Gene silencing yields high-fibre wheat

Researchers are making high-fibre wheat using gene silencing technology, but hope to use old-fashioned plant breeding methods to bring it to market. They have used a genetic modification (GM) method known as RNA interference (RNAi) to identify the genes responsible for high fibre. RNAi is a way of changing the expression of particular genes in plants. Rather than marketing such a GM wheat, they plan to select for plants with the right genetic make up and breed them the conventional way, because people, particularly in the major export markets, are still not accepting GM technology. Scientists from Australia's CSIRO and the French-based agricultural biotechnology company Biogemma UK report their findings today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. "Source":[ http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1579998.htm].

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