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Full-featured Crypto Automated Trading System, AntBot Launches Relative-value Trading Strategy

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 29 November 2022 – AntBot, a full-featured crypto automated trading system, has officially launched.

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After several rounds of internal testing, it pioneers the relative-value trading strategy and the first intelligent long-short position management system. Since cryptos entered the bear market, mainstream cryptos have fallen by more than 80%, but AntBot has achieved even a 30% annualized rate of return for users with its relative-value trading strategy and crypto robots.

AntBot is a leading full-featured crypto automated trading system, composed of well-known VC Institutions and top traders in the crypto field, ranked top 3 in Binance for 6 consecutive quarters of market volume, and is also a deep cooperative market maker with Binance, OKX and Bybit. It has a rich financial operation system and trading experience with a managed capital scale of over $100 million and a service group covering over 200,000 users in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide. It provides comprehensive crypto trading services with AI robots and compound powerful trading strategies.

About relative-value trading strategy, one of its significant advantages over trend trading, grid trading and the Martingale Strategy is that it is not dependent on the market. Even if the fundamental and technical analysis is in place, it is impossible to predict the exact movement of the market 100%. At such times, market-dependent trading strategies can not make the action of take-profit and stop-loss in time. In the case of insufficient funds, the result is forced liquidation.

AntBot’s relative value strategy, ignoring bullish and bearish markets, uses the same assets, correlation and pricing differences of related assets to open long and short positions to arbitrage, and balancing the riskiness of the portfolio, and has the characteristics of high win percentage and low risk to achieve steady asset growth.

In the current bear market, AntBot’s relative-value strategy is like a duck to water, such as the big event brought by Luna and FTX, where the spread of the same crypto in different exchanges increased and the value of the correlated assets deviated greatly. The relative-value strategy is easy to get a profit from it, and AI automatically operates to open and close position immediately to take profit before the market returns to normal.

In terms of strategy development, AntBot’s relative value strategy screens out crypto pairs with similar attributes for strategy execution by reviewing the transaction big data of the crypto trading market for nearly 10 years and AI analysis of the correlation of global mainstream cryptos. At the same time, it is also verified that the strategy can resist “black swan” events and multiple system concurrency risks.

The strategy applies to three situations: the performance of the same token in different public chains and different exchanges, highly correlated tokens with abnormal spreads to open positions, and highly undervalued tokens in the future. The strategy buys undervalued cryptos and sells overvalued cryptos to obtain spread returns, becoming a favorable tool for non-standard substitution. It is especially suitable for the current bear market to ensure open interest while increasing income and accumulating enough capital before the bull market comes.

At present, AntBot has been launched on Google Play and App Store, accumulating over 30,000 active users and providing free access to AI robots for users. Meanwhile, it also offers referral commissions of up to 60% for users without capital, helping users to quickly grow their assets and participate in the trading market

However, the relative-value trading strategy has a market issue after many times of verification. Due to the reliance on price trend convergence, this strategy can also cause losses if a small probability event occurs that the price trend does not converge. Of course, the trading market is volatile and no strategy can suit it 100% perfectly. In terms of strategy matching, AntBot carries out diversified strategies in parallel to solve the pain point of the relative-value trading strategy and to reduce the loss brought about by the risk of a single strategy. Diversified strategies in parallel guarantee the safety of users’ assets. I always have chips for the next operation to grasp investment opportunities.

Website: https://antrade.io

Hashtag: #Antbot

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Indulge in your Favourite Plant-based Milk with The MILKLAB Coffee Run and MILKLAB Oat Float

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 2 December 2022 – Get ready for a brew-tiful blend of MILKLAB plant-based milk and espresso coffee! With an exclusive pop-up, MILKLAB Oat Float, happening from 3-11 December in Singapore, coffee lovers can indulge in freshly brewed coffee made with MILKLAB Oat Milk. Made with 100 percent Australian oats, MILKLAB Oat Milk is proving to be the best alternative to dairy milk, with a rich and creamy mouthfeel and a high-performance stretch.

In addition, MILKLAB Coffee Run is offering 1-for-1 beverages during the festive month of December through partnerships with key cafés in Singapore: Keong Saik Bakery, Unity Coffee, The Bread Rack, 55 Degrees Celsius, House Downstairs, Acai Brothers, Hook Coffee, Naked Espresso, Delicatesse 巧彰, September Coffee, Rise & Grind Coffee Co., Good Coffee Please, Olivia & Co., Madly Good Jcube, Madly Good Clementi Mall and I Am… Café, cementing its position as the preferred choice for baristas and coffee drinkers globally.

