Agricultural Genetic Engineering
Research Institute (AGERI)
Founded: 1990
Head: Prof. Dr. Magty A. Matkour, Director
Address:
Telephone: 202-5734424,
5727831
Facsimile: 202-5689510,
5731574
E-mail: madkour@ageri.sci.eg
Web site: www.ageri.sci.eg
Institutional
framework
Governmental, National
Working Ianguages:
Arabic, English
Areas of activity:
Applied science and
technology. Genetic engineering and agriculture
Number of staff:
Research professionals: 16
Supped professionals: 82
Technicians: 15
Staff total: 1 13
Library holdings:
Number of library volumes:
400
Number of library
periodicals: 60
AGERI aims at the transfer
ant application of agricultural
genetic engineering
technology to enhance and increase
food production. The
objectives of AGERI are to:
-
Broaden the research and development capabilities and
scope
of the Agricultural Research Centre in the public and
private
sectors (such as initiation cf new programme areas
and
application to a wider array of crop spiciest;
-
Expand and diversify the pool cf highly qualified trained
professionals
in the area of biotechnology;
-
Promote opportunities for private sector development;
-
Enhance cooperation through collaborative public and/or
private
projects with established research units;
-
Provide opportunities for university trained professionals
(such
as faculty, researchers and teachers), the Ministry of
Agriculture
(professional researchers) and private venture
companies
to cooperate in agricultural genetic engineering
research;
-
Achieve the desired level of self-reliance and self-financing
within
AGERI to mobilize the funds necessary for the running
costs
cf laboratories;
-
Provide agricultural genetic engineering capabilities to meet
-
Advance Egyptian agriculture using available genetic
engineering
capabilities.
Organizational
structure:
The
Institute comprises six research repayments:
Biocomputing
and Networks Department; Nucleic Acid
Protein
Structure Department; Plant Molecular Biology
Department;
Genetic Mapping Research Department; and
Plant
Genetic Transformation Department. In addition, the
Institute
comprises an Executive Office, a Finance and
Administration
Affairs Office and a Library.
R and D activities:
R and D projects, classified
by gelds of research, include:
Virus Resistance:
-
Production of transgenic local varieties of squash plants
and
some varieties of melon plants resistant to zucchini
yellow
mosaic potyvirus (ZYMV);
-
Development of genetically engineered resistance to potato
viruses;
-
Development of improved strategies for the control of faba
bean
necrotic yellows virus (FBNYV) in food legume crops of
-
Engineering of tomatoes to induce resistance to tomato
yellow
leaf curl virus (TYLCV) from
-
Whitely biotypes and biotype specific transmission of
geminiviruses
in
-
Development of virus resistance in plants using ribosome-
inactivating
protein (RIP) genes;
-
Production of transgenic banana plants resistant to banana
bunchy
top virus (BBTV) and/or banana cucumber mosaic
cucumovirus
(Banana-CMV);
-
Establishment of a regeneration and transformation system
in
cucumber.
Insect
Resistance:
-
Isolation and identification of Bt toxin gene from local
isolates
in
-
Development of potato tuber moth resistance in potatoes;
-
Maize transformation for development of stem borer
(sesamia
cretica) resistance using Bt genes;
-
Production of transgenic Egyptian cotton plants (gossypium
barbatense
L.) expressing insecticidal toxin general;
-
Generation of genetically modified baculoviruses for insect
pest
control;
-
Development of transgenic insects using transposed
elements
for autocital pest control;
-
Protein engineering: An efficient approach for controlling
viruliferous
whiteflies.
Fungal
Resistance:
-
Isolation and characterization of chitinase gene as a plant
defense
gene against fungal infection;
-
Genetic variability within fusarium oxysporum sp.
lycopersici;
-
Genetic characterization of certain ascochyta sp. using
random
ampliied polymorphic DNA IRAPDI.
Nematode
Resistance: Molecular characterization and
identification
of the most important species of the root-knot
nematode
(meloidogyne spp.).
Stress
Tolerance:
-
Characterization and identification of stress-related genes
from
local habitat in the north-west coastal region of
-
Cotton improvement for heat and salt stress tolerance;
-
Development of transgenic wheat with improved salt and
drought
tolerance;
-
Development of transgenic barley with improved tolerance
to
abiotic stress;
-
Breeding Criticism durum in Mediterranean region by using in
vitro
and genetic transformation tools.
Genome Mapping:
-
Genome mapping for development of improved rapeseed
(brassica
napes) varieties using molecular markers (RFLPS
and
RAPDSI;
-
Use of RAPDS and STSS in identifying linkage relationships
of
important trait loci in tomatoes (1. esculentuml;
-
Fingerprinting of elite maize lines using molecular markers.
