This is a cooperative research agreement between AGERI and the Agricultural Biotechnology for Sustainable Productivity (ABSP) project based at Michigan State University, which is funded by USAID/Cairo under the National Agricultural Research Program (NARP) in Egypt. This collaboration facilitates the integration of efforts, expertise and knowledge of a selected group of scientists from Egypt and the United States with the ultimate goal of producing a variety of elite crops, resistant to major pests, to render Egypt’s agrosystem more economically successful as well as environmentally safe.

The joint activities cover transformation research on potato, tomato, cucurbits and maize. The project also builds linkages to multi-disciplinary commodity teams which include breeders, entomologists, agronomists, etc.

Scientists at AGERI and the University of Wyoming have been involved in collaborative research studies for the past six years which involve Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a bacterium which kills insects. The research efforts led to the development of a biological pepticide, based on a highly potent strain of Bt called C-18 isolated in the Nile Delta. C-18 not only is extremely potent, it is effective against a broad range of insects represented by the orders Lepidoptera (moths), Coleoptera (beetles) and Diptera (mosquitoes) as well. An additional significant feature of C-18 is its capacity to kill nematodes.

Research and development of C-18, carried out by the AGERI/Wyoming research teams , has led to the commercial development of this organism as a biopepticide to be manufactured and marketed as AGERIN with potential sales worldwide.

Moreover, AGERI, being a focal point for biotechnology and genetic engineering at ARC has already established strong relations with other National Centers and specialized laboratories in Universities, the National Research Center and the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology. Collaborative work with these institutes has been initiated and is expected to expand substantially. A number of joint activities are already underway.

Through a collaboration between Ain Shams University (Cairo, Egypt) and AGERI, we were able to enhance transformation efficiency in one Egyptian (Giza 163) and one American (Hiline) wheat cultivar.

Through another collaboration between Tanta University (Tanta, Egypt) and AGERI, we were able to isolate several genes for abiotic tolerance from local habitat in the North- West coastal region of Egypt. These genes will be inserted in an expression vector and cloned in E. coli to evaluate their expression and to obtain antibodies needed for subsequent tests of transgene expression in regenerated plants using Western analysis.