Priding itself as the number 1 plant-based milk served in Australian cafes, MILKLAB offers a range-solution of dairy-free milk, which includes Almond, Oat, Soy, Coconut, and Macadamia to cater to a variety of tastes and dietary needs. With a vision to provide Singaporeans with a premium coffee-drinking experience, MILKLAB’s product range complements the flavour of espresso coffee like no other milk – dairy or non-dairy.

Established in 2015 as a foodservice-exclusive range of alternative milk, the brand was developed to provide the hospitality industry, particularly the coffee industry, with a premium offer that would elevate the café coffee experience for customers. Propelled by the booming coffee industry across Australia and the rest of the world, MILKLAB sought to create a delicious and inclusive range of products.

Speaking on MILKLAB’s efforts to engage Singaporeans through The MILKLAB Coffee Run as well as MILKLAB Oat Float, Peter Brown, Sales Director – Asia & Africa, said, “With the increasing number of consumers worldwide looking to switch from regular dairy to plant-based milk, I’m confident that MILKLAB will be changing the game – allowing baristas, resellers and distributors, coffee business owners and coffee aficionados to indulge in our Oat Milk while reaping its health benefits.”

“Our ultimate goal will always be to provide everyone with an exceptional coffee-drinking experience. We want to show them that plant-based milk has what it takes to bring a regular cup of coffee to the next level,” he added.

The MILKLAB Coffee Run – a colLABboration with Singapore’s best cafés

ColLABorating with some of the world’s most influential baristas, café owners, food scientists, coffee roasters and other industry professionals, MILKLAB has since become Australia’s number 1 plant-based milk served in cafes, with 62% of cafés using its products. Additionally, its almond milk has become Australia’s number 1 plant-based milk for coffee.

Partnering with prominent cafés in Singapore to give everyone an elevated coffee-drinking experience, customers will not only get to enjoy dairy-free coffee but also enjoy exclusive deals such as 1-for-1 beverages when they purchase a voucher from Chope. All they have to do is search for a participating café, purchase the voucher on Chope and redeem it at the café.

For more information on participating cafés for MILKLAB Coffee run, please visit:
https://milklabco.com/coffee-run/

MILKLAB Oat Float – Enjoy an OATsome freshly brewed coffee with MILKLAB Oat Milk

Happening from 3-11 December 2022, Singaporeans will be able to have a taste of the perfect blend of espresso coffee and MILKLAB Oat Milk at the exclusive pop-up, MILKLAB Oat Float – with the enticing aroma and creamy taste, everyone is bound to be coming back for seconds!

For those who would like to sample a not-so-ordinary cup of joe, please visit the MILKLAB Oat Float at the following venues:

  • I12 Katong, 3 – 4 December 22
  • The Promontory @ Marina Bay, 5 – 7 & 10 – 11 December 22
  • XPACE @ Foodxervices Inc Pte Ltd,8 – 9 December 22

For more information on MILKLAB, please visit here.

Hashtag: #MILKLAB

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About MILKLAB

Established in 2015, MILKLAB is an exclusive Australian brand of milk alternatives. With uncompromising quality and taste, MILKLAB caters to various dietary needs and elevates the café coffee experience for all its customers.

Blended to complement espresso-based coffee, MILKLAB’s plant-based range has a rich and creamy mouthfeel that textures and stretches like full cream dairy to produce the perfect pour. The range includes Almond, Oat, Soy, Macadamia, Coconut, Dairy and Lactose free milk.

MILKLAB has since made waves in the Australian market and has rapidly expanded to become the leading dairy alternative brand in the industry. To date, MILKLAB also has a growing presence across the Southeast Asia region, including Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

New Infobip research shows the rising dominance of chat apps for customer communications

Data from more than 153 billion communications interactions shows customers now prefer conversations with brands on their favorite digital channel

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 2 December 2022 – New research from global cloud communications platform Infobip reveals that chat apps such as WhatsApp are becoming crucial channels for customer communications, demonstrating the growing importance of conversational experiences. Infobip’s data shows an 80% and 62% increase in WhatsApp and rich communication services (RCS) interactions respectively in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

Customers now have access to more channels and devices than ever before. Whether for marketing, support, or sales, they increasingly want conversational experiences with a business or brand on their preferred channel. But organizations may struggle to keep up with such preferences and provide the experience customers have come to expect without the right omnichannel communications in place.

