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Daily Archives: July 27, 2017
Bitcoin LIVE news: Price latest as top investor warns cryptocurrency is an ‘unfounded FAD’ – Express.co.uk
Posted: July 27, 2017 at 9:51 am
Getty
Investor Howard Marks, who predicted the financial crisis and dotcom bubble implosion, warned that cryptocurrency is a nothing more than a fad or pyramid scheme style scam.
He said: In my view, digital currencies are nothing but an unfounded fad (or perhaps even a pyramid scheme), based on a willingness to ascribe value to something that has little or none beyond what people will pay for it.
The co-chairman of Oaktree Capital, compared cryptocurrencies to the Tulip mania of 1637, the South Sea bubble of 1720 and the internet bubble of 1999.
In an investor letter, he said: Serious investing consists of buying things because the price is attractive relative to intrinsic value.
Speculation, on the other hand, occurs when people buy something without any consideration of its underlying value or the appropriateness of its price."
Bitcoin suffered a crash earlier this month but has since bounced back and is now up by almost nearly 160 per cent this year.
On Wednesday Bitcoin briefly fell as low as $2,433.83, its lowest price since the cryptocurrency dramatically rebounded last week.
The volatile digital currency saw a surge last Thursday after miners backed a new upgrade of the system designed to solve the cryptocurrencys scaling issue.
Although Bitcoin narrowly avoided a fork this month, there are still concerns that digital currency is at risk of splitting into two versions.
Here is the latest Bitcoin news, prices and live updates (All times BST).
CoinDesk
1.48pm: Todays high is $2,615.38 and the low is $2,541.71 so far. Bitcoin opened at $2,550.18 today, according to CoinDesk.
11.30am: Briefly fell below $2,500 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Last Thursday the price rose sharply after most developers backed BIP 91, a upgrade to the bitcoin system.
The BIP 91 lock-in was hailed as a victory as miners agreed to cement the first part of a larger effort to upgrade bitcoin, called Segwit2x.
Alex Sunnarborg, research analyst at CoinDesk, told CNBC: "I believe the market is currently somewhat torn between the optimism around BIP 91 locking in, which could lead to SegWit activating if all goes smoothly, and the fear of the second half of SegWit2x proposal, the 2MB block size hard fork, still being contested.
11am: Howard Marks, co-chairman of Oaktree Capital, compared cryptocurrencies to the Tulip mania of 1637, the South Sea bubble of 1720 and the internet bubble of 1999.
In an investor letter, he said: Serious investing consists of buying things because the price is attractive relative to intrinsic value.
Speculation, on the other hand, occurs when people buy something without any consideration of its underlying value or the appropriateness of its price."
9am: A US jury has indicted a Russian man as the operator of a digital currency exchange he allegedly used to launder more than $4 billion for people involved in crimes ranging from computer hacking to drug trafficking.
Alexander Vinnik was arrested in a small beachside village in northern Greece on Tuesday, according to local authorities.
CoinDesk
US officials described Vinnik in a Justice Department statement as the operator of BTC-e, an exchange used to trade the digital currency bitcoin since 2011.
They alleged Vinnik and his firm "received" more than $4 billion in bitcoin and did substantial business in the US without following appropriate protocols to protect against money laundering and other crimes.
US authorities also linked him to the failure of Mt. Gox, a Japan-based bitcoin exchange that collapsed in 2014 after being hacked.
Vinnik "obtained" funds from the hack of Mt. Gox and laundered them through BTC-e and Tradehill, another San Francisco-based exchange he owned, they said in the statement.
CoinDesk
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Bank Of America Warns Against Optimism over Bitcoin – CryptoCoinsNews
Posted: at 9:51 am
Francisco Blanch, Bank of Americas head of global commodities and derivatives research, warned that cryptocurrencies have major inherent risks and urged investors against optimism about bitcoins rising value, according to Bloomberg.
He said cryptocurrencies remain prone to fraud, theft, new protocol adoption and lack of acceptance. He also pointed out that it is not legal tender in many parts of the world.
For bitcoin to thrive, he said it needs to become a pledgeable collateral. He further noted that bitcoin must be viewed as safe to become a trusted store of value.
Bitcoin trading, meanwhile, has increased to more than $1 billion daily in recent months. On some days, trading has surpassed $2 billion.
