Evolution of pandemic coronavirus outlines path from animals to humans.

Evolution of pandemic coronavirus outlines path from animals to humans.The virus's ability to change makes it likely that new human coronaviruses will arise. A team of scientists studying the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that has caused the COVID-19 pandemic, found that it was especially well-suited to jump from animals to humans by shapeshifting as it gained the ability to infect human cells. Conducting a genetic analysis, researchers from Duke University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Texas at El Paso and New York University confirmed that the closest relative of the virus was a coronavirus that infects bats. But that virus's ability to infect humans was gained through exchanging a critical gene fragment from a coronavirus that infects a scaly mammal called a pangolin, which made it possible for the virus to infect humans. The researchers report that this jump from species-to-species was the result of the virus's ability to bind to host cells through alterations in its genetic material. By analogy, it is as if the virus retooled the key that enables it to unlock a host cell's door -- in this case a human cell. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, the "key" is a spike protein found on the surface of the virus. Coronaviruses use this protein to attach to cells and infect them.

Africa: Idris Elba Sounds Alarm As Pandemic Threatens Food Crisis for Farmers.

Africa: Idris Elba Sounds Alarm As Pandemic Threatens Food Crisis for Farmers. Idris Elba on Friday called for urgent action and creative solutions to prevent a looming hunger crisis in poor countries, where food production and transport have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The British actor and filmmaker said the issue is personal to him and his wife, model and activist Sabrina Dhowre Elba, since both of their families come from Africa. The couple launched a United Nations fund in April to support rural food systems and spoke in an online panel on Friday with experts from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). With 60% of employment in Africa in agriculture, "that's an awful lot of people who are going to suffer and not eat because of the crisis and ongoing effects," Elba said.

Farmers to access 81,000MT of seeds.

Farmers to access 81,000MT of seeds.The Federal Government has said about 81,000 metric tonnes of seeds are ready for deployment to farmers for the planting season. Director-General, National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), Dr. Philip Ojo, who made this known during a virtual press conference, noted that the seeds would ensure that agricultural activities were not disrupted as a result of the lockdown imposed across the country. According to him, “The Council will ensure subsidies only to be applicable to seed purchased from NASC approved seed companies and producers, and provide certification officers and seed companies with movement tags or permits”.

National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC Advocates Seed-Palliatives for Farmers .

National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC Advocates Seed-Palliatives for Farmers.The Director General, National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), Dr. Philip Ojo, has urged both the federal and state governments to consider providing seeds as palliatives to farmers amidst the devastating impact of COVID-19 in the country. He also said the seed industry currently has about 81,000 metric tons of certified seeds of rice, maize, sorghum, soyabean, cowpea, millet, groundnut, wheat, sesame and potato that are ready for deployment and purchase by farmers for the production of food and raw materials for Nigerians during the current planting season.

Dogs sniff out coronavirus ‘far better than machines or tests’.

Research teams around the world are taking advantage of dogs’ remarkable sense of smell to train them to detect the presence of the coronavirus. At the University of Helsinki, researchers believe that the sniffer dogs Kössi and Lucky may prove to be faster and more accurate detectors of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, than any other currently available method. Using urine samples collected from patients across Finland, the research team has trained the dogs to differentiate between positive and negative samples. More encouragingly, the dogs also appear to be able to detect the presence of COVID-19 before patients display any signs of illness.

COVID-19 may stall Nigeria’s rollout of GMO cowpea.

. AGRIBUSINESS:: COVID-19 may stall Nigeria’s rollout of GMO cowpea. The COVID-19 pandemic may delay the rollout of pest-resistant Bt cowpea, Nigeria’s first genetically modified (GM) food crop. The country’s lockdown, imposed to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, has made it difficult to get the improved seeds out to farmers, said Dr. Rose Maxwell Gidado, the country coordinator for the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Nigeria chapter. ALSO READ:10,000 farmers to benefit from World Bank-assisted project in Lagos. The government’s decision to allow the commercial release of Bt cowpea, which resists the destructive pod borer insect without the use of pesticides, elicited excitement among Nigerian farmers. They have been eagerly awaiting the planting season to try the new crop in their own fields after battling pod borer (Maruca) infestations for years. The Maruca outbreaks have been so severe, and the crop losses so significant, that a number of farmers have quit growing cowpea out of frustration. They saw hope in the Bt cowpea, which scientists have determined confers 100 percent protection against Maruca through the use of genetic modification to introduce the Bacillus thuringiences (Bt) gene.

AGRIBUSINESS:Should tomatoes go in the fridge?

AGRIBUSINESS:Should tomatoes go in the fridge?The influence of storage on the flavor of ripe tomatoes. There is much debate about the correct storage of tomatoes.

Should tomatoes be in the fridge or kept at room temperature? Researchers investigated whether there are differences in the flavor of ripe tomatoes depending on how they are stored, taking into account the chain of harvesting from farm to fork.

 No difference was found: the variety of tomato is much more important. How to make money from tomatoes.

"It is the variety of tomato in particular that has an important influence on the flavour. Therefore, the development of new varieties with an appealing flavour can be a step towards improving the flavour quality of tomatoes," says Larissa Kanski, lead author of the study.