Bio-molecular
Engineering:
-
Molecular cloning and expression of hepatitis B surface
antigen
(HBSAG) in plants;
-
Designing a hammerhead ribosome which discriminates
between
bcr/abl fusion transcripts of chronic myelogenotls
leukemia
(CML) and bcr transcripts of normal cells.
Training
activities:
Training
programmes carried out thus far include:
-
An international training course on the use of RFLP'S and
PCR
for crop improvement, November 1991,.
-
A regional training course on the application of PCR and
ELISA
in plant virus diagnostics, May 1992.,
-
A course on modern methods in microbial molecular
biology,
April 1993.,
-
Regional Biosafety Workshop, January 1994.,
-
Regional IPR Workshop, January 1994.,
-
A regional training course on tissue culture and micro
propagation
in plants, with special emphasis on date palm, May 1904.
-
Workshop on the use of molecular biology techniques in
biological
nitrogen fixation research, June 1995,.
-
A regional training course on diagnosis of plant viruses,
September
1905;
-
Workshop on development and commercialization of crops
(DCC),
May 1098.
Meetings,
conferences and seminars:
AGERI
has organized and participated in many international
and
national workshops and conferences in cooperation with
a
Iarje number of organizations and universities.
Public services:
AGERI has established the
Genetic Engineering Services
Unit (GESU), which provides
state-of-the-art custom DNA
and RNA syntheses as well as
ribosomes, serving a wide
range of applications in
agriculture, diagnostics and scientific
research. In addition, GESU
provides a large number of virus
diagnostic kits for major
viruses.
The Biocomputing ant
Networks Unit provides technical
assistance to molecular
biologists in:
-
Analyzing protein and nucleic acid sequences;
-
Statistically analyzing the results;
-
Performing sensitometric analysis of the gels;
-
Performing molecular imaging,
Publications:
Non-recurrent: Papers and
abstracts are published in
national and international
scientific journals and periodicals.
Links to other
organizations:
AGERI has ongoing scientist
collaborations sponsored by
the following international
organizations: UNDP, USAID,
International Centre for
Agricultural Research in the Dry
Areas (ICARDA), the European
Commission (EC), FAO,
USDA and UNESCO.
In addition, the Institute
conducts Collaborative
Research/Joint Research
Programmes with the following
universities:
AGERI also cooperates with
major private companies for the commercialization of products.
Parent
body/affiliations:
AGERI is an integral part of
the Agricultural Research Centre
(ARC).
Main research
facilities/equipment available:
The functional laboratories
at AGERI are specialized and
targeted for representing a
spectrum of increasingly complex
scientific challenges
ranging from tissue culture technology to
the transfer of genes
controlling biotic and abiotic stress,
growth, maturity and
quality. Gene manipulation techniques
such as cloning, sequencing,
modifications, construction of
genomic and DNA libraries,
plant regeneration in tissue
culture are just a few
examples of the cellular and molecular
biology methodologies that
are utilized for the production of
transgenic plants. Research
issues are dealt with in a
coherent manner where each
contributing laboratory
provides its state-of-the-ad
expedite to help reaching a
product, such as transgenic
plant conferring the desirable
target traits.
The laboratories are the
following:
-
Biocomputing and Networks Unit (BCNUI;
-
Bio-Molecular Engineering (BME) Laboratory;
-
Gene Expression and Regulation Technology (GERT)
Laboratory;
-
Gene Transfer and Insect Control (GTIC) Laboratory;
-
Microbial Molecular Biology (MMB) Laboratory;
-
Micro Propagation Technology (MPT) Laboratory;
-
Molecular Genetics and Genome Mapping (MGGM)
Laboratory;
-
Molecular Manipulation and Gene Transfer (MMGT)
Laboratory;
-
Molecular Plant Pathogenesis (MPP) Laboratory;
-
Molecular Plant Virology (MPV) Laboratory;
-
Plant Cellular and Molecular Genetics (PCMG) Laboratory;
-
Plant Gene Transfer (PGT) Laboratory;
-
Protein Structure and Biochemistry (PSB) Laboratory.
Major achievements,
scientific results and patents:
In 1SS6 AGERI obtained an
Egyptian patent on a biological
insecticide from an
indigenous strain of the bacterium
bacillus thuringiensis (Bt),
This patent is the frat of its kind to
be obtained in
related products. A patent
application was subsequently filed
in the
Funding:
Source(s): Funding Of
research comes from two main
sources: Internal funds from
the Ministry of Agriculture ant
external funds from
different donors such as UNDP, USAID,
ICARDA, FAO and
UNESCO-ROSTAS through bilateral or
multilateral agreements.
Information sources:
- Information provided by
AGERI dated
- Brochure published by
AGERI describing its activities.