corn

Ancient olfaction protein is shared by many bugs, offering new pest control target

...ong the fruit fly, the medfly (a citrus pest), the corn earworm moth (which damages corn and tobacco), and Anopheles gambiae, the malaria mosquito. When the medfly, moth, and mosquito versi...

DuPont's first biologically derived polymer receives global recognition

... make Bio-PDOTM, the key Sorona® ingredient, from corn using a new biological process that requires over 40 percent less total energy than the traditional petrochemical feedstock. It will be commercially available in 2006. In 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented DuPont with its annu...

Six million Africans face famine because of locusts, drought

...rted selling livestock cheaply and eating the seed corn they should plant during next month's expected rains, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today. "The combined effect of drought and locust attack, particularly in the more northerly districts of the co...

Bugs, even 'bad' ones, can be educationally beneficial, new book says

... he describes are found in Illinois, including the corn rootworm. Other regional insects also are mentioned, such as the evergreen bagworm that spans the east coast of the United States and stretches westward to Nebraska and Louisiana. Other pests with wider ranges, such as disease-toting mosquitoes, prod...

Research may provide new link between soft drinks and weight gain

...and beverages containing sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup?particularly carbonated soft drinks and some...ly used sweetener derived from corn, high-fructose corn syrup is similar to sucrose (table sugar) in its composition, about half glucose and half fructose. ...

Unique library of plant genes germinates, takes root at UNC

...rld's most valuable crops, among them rice, wheat, corn and potatoes. "But it's also much more than just a repository of genetic information," said Dr. Todd J. Vision, assistant professor of biology in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences. "It allows plant researchers to ask complex questions that involve...

Deep sea algae connect ancient climate, carbon dioxide and vegetation

...tive to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, such as corn and sugarcane. "The onset and stabilization of ice sheets at the same time as a decline in carbon dioxide illustrates the importance of atmospheric carbon dioxide as an agent of both climate and biological change," Pagani said. Collaborators were B...

Invasive parasite destroying fish species

...tive to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, such as corn and sugarcane. "The onset and stabilization of ice sheets at the same time as a decline in carbon dioxide illustrates the importance of atmospheric carbon dioxide as an agent of both climate and biological change," Pagani said. Collaborators were B...

Stem cells grown in lab mirror normal developmental steps

...tive to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, such as corn and sugarcane. "The onset and stabilization of ice sheets at the same time as a decline in carbon dioxide illustrates the importance of atmospheric carbon dioxide as an agent of both climate and biological change," Pagani said. Collaborators were B...

The genetic origins of corn on the cob

In 1909, while harvesting a typical corn crop (Zea mays) in Illinois, a field worker notice...assel that was far bushier than the tops of normal corn plants. Now, researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York have isolated the ramosa1 gen...

$6.5 Million Grant for Microarray Center at Yale School of Medicine

In 1909, while harvesting a typical corn crop (Zea mays) in Illinois, a field worker notice...assel that was far bushier than the tops of normal corn plants. Now, researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York have isolated the ramosa1 gen...

Insects develop resistance to engineered crops

...insects that bore into stems, such as the European corn borer, which causes more than $1 billion in damage annually in the United States. In greenhouses at the New York State Agriculture Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., the researchers used three types of GM broccoli plants: two types of plants each e...

Organic farms produce same yields as conventional farms

Organic farming produces the same yields of corn and soybeans as does conventional farming, but use...c farming offers real advantages for such crops as corn and soybeans." Pimentel is the lead author of a study that is published in the July issue of Bioscie...

UCR biochemist goes to Washington with high-protein corn

...holds promise for efficiently feeding high-protein corn to people and livestock all over the world, Gallie...minar. In the United States, the vast majority of corn - nearly 65 percent - is used to feed animals for meat production. Much of the remainder is exported...

Green diesel: New process makes liquid transportation fuel from plants

...ues detail a four-phase catalytic reactor in which corn and other biomass-derived carbohydrates can be con... to create twice the energy as is created in using corn to make ethanol." About 67 percent of the energy required to make ethanol is consumed in fermenting...

