Researchers at UC San Diego in collaboration with others have constructed a new reporter RUBY that converts tyrosine to vividly red betalain, which is clearly visible to naked eyes without the need of using special equipment or chemical treatments. They demonstrated that RUBY can be used to noninvasively monitor gene expression in plants. Furthermore, they show that RUBY is an effective selection marker for transformation events.Reporters have been widely used to visualize gene expression, protein localization, and other cellular activities, but the commonly used reporters require special equipment, expensive chemicals, or invasive treatments.

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha is a transcriptional regulator of the adaptive response to hypoxia. When activated under hypoxic conditions, it can turn on over 40 genes involved in a variety of physiological activities. The dysregulation or alteration by mutation can lead to pathophysiology in areas of energy metabolism, cancer, cell survival and tumor invasion.

Currently, renewable fatty acids are obtained solely from plant oils. Medium chain fatty acids (C8-C14) are typically sourced from coconut and palm oil, whereas longer chain saturated and unsaturated fatty acids are typically sourced from tallow, soy, corn or sunflower oil. Fatty acids are widely used for food, personal care products, industrial applications (e.g., lubricants, adhesives, detergents and plastics), as well as increasingly as biofuels. The demand for renewable fatty acids is rising and expanding. Given the current understanding of biological pathways it becomes possible to utilize other organisms, especially microorganisms, for the production of renewable chemicals such as fatty acids.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is known to transmit dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya virus, and Zika virus which have a worldwide impact on people’s health. Moreover, both Chikungunya and Zika virus were recently introduced into the western hemisphere and are poised to sweep throughout the areas in the range of mosquitos with the potential of infecting people who live in these broad areas. Attempts to eradicate these diseases by eliminating the Aedes aegypti mosquito by conventional use of spraying insecticides has met with limited success. So, in the absence of effective mosquito abatement, vaccines may provide the best strategy of preventing disease. Currently, there are vaccines for Yellow Fever and Dengue Fever (undergoing further testing); no vaccines exist for either Chikungunya or Zika virus at present. In the absence of such vaccines, UC San Diego researchers have developed a novel approach to control the spread of mosquitos.

In many agricultural seed products—such as oilseed crops, grains, and legumes, as well as seed for planting—the premature release of seeds prior to harvest results in serious losses. Prior to this invention, visual examination of the crops and other agricultural techniques, such as determination of moisture content, have been the primary means to indicate timing of the seed harvest. This invention uses antisense genetic manipulation to achieve rational control of the natural regulatory mechanism of seed release.

In many agricultural seed products—such as oilseed crops, grains and legumes, and seeds harvested specifically for planting—premature release of seeds prior to harvest results in serious losses. Swathing and other methods for minimizing harvest loses add to overall production costs. In addition, regardless of cost factors, the need for positive control of seed release may in future years become a desirable capability when genetically modified organism (GMO) crops become widespread, in order to assure satisfactory containment.

Oil seed crops, such as canola (Brassica), often break their seed-pods prematurely. This premature seed release can be a result of harvesting techniques or adverse weather conditions. Premature release can cause from 10 to 50 percent crop loss in canola, using current harvesting techniques.