Posts Tagged: "GMO"

Health and government officials around the world are scrambling to find a way to prevent or cure the growing spread of the Zika virus. Could the introduction of genetically modified mosquitos help to reduce the spread of the virus, or does it sound like this will just cause more problems than it solves? What could possibly go wrong with the introduction of genetically modified mosquitoes into the environment?

Our latest Tech Round-Up here on IPWatchdog takes a brief glance at many of the stories which have caught our attention in recent days. As he often does, Elon Musk takes center-stage in a couple of news items regarding challenges he’ll be facing in the realms of space travel as well as electric vehicles. In Europe, the first successful installation of light-based wireless Internet could be the first step in a new age of Internet connectivity. Data breaches and genetically modified foods round out our discussion of recent events in the worlds of high-tech and science.

Monsanto’s 2005 acquisition of vegetable and fruit seed producer Seminis, Inc., continues to pay dividends for the corporation as readers can see in a couple of patents which have recently issued from the USPTO. U.S. Patent No. 9125354, which is titled Squash Hybrid LEBEHH9044 and Parents Thereof, claims a squash plant and seed having a first set of chromosomes of squash line ZGN-EH-09-7554. The squash plant protected here exhibits desirable traits for commercial squash production and is well suited for the development of new lines based the elite nature of the plant’s genetic background. Another invention which was initially filed by elite lettuceSeminis can be seen within U.S. Patent No. 9072271, titled Agronomically Elite Lettuce with Quantitative Bremia lactuca Resistance. This patent protects a lettuce seed containing an allele conferring resistance to Bremia lactucae and lacking a second allele conferring resistance to Lactuca saligna and conferring traits in adventitious shoots, bubbled leaves and reduced plant diameter. This innovation is intended to produce lettuce with a natural resistance to downy mildew without conferring some undesirable agronomic traits which are genetically linked to the resistance traits.

A push for innovation to solve the water crisis has been kickstarted this summer in some part due to an executive order from California Governor Jerry Brown that initiated a drought technology program intended to accelerate the development of innovative water and energy saving technologies.