Making plant cells work like miniature factories

...nd radish. "Arabidopsis is not a major crop like corn and soybeans," Yeung said, "but because so much is already known about it genetically, we can hopefully begin to draw correlations between the chemical and genetic makeup. We hope that such fundamental research will be applicable to other plants as w...

Ethanol and biodiesel from crops not worth the energy

...ut for ethanol production, the study found that: # corn requires 29 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced; # switch grass requires 45 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced; and # wood biomass requires 57 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced. In terms of energy output ...

Using the genomic shortcut to predict bacterial behavior

...ut for ethanol production, the study found that: # corn requires 29 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced; # switch grass requires 45 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced; and # wood biomass requires 57 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced. In terms of energy output ...

Genetically modified maize not found in southern Mexico

...many scientists thought, genetically modified (GM) corn has not yet spread to native maize crops in southe...ture and identity revolve heavily around maize, or corn ?the crop was first developed here thousands of years ago ?the thought of importing GM varieties tha...

Fluoride poisoning in China due to clay, not coal

...e blocks of coal. The combined fuel is used to dry corn before storing it. Corn, however, absorbs more smoke than other grains, such as rice or wheat. Zheng's team found that only 15 per cent of the fluoride released when the coal and clay mixture is burnt comes from the coal. The fluoride that contamin...

Corn grain mould used as pesticide

... this non-toxic strain of aspergillus on grains of corn and spread the mould-infected grains in fields of ... pesticide. Five kilos of mould-infected grains of corn are sufficient to 'inoculate' an area of one hectare ?this means that the method is relatively inexp...

University of Arizona plant scientists to unravel maize genome

... of a consortium to unlock the genetic code of the corn plant. The knowledge gained from the Maize Genome ...tell us which genes we need to focus on to develop corn varieties that produce higher yield and better quality with less water on less land," said Wing, who...

Plants give pests sock in the gut

A novel enzyme in corn helps the plants defend themselves from voracious ...e University have since developed several lines of corn resistant to multiple pests, using conventional plant breeding and insect-resistant strains of corn ...

New possibilities to fight pests with biological means

... by the plant and attract wasps toward the damaged corn plant. Since this mechanism is based only on a sin...ce, biologists of the Max Planck institute studied corn plants, caterpillars of the species Spodoptera littoralis (Egyptian cotton leaf worm) and parasitic ...

Biofuels can replace about 30 percent of fuel needs with significant research and policy effort

...ble materials including agriculture wastes such as corn stovers and wheat stalks, fast-growing trees such as poplar and willow and several perennial energy crops such as switchgrass. In addition to including more diversity in materials, the group also recommends some changes to the plants themselves usin...

Pesticides in the nation's streams and ground water

... states) throughout the study period as its use on corn and soybeans declined, with no levels greater than its aquatic-life benchmark by the end of the study. In contrast, both the use and the levels of atrazine, the most heavily used herbicide in the Corn Belt region, remained relatively high throughout...

Discovery may speed forest biotechnology

...h short-lived species that flower rapidly, such as corn and wheat, have been too slow to be practical." A remaining obstacle, Strauss said, is public understanding of the nature and safety of genetic engineering with trees, which has led to limited interest in the field by private industry and sometimes ...

Food-crop yields in future greenhouse-gas conditions lower than expected

...aland; rice at Shizukuishi, Japan; and soybean and corn crops at Illinois. In three key production measures, involving four crops, the authors wrote, just one of 12 factors scrutinized is not lower than chamber equivalents, Long said. "The FACE experiments clearly show that much lower CO2 fertilization f...

Corn waste potentially more than ethanol

After the corn harvest, whether for cattle feed or corn on the cob, farmers usually leave the stalks and stems in the field, but now, a team of Penn State r...

Plants tell caterpillars when it's safe to forage

...r, Mythimna separata , to volatile compounds from corn and varied the light and dark conditions for both corn and insect. Corn infested with M. separata releases volatiles that attract parasitic wasps ( C. kari...

