Magdy A. Madkour

Welcome to Agriculture & Food Security

Editorial Senior scientists from many countries have come together to meet the need for an open access research journal that focuses explicitly on agriculture, the condition of food security and the critical linkages between these topics. In the 21 century, we recognize the dual role of agriculture as our species’ lifeline for food and essential materials, as well as the dominant form of terrestrial planetary care, and the journal will facilitate the dissemination of information in this vitally important area of research. Norman Borlaug (1914–2009) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for initiating the Green Revolution in agriculture which increased agricultural production so successfully as to enable some one billion people, who would otherwise have died from starvation, to thrive. That said, it must be noted that in his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (December the 11th, 1970) [1], he observed that: “The green revolution has won a temporary success in man’s war against hunger and deprivation; it has given man a breathing space. If fully implemented, the revolution can provide sufficient food for sustenance during the next three decades. But the frightening power of human reproduction must also be curbed; otherwise the success of the green revolution will be ephemeral only.” The harsh reality of this warning was recognised in the early part of 2008 when the price of wheat and maize doubled and that of rice tripled, leading to food riots in 20 countries. The Editors bring diverse perspectives to the challenge Norman Borlaug and his generation left in the wake of the Green Revolution, but several points are inescapably clear. There is broad agreement that food security is a goal of paramount importance in the 21 century, and that food and food systems are critically important to humans far beyond the physical survival they provide. A sharp focus on productivity of familiar crops will continue to be essential using all technical and conceptual approaches that make sense to increase yields, improve crop and livestock efficiencies and overall agricultural systems outputs, and

Expression of Hepatitis B surface Antigen (HBsAg) gene in transgenic banana ( Musa Sp.)

The Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the most widespread viral infections of humans and causes acute and chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The world wide problem of HBV infection has necessitated the development of an effective vaccine. Currently, immunization programs for large segments of the population in many areas of the developing world are very expensive. This limitation led us to attempt the expression of the recombinant Hepatitis B surface antigen (rHBsAg) in plants with the hope of developing a less expensive production system and a way to present the rHBsAg in edible plant tissues in a form that would be useful as an oral vaccine. In this study, we attempted to express the HBsAg in cv. Williams banana plants to be used as an edible vaccine. Using a Biolistic Gene Gun, apical meristem explants of banana were bombarded with plasmid pBHsAg harboring the gene encoding the HBsAg and the bar gene as a selectable marker. Bombarded explants were selected on media containing 3 mg/l Bialaphos. The HBsAg gene was detected using PCR analysis and its expression was tested via western blot analysis using specific polyclonal antibodies directed against human serum derived HBsAg. This study indicates the feasibility of the expression of foreign antigens in plants for possible use as an oral vaccine.

Developing transgenic wheat to encounter rusts and powdery mildew by overexpressing barley chi26 gene for fungal resistance

BackgroundThe main aim of this study was to improve fungal resistance in bread wheat via transgenesis. Transgenic wheat plants harboring barley chitinase (chi26) gene, driven by maize ubi promoter, were obtained using biolistic bombardment, whereas the herbicide resistance gene, bar, driven by the CaMV 35S promoter was used as a selectable marker.ResultsMolecular analysis confirmed the integration, copy number, and the level of expression of the chi26 gene in four independent transgenic events. Chitinase enzyme activity was detected using a standard enzymatic assay. The expression levels of chi26 gene in the different transgenic lines, compared to their respective controls, were determined using qRT-PCR. The transgene was silenced in some transgenic families across generations. Gene silencing in the present study seemed to be random and irreversible. The homozygous transgenic plants of T4, T5, T6, T8, and T9 generations were tested in the field for five growing seasons to evaluate their resistance against rusts and powdery mildew. The results indicated high chitinase activity at T0 and high transgene expression levels in few transgenic families. This resulted in high resistance against wheat rusts and powdery mildew under field conditions. It was indicated by proximate and chemical analyses that one of the transgenic families and the non-transgenic line were substantially equivalent.ConclusionTransgenic wheat with barley chi26 was found to be resistant even after five generations under artificial fungal infection conditions. One transgenic line was proved to be substantially equivalent as compared to the non-transgenic control.

Agriculture & Food Security : first anniversary

Anniversary editorial We are delighted to celebrate the first anniversary of Agriculture & Food Security with you, our readers. In our Launch Editorial [1] we highlighted the crucial role of agriculture in delivering improved food security to a global population that will reach ten billion by the end of the century, while maintaining biodiversity and other critical ecosystems services. This global challenge must confront the problems of climate change, recognizing that agricultural greenhouse gas emissions must be managed as much as possible, while using fewer natural resources and producing improved outcomes in human dimensions. Clearly this will require new knowledge-intensive processes, which are rapidly developed, rigorously tested and widely disseminated. In these causes we have emphasized the advantages of publishing in Agriculture & Food Security which, as an open access journal, provides unrestricted access to research workers, decision makers and lay people around the world. Clearly, open access gives publications a worldwide audience far larger than any subscription-based journal so as to increase the visibility and impact of published work and comply with new commitments in major international research organizations. Our journal also enhances indexing and retrieval while eliminating the need for permission to reproduce and distribute material. We are particularly grateful to the distinguished members of our Editorial Board [http://www.agricultureand foodsecurity.com/about/edboard] who have given their time to advise us on the way forward, and to participate, along with other experts, in the peer review process, which has ensured that our publications are of very high quality. Our community has welcomed Agriculture & Food Security by submitting fine manuscripts for peer review and we have published twenty-six articles (comprising nine Research Papers, eight Reviews, six Commentaries and three Editorials, including Ademola Braimoh’s Guest Editorial) along with a supplement on