Blanch said bitcoins volatility lessens as it builds liquidity and scale. But its volatility remains higher than emerging market currencies. In addition, he said, cryptocurrencies do not correlate with gold, oil, Group-of-10 currencies or equities.
Cryptocurrency returns rely on price appreciation that will mainly depend on faith from financial institutions, corporations and individuals, he said. Bitcoin currently trades at more than $2,500 per coin, which more than doubles the price at the beginning of the year.
Most regulated financial companies permit clients to borrow against physical and financial assets, but they do not take cryptocurrency as collateral at the present time, Blanch observed. This view matches that of Morgan Stanley analysts who stated in June that government acceptance is needed for cryptocurrency appreciation, coming at the cost of regulation.
Also read: Cryptocurrencies more assets than actual currencies, says Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley stated in a white paper in June that both investors and regulators view cryptocurrencies as assets more than actual currencies. The analysts, including James Faucet, stated that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum and Ripple, are more like investment vehicles than fiat currencies that people can spend on products and services. Morgan Stanley analysts added that bitcoin represents a marginally more inconvenient way to pay, and there are only a handful of reasons to use the cryptocurrency instead of a credit or debit card.
Morgan Stanley could only list some guesses about the price increase of bitcoin. According to the report, the analysts do not have a clear reason why the cryptocurrency has been on a massive surge.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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Launcher for next space station crew in position for liftoff Friday – Spaceflight Now
Posted: at 9:51 am
A Russian Soyuz rocket made a railroad journey Wednesday to its launch pad in Kazakhstan, two days before blastoff with a crew of three spaceflight veterans from the United States, Italy and Russia heading for the International Space Station.
The three-stage rocket departed an assembly building just after sunrise Wednesday on a special rail car for the journey to Launch Pad No. 1, the same mount from which Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin launched on the first piloted space mission in April 1961.
A hydraulic lift raised the Soyuz vertical before swing arms moved into place around the rocket. The launch structure containing the Soyuz booster then rotated to align with the planned launch azimuth.
Fridays liftoff is scheduled for 1541 GMT (11:41 a.m. EDT; 9:41 p.m. Baikonur time). The three-man crew inside the Soyuz MS-05 capsule will head into orbit on a fast-track pursuit of the space station, with docking set for approximately 2200 GMT (6 p.m. EDT) with the research outposts Rassvet module.
Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy, 42, will occupy the Soyuz spacecrafts center seat during Fridays launch and docking. The Soyuz commander, a biochemist with a career in space medicine before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2003, is making his second trip to the space station after spending 166 days in orbit as a flight engineer on the Expedition 37 and 38 crews.
NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik will be the Soyuz MS-05 spaceships board engineer, assisting Ryazanskiy with cockpit duties during the six-hour voyage from liftoff to docking. The 49-year-old retired Marine Corps fighter pilot hails from Santa Monica, California, and logged nearly 11 days in orbit aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on a 2009 mission to the space station.
Bresnik will take command of the stations Expedition 53 crew in September.
European Space Agency flight engineer Paolo Nespoli has 174 days of space experience on two previous missions, including a flight on the shuttle Discovery in 2007 and a long-duration stay on the space station in 2010 and 2011. Nespoli, 60, is a native of Milan and was a special forces operator in the Italian Army before working on several European space projects as an engineer.
The trio will become part of the space stations Expedition 52 and 53 crews, joining commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer on the orbiting complex. Yurchikhin, Whitson and Fischer are due to depart the station and return to Earth on Sept. 2, and three fresh crew members will launch on the next Soyuz spaceship from Baikonur on Sept. 12.
The space station has been flying with a three-person crew since early June, and Fridays docking will boost the outposts occupancy back to six.
Yurchikhin and Ryazanskiy will conduct a spacewalk Aug. 17 to deploy several small satellites and work outside the Russian segment of the station.
A SpaceX Dragon supply ship launched from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida is expected to arrive at the complex the same week, but its liftoff will have to work around the scheduled Russian spacewalk. Station managers want to ensure the satellites released by the Russian spacewalkers are accurately tracked before committing the Dragon cargo freighter to approach the outpost, minimizing the chance for a collision with one of the small craft.