To help businesses understand changing habits, Infobip analyzed more than 153 billion communications interactions on its platform from the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

The analysis reveals several trends in customer communications. First, customer communications today are more digital than ever, with a 68% increase in interactions across all digital channels. Second, alongside the growth in chat app interactions, some 99% of customer support and chatbot interactions are now on WhatsApp.

However, while newer channels are gaining momentum, the data shows the continued growth of more traditional channels, such as SMS and email. Interactions on these channels increased by 75% and 91% respectively with Infobip seeing emerging uses around timely alerts and security solutions such as two-factor authentication.

Infobip also finds that many sectors also reflect the same trends. For instance:

  • 134% more WhatsApp interactions in banking and finance
  • 104% more WhatsApp interactions and 155% more email interactions in retail and eCommerce
  • 1063% more RCS interactions in telecoms
  • 428% more Messenger interactions in transport and logistics


Infobip’s data shows the growth in chat apps has given rise to newer use cases such as conversational commerce, where messaging and eCommerce meet to enable better customer experiences and superior results for businesses.

Ivan Ostojić, Chief Business Officer at Infobip, said: “Our data reveals how conversational customer experiences are quickly becoming the new normal. Customers don’t want a one-way interaction with a brand. They want a conversation – whether for support, sales, or marketing. But, as our data shows, to meet customer needs, businesses and brands must first embed global real-time omnichannel communications. When omnichannel communications are in place, businesses can create meaningful relationships with their customers on their preferred channel at any point in their journey, helping boost loyalty and ultimately sales.”

Download link of the Infobip research: http://bit.ly/3XMnnPG

Hashtag: #Infobip

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About Infobip

Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected experiences across all stages of the customer journey. Accessed through a single platform, Infobip’s omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication and contact centre solutions help businesses and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications to grow business and increase loyalty. With over a decade of industry experience, Infobip has expanded to 70+ offices globally. It offers natively built technology with the capacity to reach over seven billion mobile devices and ‘things’ in 6 continents connected directly to over 700 telecom networks. Infobip was established in 2006 and is led by its co-founders, CEO Silvio Kutić, Roberto Kutić and Izabel Jelenić.

Recent award wins include:

  • Infobip named a leader in the CCaaS Leaderboard, Juniper Research (Aug 2022)
  • Omdia Ranks Infobip as Leader in CPaaS Universe Report (May 2022)
  • Ranked the leading service provider in CPaaS by Juniper Research in its new Competitor Leaderboard CPaaS Vendors (October 2021)
  • Infobip named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) 2021 Vendor Assessment (doc #US46746221, May 2021)
  • Best A2P SMS provider for the fourth year running by mobile operators and enterprises in ROCCO’s annual Messaging Vendor Benchmarking Report
  • Best CPaaS Provider of the Year, Best RCS Provider of the Year, and Mover & Shaker in Telco Innovation at the 2021 Juniper Digital Awards

Direct Communication Solutions, Inc. Announces Filing of Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering and Application for Uplisting to NYSE American

Highlights:

  • The Company publicly filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) relating to a proposed initial public offering in the United States of its Common Stock (the “Offering”).

San Diego, California–(Newsfile Corp. – December 1, 2022) – Direct Communication Solutions, Inc. (OTCQX: DCSX) (CSE: DCSI) (FSE: 7QU) (the “Company“, “Direct Communication Solutions” or “DCS“), a leading provider of information technology solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) market, is pleased to announce that DCS has publicly filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) relating to a proposed initial public offering of its Common Stock in the United States (the “Offering”). The Offering is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other customary conditions. DCS has applied to list its Common Stock on the NYSE American exchange under the ticker symbol “DCSX”. The completion of the Offering is contingent upon approval of listing of the Common Stock on the NYSE American exchange and there can be no assurance that such approval will be granted.

ThinkEquity will serve as sole book-running manager for the proposed Offering.

The proposed Offering will be made pursuant to a prospectus. Copies of the preliminary prospectus related to the Offering, when available, may be obtained on the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov, or from ThinkEquity, 17 State Street, 22nd Floor, New York, New York 10004, by telephone at (877) 436-3673, or by email at prospectus@think-equity.com.

A registration statement relating to the proposed sale of these securities has been filed with the SEC but has not yet become effective. Securities offered under the registration statement may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction. Any offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act or 1933, as amended.

