74 / SEEDWORLD.COM SEPTEMBER 2018 Purdue University researchers have mapped a complex series of pathways that control the shape of plant cells. These findings will help to customize how plants grow to suit particular agronomic needs and improve the quality of U.S. grown cotton grown. Daniel Szymanski analyzed how intracellular signaling networks pattern cell walls to generate particular cell shapes and sizes. This knowledge from the Arabidopsis model system can be used to generate cotton fiber cells with smaller diameter or increased strength. Farmers and plant breeders can now build automated field camera tracking systems to collect data on dynamic plant traits, such as crop lodging and movement, as it’s happening in the field. A team of University of Minnesota researchers, led by Alex Susko, developed the system to capture videos of plant movement under very windy conditions as well as stem failure or lodging. INDUSTRY NEWS Delivering the people, industry, business and product news you need to know. Submissions are welcome. Email us at news@issuesink.com. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded South Dakota’s Padu Krishnan, a professor in the Department of Dairy and Food Science, a three-year, nearly $450,000 research grant. Through this project, the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station researcher seeks to improve the quality of oats grown in North America and develop new products that will take oats beyond the breakfast aisle. The new project builds upon work in which Krishnan and graduate student Devendra Paudel developed a near- infrared spectrometer (NIRS) calibration to quantify beta glucan content in oat samples. Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science discovered a process through which gene expression in plants is regulated by light. Published in “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA,” the study finds that blue light triggers a shift in which portion of a gene is ultimately expressed. A 27-day window in which food products containing genetically engineered ingredients had to be labeled as such in Vermont has given economists a window into how the mandatory labeling could affect consumer attitudes. During the mandatory labeling period, economists say opposition to GE foods declined nearly 19 percent. Purdue University scientists found evidence that the repressive structures that plants use to keep genes turned off is built with a potential self-destruct switch. Their research offers insight into ways to control gene expression to alter plants’ characteristics. The National FFA Organization and the American Seed Trade Association signed a memorandum of understanding. The memorandum will align ASTA’s strategic goals and resources with the three- component model of agricultural education, providing teacher curriculum and resources; supervised agricultural experience support and mentors; and leadership and career development. Kansas State University researchers turn up the heat on wheat to prove the point that higher nighttime temperatures may be to blame for significant yield and quality losses in the crop. If what they believe is true, it could lead to improvements in breeding that would impact wheat grown around the world. A team of researchers, led by a University of California, Davis, plant scientist, identified a lettuce gene and related enzyme that puts the brakes on germination during hot weather — a discovery that could lead to lettuces that can sprout year-round, even at high temperatures. BUSINESS NEWS Farmers Edge collaborated with Phillips Seed Farms Inc. to customize services based on Farmers Edge’s robust analytics and near real-time insights. Calyxt, Inc. transferred its proprietary alfalfa seed and plants from the research and development facility to S&W Seed Company for field evaluation and testing.