The Dragon capsule is currently set to launch around Aug. 14, but if it slips more than a day or two, the launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket could be further delayed until officials are sure the small satellites are well away from the space station. A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is also expected to launch the same week, potentially complicating bookings on the U.S. Air Forces Eastern Range, which is responsible for flight safety, communications and tracking support for all missions from Cape Canaveral.
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Google Street View’s latest destination: the International Space Station – Stuff.co.nz
Posted: at 9:51 am
PETER HOLLEY
Last updated12:05, July 27 2017
GOOGLE MAPS
Peek inside the cramped, chaotic and dizzying homes of humans not anchored to Earth.
You've used Google Street View to check out a new apartment, map traffic before you hit the road and search for haunting slices of the everyday world.
Now, the comprehensive terrestrial mapping system has gone Extra-Terrestrial, allowing users to peer inside the International Space Station (ISS) from their computerwith 360-degree, panoramic views.
The Street View imagery was captured by Thomas Pesquet, an astronaut with the European Space Agency, who spent six months aboard the ISS before returning to Earth in June.
Google Street View, which is featured in Google Maps and Google World, was launched in 2007 and quickly expanded locations around the globe, including places as remote as Mt. Everest base camp and as offbeat as Loch Ness.
READ MORE: *Astronaut captures stunning pictures of New Zealand *Kiwi daredevil takes Google Street View inside seething Vanuatu volcano *Group of Kiwis immortalised on Google Street View in Italy
The vast majority of Street View's photography is shot by a vehicle, whose movement is available to fans online.
THOMAS PESQUET
Thomas Pesquet captured the images for Google Street View on board the International Space Station.
Google's foray into space is the first time Street View imagery was captured beyond planet Earth.
In a blog post about his experience, Pesquet wrote that "it was difficult to find the words or take a picture that accurately describes the feeling of being in space."
"Working with Google on my latest mission, I captured Street View imagery to show what the ISS looks like from the inside, and share what it's like to look down on Earth from space," he added.
GOOGLE MAPS
What a view: Looking back at Earth.
The virtual tour allows users to peek into areas where astronauts eat, exercise, work and even bathe.
Pesquet's imagery reveal an environment that may look a bit cramped and chaotic - if not altogether dizzying - to humans anchored on Earth, but some of the scenes from side the ISS are downright mesmerising.
GOOGLE MAPS
A street view image from the Joint Airlock, an area contains space suits also known as Extravehicular Mobility Units. They provide crew members with life support that enables extravehicular activity.
The images were captured using DSLR cameras and then "stitched together" back on Earth to create panoramic views.
Pesquet noted that the ISS is a "busy place" with six crew members working and researching 12 hours a day.
"There are a lot of obstacles up there, and we had limited time to capture the imagery, so we had to be confident that our approach would work. Oh, and there's that whole zero gravity thing," he wrote.
Floating through the ISS online you'll notice clickable dots with detailed descriptions of the space and it's objects to help viewers understand what exactly they're looking at.
Pesquet noted that this is the first time annotations -"helpful little notes that pop up as you explore the ISS" - have been added to Street View imagery.
The ISS is a "large spacecraft" that orbits around Earth at more than 28,163kmhand is home for astronauts from countries around the world, according to Nasa.
The ISS is made up of many pieces that were constructed by astronauts beginning in 1998. By 2000, as more pieces of the station were added, the station was ready for people, according to Nasa. Portions of the station are connected via modules known as "nodes," according to Nasa.
"The first crew arrived on November 2, 2000," Nasareports. "People have lived on the space station ever since. Over time more pieces have been added. Nasaand its partners around the world finished the space station in 2011."
NASA compares the inside of the station to the inside of a house, noting that the structure -- which weighs almost one million pounds and covers an area the side of a football field -- has five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gymnasium and a big bay window.
The station houses labs from the United States, Russia, Japan and Europe.
"We can collect data on the Earth's oceans, atmosphere and land surface," Pesquet wrote. "We can conduct experiments and studies that we wouldn't be able to do from Earth, like monitoring how the human body reacts to microgravity, solving mysteries of the immune system, studying cyclones in order to alert populations and governments when a storm is approaching, or monitoring marine litter -- the rapidly increasing amount waste found in our oceans."
