Corn-Genome Sequencing May Lead to Increased Global Production

Corn production, as well as the crop's resistance to disease, pests and drought, may increase within three years because researchers in Mexico have sequenced the grain's genome. Scientists at the National Genomics for Biodiversity Laboratory, in Mexico City, made a rough blueprint of the genome of a Mexican variety of corn, the country's Agriculture Ministry said this week. The breakthrough may lead to increased production because scientists can use the information to develop corn varieties resistant to bugs and diseases or capable of thriving when water is scarce. Farmers should have more-resistant corn within three years, seven years sooner than would have been possible without the research, Agriculture Minster Alberto Cardenas said. ``It's a way to figure out what causes diseases and how we can use different genetic tools to find resistances,'' said Nathan Fields, the director of research and business development for the U.S. National Corn Growers Association, in St. Louis, in a telephone interview yesterday. ``This offers the opportunity to switch on the plant's inherent capabilities.'' "Whole":[ http://www.checkbiotech.org/green_News_Genetics.aspx?infoId=15133]

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