds, such as chlorophyll. Animals take up nitrogen with their food, plants from soil. Plants are not able to use the molecular nitrogen out of the atmosphere (N2) directly, they rely on […]

Read More

A keystone gene underlies the persistence of an experimental food web

Ecosystems – the basics In an ecosystem, species interact directly or indirectly with each other, and thus establish a complex food web. We know that some species have a disproportionally large effect on the ecosystem, and are therefore known as keystone species. At the DNA level, previous studies indicate that genotypic variations affect diversity and […]

Read More

Wheat with greatly reduced accumulation of free asparagine in the grain, produced by CRISPR/Cas9 editing of asparagine synthetase gene TaASN2

Scientists have successfully used CRISPR/Cas9 gene scissors to reduce the content of the free amino acid asparagine in wheat. Free asparagine is present in higher concentrations in wheat grain. Acrylamide can be formed from this free asparagine, together with reducing sugars, when wheat products are heated. Acrylamide has been shown to have carcinogenic properties. In […]

Read More