Several times a week, Mission Control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, determines where earthlings can spot the station from the ground below from thousands of locations all over the globe.
-The Washington Post
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Google Street View docks with International Space Station – Irish Times
Posted: at 9:51 am
Street View worked with Nasa to design a gravity-free method of collecting imagery using DSLR cameras and equipment already on the ISS.
From the Amazon rainforest to Antarctica, Googles interactive 360-degree panoramic Street View technology has taken users to some pretty remote places on planet Earth but this marks the first time it takes us on a journey of exploration outside Earth. Google worked with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Nasa to map out the 15 interconnected modules that make up the International Space Station (ISS) complete with a new feature annotations to help virtual explorers get to know the various locations and components within ISS.
Because of the particular constraints of living and working in space, it wasnt possible to collect Street View using Googles usual methods, explained Thomas Pesquet, an ESA astronaut who worked on the project.
Instead, the Street View team worked with Nasa at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, and Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama, to design a gravity-free method of collecting the imagery using DSLR cameras and equipment already on the ISS.
Pesquet himself took many still images around the space station, which were then transmitted back to Earth and stitched together to create the resulting 360-degree panoramic imagery that gives us a glimpse into life on board ISS.
google.com/streetview/#international-space-station/cupola-observational-module
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Human Genetic Engineering Begins! – National Review
Posted: at 9:50 am
Some of the most powerful technologies ever inventedwhichcan literally change human life at the DNAlevelaremoving forward with very little societal discussion or sufficient regulatory oversight. Technology Review is now reporting an attempt in the US to use CRISPR to genetically modify a human embryo. From the story:
The first known attempt at creating genetically modified human embryos in the United States has been carried out by a team of researchers in Portland, Oregon,Technology Reviewhas learned.
The effort, led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health and Science University, involved changing the DNA of a large number of one-cell embryos with the gene-editing technique CRISPR, according to people familiar with the scientific results
Now Mitalipov is believed to have broken new ground both in the number of embryos experimented upon and by demonstrating that it is possible to safely and efficiently correct defective genes that cause inherited diseases.
Although none of the embryos were allowed to develop for more than a few daysand there was never any intention of implanting them into a wombthe experiments are a milestone on what may prove to be an inevitable journey toward the birth of the first genetically modified humans.
It may begin with curing disease. But it wont stay there. Many are drooling to engage in eugenic genetic enhancements.
So, are we going to just watch, slack-jawed, the double-time marchto Brave New World unfoldbefore our eyes?
Or are we going to engage democratic deliberation to determine if this should be done, and if so, what the parameters are?
Considering recent history, I fear I know the answer.
And NO: I dont trust the scientists to regulate themselves.
Mr. President: We need a presidential bioethics/biotechnology commission now!
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Generation of blue chrysanthemums by anthocyanin B-ring hydroxylation and glucosylation and its coloration mechanism – Science Advances
Posted: at 9:50 am
Various colored cultivars of ornamental flowers have been bred by hybridization and mutation breeding; however, the generation of blue flowers for major cut flower plants, such as roses, chrysanthemums, and carnations, has not been achieved by conventional breeding or genetic engineering. Most blue-hued flowers contain delphinidin-based anthocyanins; therefore, delphinidin-producing carnation, rose, and chrysanthemum flowers have been generated by overexpression of the gene encoding flavonoid 3,5-hydroxylase (F35H), the key enzyme for delphinidin biosynthesis. Even so, the flowers are purple/violet rather than blue. To generate true blue flowers, blue pigments, such as polyacylated anthocyanins and metal complexes, must be introduced by metabolic engineering; however, introducing and controlling multiple transgenes in plants are complicated processes. We succeeded in generating blue chrysanthemum flowers by introduction of butterfly pea UDP (uridine diphosphate)glucose:anthocyanin 3,5-O-glucosyltransferase gene, in addition to the expression of the Canterbury bells F35H. Newly synthesized 3,5-diglucosylated delphinidin-based anthocyanins exhibited a violet color under the weakly acidic pH conditions of flower petal juice and showed a blue color only through intermolecular association, termed copigmentation, with flavone glucosides in planta. Thus, we achieved the development of blue color by a two-step modification of the anthocyanin structure. This simple method is a promising approach to generate blue flowers in various ornamental plants by metabolic engineering.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.
