www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

A UniverSity of Saskatchewan research team has discovered what it calls a
"super gene" that makes crops more resistant to heat, cold and drought. lt
also gets plants growing faster, April 2006.

Now, plant sciences Prof. Larry Gusta and his team are wooing biotech
companies to use the gene in the development of newly resilient crops, which
could help farmers frustrated by drought and wacky weather.

"In a way, it is a super gene, and that's why there's several arge companies
interested in licensing (it)," Gusta said.

Gusta and collaborator Albert Robertson, who is also a farmer, found a gene
called Rob-5 is responsible for keeping a hardy perennial plant called brome
grass tolerant to drought, heat and freezing.

When researchers treated grass cells in a dish with a hormone called
abscisic acid, they found it was the Rob-5 gene that sprang into action,
spurring the creation of protein to help protect the plant from harsh
conditions.

Once they figured out which gene was esponsible, the team created so-called
transgenic crops of canola, flax and potatoes by inserting the brome grass
Rob-5 gene into those plants' genes.

When they planted the crops in fields across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and
Alberta, they got a 25 to 30 per cent increase in crop yield -- and it was a
dry year, Gusta added.

In laboratory chambers where they grew the crops under controlled
conditions, researchers found the transgenic canola and flax had increased
frost tolerance by two to four degrees Celsius, and potatoes bad another one
degree leeway before they froze.

"lt's huge. lt's a huge deal," Gusta said, adding a temperature change of a
few degrees can mean the difference between harvesting a crop or no crop at
all for a farmer.

Other tests showed the plants were also more heat tolerant -- an important
attribute for Saskatchewan crops that sometimes get baked on hot summer
days.

"Two or three days with temperatures around 30 degrees and the flowers blast
in canola and flax and you lose them," Gusta said.

The results are especially promising because few groups who are engineering
such genes to make crops more resilient have good results from the field and
the lab, Gusta said.

As a bonus, the gene got plants sprouting from seed more quickly, improving
the yield and preventing the seed from rotting.

The university has a patent pending on the gene, and a large, unnamed
biotech firm is in the process of inking a deal with the university to
develop potential seeds for sale, Gusta said.

If it makes it to market, the product could be of huge help to farmers
desperate for water who rely on pricey irrigation operations, Gusta said.

"If we could cut down water use. . . it would mean millions and millions of
dollars in savings to the people who have to irrigate," he said.

The university sought a patent for the Rob-5 gene through its industry
liaison office -- a university group that scours research findings for
potentially marketable discoveries Doug Gill, the liaison office's managing
director, said although he can't divulge specifics, the university is dose
to signing a deal with a major corporation to market a product using Gusta's
discovery.

The deal will mean the company should pay a licensing fee to be split 50-50
between the university and the researchers. If the product goes to market,
the university can also expect to earn royalties, he said.

While nothing's inked yet, a typical agreement sees a company pay the
university between 10 and 20 per cent ofthe profits, Gui said.

Thus far, the U of S has patented about 100 discoveries by university
researchers and another 20 patents are pending. The university also picks up
the fees for obtaining and maintaining patents. The bill for keeping up some
worldwide patents sometimes runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars,
Gui said.

[cmo.argus.ch]

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