Molecular biologists at the University of Florida have succeeded in inoculating rye, an important European crop, against the herbicide Basta by injecting into it 2 foreign genes (Biotechnology, Vol

The makers of transgenic beings -- customised life-forms fitted with foreign genes to endow them with desirable qualities, such as disease-resistance -- need no longer be in suspense over whether the

Genetically engineered pea seeds can successfully ward off voracious pests

SCIENTISTS at the University of Minnesota in the US have developed a new strain of bacteria to fight pollution caused by organohalides -- compounds of carbon and halogens such as chlorine and

SCIENTISTS have overcome the resistance offered by three species of Indian pulses to conventional genetic engineering techniques, literally at the point of a gun. S C Bhargava of the S K N College

TWO RESEARCHERS have produced genetically altered potato tissue that can detect compounds like alcohol and drug products in body fluids. Garry Rechnitz and Ae-June Wang of the University of Hawaii in

ADDING the genes of broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower to those of rapeseed could yield an oil that can be used to make superstrong plastics. Presently, rape-seed oil yields only 66 per cent erucic

OIL-EATING bacteria, useful in cleaning up slicks, will soon have water wings, helping to keep them afloat in water. Using gene-splicing techniques, researchers at the University of Massachusetts,

Scientists at the National Chemical Laboratory are working on rice biotechnology in order to develop more nutritious varieties of the cereal.

Scientists are focussing on strengthening genetically the defence mechanism of mosquitoes so as to render them inhospitable to the malarial parasite.