Biofuels researcher searches for new sources

...nt of ethanol made in the United States comes from corn grain. However, other sources of ethanol are needed, because even if the entire United States' corn crop was used for ethanol, it would meet only 10 percent of the country's fuel needs. So researche...

Biologists find regions of rice domestication

...rice, other staple crops such as wheat, barley and corn appear to have been domesticated just once in history. Rice is the largest staple crop for human consumption, supplying 20 percent of caloric content for the world. By finding the geographic origins of rice, researchers can consider ways to improv...

Producing bio-ethanol from agricultural waste a step closer

... the cultivation of these crops, such as straw and corn husks. It would be a major step forward if this leftover material, which also largely consists of sugar, could be used for the production of bio-ethanol. This would allow agricultural land to be used more efficiently and at the same time prevent comp...

Tests may help answer questions about GMOs and allergies

...lus thuringiensis. The cry9C protein protected the corn from several types of corn borers and black cutworms. StarLink was approved by the EPA for use in animal feed and nonfood produ...

Iowa State researchers improving plastics made from corn and soy proteins

...es into a ball. That's about the shape of a soy or corn protein, said Grewell, an Iowa State University assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering. Then he unfolded the model into a long, straight loop. That's what happens when researchers add some glycerin ?a byproduct of biodiesel pr...

New biochip helps study living cells, may speed drug development

...ample, let's say you were interested in developing corn varieties that need less fertilizer," he said. "If you had a library of genes that were associated with high nitrogen-use efficiency -- thus making the plant need less nitrogen fertilizer -- you could transform a group of maize cells with these genes...

Dragonfly's metabolic disease provides clues about human obesity

...rature and found that consumption of high-fructose corn syrup often is associated with gastrointestinal distress, which may be a sign that fructose affects the gut microbial flora," said Marden. Another clue is that some AIDS patients, with compromised immune systems, have chronic problems with Cryptos...

Climate change creates dramatic decline in red-winged black bird population

...regarious and switch from eating insects to eating corn and have caused millions of dollars of damage. Red-winged black birds feed on corn borers, so that makes them well-liked by farmers, until they switch in the breeding season to eating...

Engineered yeast speeds ethanol production

...thanol levels are toxic to the yeast that ferments corn and other plant material into ethanol. By manip...rcent ethanol, are becoming common in states where corn is plentiful; however, their use is mainly confined to the Midwest because corn supplies are limited...

Does evolution select for faster evolvers?

...d plant species ?including humans, mice, wheat and corn ?came from HGT insertions," Deem said. "For example, we can trace the development of the adaptive immune system in humans and other jointed vertebrates to an HGT insertion about 400 million years ago." The new mathematical model developed by Deem ...

Researcher examines polymers created with poultry feathers

...reate biodegradable plastics from biomass, such as corn and soybeans, has been around for more than 70 years. However the recent push to increase energy production from these feedstocks has increased the value of these agricultural commodities, making products made from them more expensive. Barone has ...

Fruit fly gene research may shed light on human disease processes

... can be grown cheaply in test tubes, fed on yeast, corn meal and molasses, yet their embryos, which can be seen with the naked eye, undergo many of the same developmental processes as larger creatures. Thus, they can serve as models, allowing us to observe details we can't see in more complex animals." ...

With cellulosic ethanol, there is no food vs. fuel debate according to MSU scientist

As more and more corn grain is diverted to make ethanol, there have been... ethanol made from cellulosic materials instead of corn grain, renders the food vs. fuel debate moot, according to research by a Michigan State University e...

Meeting the ethanol challenge: Scientists use supercomputer to target cellulose bottleneck

...more than doubling between 2000 and 2005. To date, corn has been the favorite ethanol source. While good news for farmers, corn prices have doubled in the past two years, and consumers worldwide are feeling the pinch as food pri...