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As state wants DNA from families of the missing, retired cop remembers the first to come forward – Brainerd Dispatch
Posted: at 9:47 am
"This thing has haunted me," Kurtz says. "I think of her almost every day."
The 'thing' Kurtz is talking about is the 1988 disappearance of 19-year-old Susan Swedell from a Lake Elmo gas station, which remains unsolved to this day.
Thousands of other Minnesotans have gone missing, before and since. But the case was a first for state officials in a big way.
Back when Kurtzwho as a deputy responded to the initial missing person call at the Swedell family hometook a fresh look at the case in 2002, he remembers talking to Swedell's mother, again. They'd just had a news conference announcing a $25,000 reward for any information on the young woman.
"That same day I took her mom and sister over to Regions Hospital (and) did a blood draw," Kurtz remembers.
Then they drove to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension headquarters in St. Paul. Kurtz remembers telling a technician he had a DNA sample from the family of a long-time missing person.
But the BCA, at that point, wasn't used to accepting such evidence; there was no "DNA database" for family members of the missing.
"They didn't have anything. The technician had to get his boss. ... He said, 'not sure what you want to do with this. Is this a case we're working?' " Kurtz said.
Kurtz told the tech he'd like the state to keep that blood, in case it was needed in the future. You never knew what might happen to the family.
The boss evidently agreed: BCA officials confirmed that the Swedell family's DNA was the first "Missing Person Relative" sample in state history they ever took into their custody.
"They said 'we'll do it,' no arguments at all," Kurtz said.
Ever since, the state has been upping its efforts to get more "samples" from family. Earlier this month, they made a highly publicized push for more family to come forward, noting they'd just dug up five unidentified bodies from graveyards in the East Metro, to add to the 100 or so they already have in their care.
KURTZ: MAKE IT COMMON PRACTICE
But Kurtz wants more. For years, off and on, he's been pushing for a policyperhaps a lawthat would make it common practice for officers to get missing person DNA samples immediately, as they take their initial reports. Bag a tooth or hair brush, and keep it on hand, just in case.
"If they (families) don't wanna do it, they don't wanna do it, but I guarantee 99 percent of them will do it," Kurtz said. "Because what are family members doing? They're cleaning up the (missing person's) room." And what they remove could later be helpful to locate a loved one, he explains.
Kurtz admits he's not familiar with the lobbyist labyrinth he'd need to navigate to turn such an idea into a law. After retiring in 2003, he worked as a private investigator for awhile, and now does security work at Twins games.
But he's got a tentative advocate in current Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry, who he helped train years ago.
"I think the sooner that there's DNA, the better," Starry said. "But it has to be permission based."
Starry said he intends to bring the idea up at an August meeting of the Minnesota Sheriffs' Association.
HOW CASES CURRENTLY HANDLED
The BCA noted that they already ask local agencies to request and submit such DNA if the missing persons case is still active at 30 days.
When asked about Starry's idea, BCA spokesman Jill Oliveira said, "Each case has unique characteristics that will inform a local agency decision about whether direct reference or family member DNA collection would be of value in the earliest stages of their investigation.
"The local agency is in the best position to make that determination," Oliveira added.
When it comes to the Swedell case, Kurtz said he wishes he would've gotten those samples earlier.
"It is still one of those cases that is in the forefront of the sheriff's office,' said Starry. "I, as sheriff, will not allow that case to sit idle."
SWEDELL'S LAST KNOWN MOMENTS
Susan Swedell went missing on Jan. 19, 1988, after leaving her overheated car at a Lake Elmo gas station, following her shift at a Kmart in Oak Park Heights. The gas station's attendant saw her get in another man's car, and a subsequent investigation of her car found that the radiator's "petcock" the plug on the bottom had been removed, draining the radiator of fluid.
The station where she was last seen was less than a mile from her home.
The BCA made a public plea last week for family members of missing persons to come forward and give their own DNA, to help identify some of the remains they were keeping in custody.
One public event remains this month, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 27, at the Mankato Public Safety Center at 710 Front St.
In all, the BCA has roughly 100 sets of remains that have yet to be identified; there are approximately 225 Minnesotans who have been missing for more than a year.
