Sliced Apple That Won't turn Brown

A B.C. biotechnology company is entering the final stages of an application to the United States to market genetically modified apples that do not turn brown when sliced.

The technology employed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits inhibits browning of apple flesh by turning off a gene that produces the enzyme polyphenol oxidase, according to company president Neal Carter, an orchardist in the Okanagan since 1995.

The company has developed non-browning Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples that are included in a petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The company brands the non-browning fruit with the label "Arctic."

Varieties of apple such as the Golden Delicious tend to brown quickly when sliced and exposed to the air and show scuff marks from picking and transport, cosmetic deterioration Okanagan Specialty says its products will resist. The company is owned by a consortium of fruit growers, packers and other fruit industry firms, mainly from British Columbia.

"People buy with their eyes, they always pick the fruit that looks the best," Carter said.

Critics of the technology worry that a gene-modified apple would invoke consumer mistrust of a food that is iconic of natural goodness.

"This is a technology that supports industrial farming, it is not a product that addresses any consumer need," said Lucy Sharratt, coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.

"Parents may not want to feed their children brown sliced apples or see them thrown away at school, but I doubt they'd prefer a genetically modified apple," Sharratt said.

The food service industry uses acidic solutions of water and vitamin C or lemon juice to keep sliced fruit from turning brown.

Genes Tied to Puberty, Body Fat in Girls Spotted

Scientists have pinpointed 30 genes that control the timing of puberty in females. They also believe many of these genes also play a role in body weight regulation or fat metabolism.

The international team of researchers analyzed 32 genome-wide association studies that included more than 87,000 women from Australia, Europe and the United States. Thet then performed replication studies in another group of almost 15,000 women.

In addition to the two genes already known to play a role in the timing of puberty, the team identified 30 new genes and suggestive evidence for another 10 genes.

The newly identified genes include four that have previously been associated with body mass index (a clinical measure of ewight), three that play a role in metabolism, and three that play a role in hormone regulation, according to the report, which is scheduled to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Nature Genetics.

Bacteria Trained To Convert Bio - Wastes Into Plastic

A scientist has 'trained' bacteria to convert all the main sugars in vegetable, fruit and garden waste efficiently into high-quality green bioplastics.

By adapting the eating pattern of bacteria and subsequently training them, Jean-Paul Meijnen, a microbiologist at the TU Delft in The Netherlands, has succeeded in converting sugars in processable materials, so that no bio-waste is wasted.

The technical problems associated with turning potato peel into sunglasses, or cane sugar into car bumpers, have already been solved. But the current methods are not very efficient: only a small percentage of the sugars can be converted into valuable products, according to a TU Delft statement.

In the new experiment, the favoured raw materials for such processes are biological wastes left over from food production. Lignocellulose, the complex combination of lignin and cellulose present in the stalks and leaves of plants that gives them their rigidity, is such a material.

The Rs 1,550 cr Biocon -Pfizer Deal...

Bangalore-headquartered biotech firm Biocon has entered into a $350-million (Rs 1,550 crore) strategic alliance with drug-major Pfizer on Monday for marketing Biocon’s insulin products. The agreement includes the commercialisation of Biocon’s biosimilar versions of insulin and insulin analog products: recombinant human insulin, glargine, aspart and lispro, Biocon said.

The potential market for these four products, according to Kiran Mazumdar Shaw , chairman and MD of Biocon, would roughly be around $20 billion by 2015. Biocon hopes to combine the synergies of Pfizer’s marketing and distribution networks and its own cost-effective developing and manufacturing capabilities to grab a piece of the $14-billion biosimilar market.

Their main competitors would be Novo Nordisk, Sanofi Aventis and Eli Lilly. The rival companies are betting on the fact that by 2015, a number of insulin analogs are expected to lose patents. This would create large opportunities in the biosimilar market which would, in turn, give them a first-mover advantage.

In addition to the $350 million, the company will also receive additional payments linked to Pfizer’s sales of its four insulin biosimilar products across global markets, the company added. Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will make upfront payments of $200 million. Biocon is also eligible to receive an additional development and regulatory milestone payment of up to $150 million.

Rakesh Bamzai, marketing head, Biocon, said the firm would be investing around $300 million in the next three years to ramp up its biosimilar capacity in India and also look at manufacturing facilities in Malaysia. Ms Shaw added that currently there is enough capacity to meet the needs of Pfizer for the next five years. Pfizer will have exclusive rights to commercialise these products globally, with certain exceptions, including co-exclusive rights for all of the products with Biocon in Germany, India and Malaysia, it said. The market for diabetes drugs and devices in 2010 is estimated at $40 billion with insulins accounting for $14 billion or 35% of the diabetes segment.