Scientists map air pollution using corn grown in US fields

...el air pollution in the United States by analyzing corn collected from nearly 70 locations nationwide. .... In summer 2004, UCI scientists collected corn from farms and gardens in 31 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. They chose corn because it is wide...

Statin plus cancer drug deliver combo punch to brain cancer cells

...adly skin cancer, melanoma. First extracted from corn lilies in the 1950s, cyclopamine is a powerful toxin known to stunt fetal development and cause birth defects in humans and animals. Its connection to anti-cancer efforts grew out of later insights into its blockage of hedgehog, which gets its name ...

Cellulosic ethanol: Fuel of the future?

...istilled from kernels of corn. There are about 140 corn ethanol refineries nationwide, which produce more ...han 5 billion gallons a year. But critics say that corn ethanol alone won't meet the president's goal of 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels in 10 years...

Custom-made cancer cell attacks

...istilled from kernels of corn. There are about 140 corn ethanol refineries nationwide, which produce more ...han 5 billion gallons a year. But critics say that corn ethanol alone won't meet the president's goal of 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels in 10 years...

Ethanol vehicles pose a significant risk to human health, study finds

...le disruption to the land-unlike ethanol made from corn or switchgrass, which will require millions of acres of farmland to mass-produce. It would seem prudent, therefore, to address climate, health and energy with technologies that have known benefits. '' ...

Scientists find potential 'off-switch' for HIV virus

...y. "It's somewhat like the unpopped kernels of corn left in the bottom of the bag when you take it out of the microwave," Weinberger said. "They were exposed to the same heat as the others but did not pop. We wanted to know why about one in a million HIV particles didn't 'pop' immediately like all the...

ConocoPhillips establishes $22.5M biofuels research program at Iowa State

...nventional biorenewable fuels include ethanol from corn starch and biodiesel from soybean oil. Advanced bi...fibrous biomass such as the stalks and leaves from corn plants and switchgrass. "I'm pleased Iowa State University and ConocoPhillips will partner to res...

Genome sequencing reveals key to viable ethanol production

...ing it from plants is difficult. Producing it from corn is the easiest method, but doing so on a large scale would drive up the price of corn, corn starch, and even tangential foods like beef, since cows are fed on corn—not to mention all the energ...

Iowa State scientists demonstrate first use of nanotechnology to enter plant cells

...duce DNA and chemicals to Arabidopsis, tobacco and corn plants. "The most tremendous advantage is that you can deliver several things into a plant cell at the same time and release them whenever you want," Torney said. "Until now, you were at nature’s mercy when you delivered a gene into a cell," L...

Fuel from fiber -- Pretreatment can put corn stalks, trees in your car's tank

...erials science, making fuels from poplar trees and corn stalks is becoming more efficient and cost-effective. Dale is internationally known for his 30 years of research on making ethanol from plant biomass ?the stems, leaves, stalks and trunks of plants and trees usually discarded as waste after a crop...

For many insects, winter survival is in the genes

...on agricultural pest: the gypsy moth, the European corn borer, the walnut husk maggot, the apple maggot and the tobacco hornworm. Collectively, these species cause millions of dollars of damage annually. Hsp70 was active while all of the insects were in diapause. When Denlinger's team knocked out th...

ASU research shows connection between testosterone, dietary antioxidants and bird coloration

...enoids, the pigments that color carrots orange and corn yellow, have even deeper health benefits than originally thought. They appear to fight off the negative impacts that testosterone can have on an animal’s health. The researchers, Kevin McGraw an assistant professor in ASU’s School of Life Science...

New study finds genetically engineered crops could play a role in sustainable agriculture

...om field experiments all over the world, involving corn and cotton plants with a Bt gene inserted for its insecticidal properties. The research was conducted by scientists at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, The Nature Conse...

Pesticides choke pathway for nature to produce nitrogen for crops

...s that, in turn, benefit primary market crops like corn grown after legume rotations. __IMAGE_2 Legume plants secrete chemical signals that recruit the friendly bacteria, which work with the plants to convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia that, then, is used as fertilizer by the plants. "Agri...