62 GERMINATION.CA NOVEMBER 2017 ther develop and commercialize an improved wheat quality trait, which has completed initial field trials and is advancing to next-stage field trials. Dow AgroSciences will introgress Arcadia’s trait into its proprietary elite germplasm lines and manage all aspects related to the trait commer- cialization. NEW TECHNOLOGY TO BOOST TRADE BY REDUCING QUARANTINE TIME FOR FRUIT PLANTS Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced that the CFIA will lead two projects worth $500,000 that use new DNA-based technologies to reduce quarantine testing time, helping to boost trade and economic competitiveness in the $240-million Canadian fruit tree industry. The first project will dramatically shorten the testing period of seeds, cuttings and bulbs imported into Canada to grow new varieties of plants. With this fund- ing, scientists will use DNA technol- ogy to test for all viruses associated with imported plants to get an early indication of any plant diseases pre- sent. This approach could reduce the quarantine testing time by up to two- and-a-half years. The second project streamlines the testing of strawberry plants. Traditionally, multiple tests for viruses are required before exporting strawberry plants to foreign markets. This project will test for multiple viruses in one single test, dramati- cally reducing the time and cost to get plants to market. BASF ANNOUNCES NEW PULSE INOCULANT BASF launched a new inoculant at Ag in Motion in Saskatoon, Sask., in July. Nodulator Duo SCG is the first inocu- lant for peas and lentils to feature Biofilm — a root-strengthening bacte- rial strain that enhances nodulation, water uptake, and shoot growth for higher yield potential, according to the company. Registration is expected for the 2018 growing season. RESEARCH RESEARCH COALITION FORMED FOR TheHeadlines Submissions welcome: news@issuesink.com CANADIAN WHEAT COALITION FORMED The Alberta Wheat Commission, the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission and the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association announced the formation of the Canadian Wheat Research Coalition (CWRC), a federal not-for-profit corporation that will facilitate long-term investments aimed at improving profitability and competitiveness for western Canadian wheat farmers. The CWRC will facilitate a collaborative approach to producer funding of regional and national research projects in variety development and agronomy including the next Canadian National Wheat Cluster and core wheat breeding agreements with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and universities. MILLET GENOME SEQUENCED A study coordinated by an international consortium of French, Indian and Chinese researchers has enabled the genome sequence for millet to be obtained for the first time. This discovery improves the understanding of the organization and evolution of the genome of this cereal, which provides food security throughout the world. It also provides new prospects for selecting or improving varieties of millet that may be better equipped to cope with climate change. This research enabled the team to trace the origin of millet domestication, found to have taken place almost 4,500 years ago at the border between Mali and Niger. It highlighted genes that slow down the loss of water from the leaves (thus conserving hydration), as well as other genes related to withstanding dry condi- tions. PLANT GENETICISTS DEVELOP NEW APPLICATION OF CRISPR TO BREAK YIELD BARRIERS Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in New York have harnessed the untapped power of genome editing to improve agricultural crops. Using tomato as an example, they have mobilized CRISPR/Cas9 technology to rapidly generate variants of the plant that display a broad continuum of three separate, agricultur- ally important traits: fruit size, branching architecture and overall plant shape. All are major components in deter- mining how much a plant will yield. DISCOVERY HELPS ENGINEER MORE ACCURATE CAS9S FOR CRISPR EDITING Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley and Massachusetts General Hospital have identified a key region within the Cas9 protein that governs how accu- rately CRISPR-Cas9 homes in on a target DNA sequence, and have tweaked it to produce a hyper-accurate gene editor with the lowest level of off-target cutting to date. The protein domain the researchers identified as a master controller of DNA cutting is an obvious target for re-engi- neering to improve accuracy even further, the researchers say.