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Can A DNA Test Really Help You Lose Weight? – Women’s Health
Posted: at 9:47 am
Women's Health | Can A DNA Test Really Help You Lose Weight? Women's Health It seems as though a new diet hits the market every other week. Needless to say, wading through the endless sea of Whole30, high-protein, low-carb, and everything in between can be exhausting. But the reason we have all these endless options is because ... |
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Israeli startup maps genome of cotton, sweet potato for better crops – The Times of Israel
Posted: at 9:47 am
NRGene, the Israeli startup that has mapped the genome for bread, pasta and wild emmer wheat, said that it has now mapped the genome for the most common cotton breed and the sweet potato, giving researchers critical insights for developing healthier plants with higher yields.
NRGene said it partnered with Genosys Inc. (TGS Singapore), a distributor of genomics technologies in China, to assemble the genome makeup of Upland Cotton, the most common cotton used for clothing, in less than seven weeks. A similar effort used to take years and cost many millions of dollars, the company said.
Upland Cotton makes up 90 percent of the global cotton grown around the world and is used to produce most of the worlds clothing, the company said.
The genomic makeup of Gossypium barbadense, also known as extra-long staple cotton, which is used in luxury cotton fabric, was also mapped, the company said in a statement.
NRGenes CEO Gil Ronen (Courtesy)
Cotton is one of the worlds most important non-food agricultural crops, said NRGene CEO Gil Ronen in a statement. By delivering critical insights into its makeup, were helping researchers develop healthier plants with higher yields that require fewer resources.
Seed developers worldwide spend billions of dollars and years to develop new, more nutritious and resilient varieties of seeds. These in turn enable farmers to grow bigger quantities of more nutritious and more resilient crops. This is crucial for a world that will have to feed and dress an expected 9.7 billion people by 2050. Demand for food globally is expected to rise at least 20 percent over the next 15 years, according to a May 2017 World Bank report.
Genomes contain all the genetic makeup of organisms, be they humans, plants, animals or bacteria. By studying the genomes of the plants to determine which seeds will better suit climatic conditions and which will have high resiliency, developers can save a lot of time and money and engage in more efficient agriculture.
The assembly of the sweet potato genome was delivered to a group of scientists from Japan, China, and Korea and was part of a project to research the makeup of the sweet potato.
The sweet potato is an essential crop for the worlds communities, especially in Asia and Africa, providing high vitamin, mineral and calorie content, said Professor Qingchang Liu from China Agricultural University who was part of the consortium set up to study the starchy, sweet root. Therefore, we launched an international genome sequencing project for the sweet potato.
Sweet potatoes provide high vitamin, mineral and calorie content (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)
The assembly of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) genome took less than two months using technology developed by US firm Illumina Inc., a developer of technology for genomic research, and NRGenes software.
The developments in genetic research over the past couple of years are startling, said Ung-Han Yoon of the Rural Development Administration of Korea. Previously, we labored for years to assemble genomes. Now NRGenes tech can deliver essential data on critical crops, such as the sweet potato, in only a matter of weeks at a fraction of the cost.
The international research team is now eyeing the creation of a sweet potato pan-genome, which will allow researchers to see unique and shared traits among all varieties of the root and then breed sweet potatoes with higher nutritional values, productivity and disease resistance.
The pan-genome will be analyzed using one of NRGenes software tools, which captures the diversity of species and allows the creation of a full genomic picture that enables a comparative analysis of multiple varieties.
With the genome and ultimately the pan-genome analysis, breeders can develop more nutritious, high yielding varieties with fewer resource requirements, said NRGenes Ronen.
NRGene, based in Ness Ziona, Israel, is a genomic big data company that develops software and algorithms to reveal the genomic makeup and diversity of crop plants, animals, and aquatic organisms which help support breeding programs. NRGenes software is being used by some of the leading seed companies worldwide, including Monsanto Company and Syngenta, as well as research teams in academia.
Set up by Ronen and Guy Kol in 2010, the company enlisted code crackers from the Israeli armys elite 8200 unit and got them to write algorithms that would do the job of deciphering genomes. The set of computational tools they developed, together with software engineers and bioinformaticians, allow NRGene to map complex genomes quickly and accurately.
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Israeli startup maps genome of cotton, sweet potato for better crops - The Times of Israel
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