About DCS
DCS is a technology solutions integrator focusing on connecting the Internet of Things. We provide real solutions that solve real problems. Our software applications and scalable cloud services collect and assess business-critical data from all types of assets. DCS is headquartered in San Diego, California and is publicly traded on the OTCQX (“DCSX”), Canadian Securities Exchange (“DCSI”) and Frankfurt Stock Exchange (“7QU”). For more information, visit www.dcsbusiness.com. DCS and the DCS logo are among the trademarks of DCS in the United States. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements, which reflect management’s current views of future events and operations. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. We believe that these potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: the ability of DCS to close the proposed Offering, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Company’s dependence on third-party manufacturers, suppliers, technologies and infrastructure; risks related to intellectual property; industry risks including competition, online security, government regulation and global economic conditions; and the Company’s financial position and need for additional funding, Statements in this release should be evaluated in light of these factors. These risk factors and other important factors that could affect our business and financial results are discussed in our Management’s Discussion and Analysis, periodic reports and other public filings which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and posted with the OTC Disclosure and News Service. DCS undertakes no duty to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

For More Information, Contact
Bill Espley, Director
bespley@dcsbusiness.com
604-630-3072

Mike Zhou, Director
mzhou@dcsbusiness.com
604-338-6485

Chris Bursey, CEO
cbursey@dcsbusiness.com
858-525-2483

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Alto Metals now drilling at historic high-grade Oroya Mine

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA – News Direct – 1 December 2022 – Alto Metals Ltd (ASX:AME) managing director Matt Bowles joins Proactive to discuss more high-grade gold returned in RC drilling at the Sandstone Gold Project’s Indomitable camp in WA. The explorer defined mineralisation over 2.5 kilometres and intersected a high-grade gold structure. Bowles says maiden regional drilling is underway at the historic Oroya Mine, where previous mining focused on bonanza-style mineralisation within the reef and much of the surrounding mineralisation was left unmined.

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Hashtag: #Alto

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

BingX Announces Its Verified Proof of Reserve With Mazars

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 1 December 2022 – BingX, one of the leading crypto exchanges, took the lead and published its Proof-of-Reserve report verified by Mazars, a trusted third-party auditor, offering BingX’s customers additional transparency and reassurance that their cryptocurrency holdings are collateralized, with collateralization ratios of 132%, 122%, 186%, and 112% for BTC, ETH, USDC, and USDT respectively, exist on the blockchain and under the control of BingX.

Image-for-PR-Verify-Proof-of-res.jpeg

Mazars is a leading international audit, tax and advisory firm, with a presence in over 90 countries and territories. With rich experience in crypto sector, Mazars South Africa conducted a third-party verification with BingX and helped ensure only credible platforms are operating in the market. “Mazars takes pride in assisting leading exchanges such as BingX to bring transparency to the crypto industry. Our attestation services will allow BingX to be more transparent, so their users can feel safe and assured about their assets, and keep better track of their funds and other digital assets.” Wiehann Olivier, Digital Asset Lead and Partner at Mazars.

BingX wishes to promote industry transparency and create a solid foundation of trust between investors and exchanges. The collapse of FTX and losses of customers’ assets have raised concerns and questions about the industry. In a bid to restore investor confidence in cryptocurrency, BingX published POR to aid the development of a more dependable and open ecosystem. Proof-of-reserve verification provides an unbiased and completely honest picture of a crypto exchange’s financial backing, thereby helping customers make more informed decisions. BingX reiterates its absolute commitment to sustainable development that always puts customer safety first.

Proof of Reserve or POR is a verifiable attestation procedure that helps enhance transparency to centralised cryptocurrency reserves. POR uses cryptographic method employing “Merkle Tree” technique, checks the ownership of public wallet addresses, and recurring third-party verification to certify a centralised platform’s fund reserves. It is used to verify data that has been handled, sent, or stored between computers. Now BingX customers are able to check data on BingX Merkle Tree Verifier Page in real time and ensure their assets are safely custodied.

“It is our responsibility to help our customers know their platform and feel safe. They should only trade in regulated and licensed exchanges or one showing them proof when they need it”, said Elvisco Carrington, PR and Communications Director at BingX. “POR offers customers more security for their assets. It is not the only tool to prove everything is in order. But we will never hesitate to provide anything that can promote customers’ confidence and increase transparency. We hope this POR verified by Mazars can help legitimise the industry and regain trust in the investor community. There might be tumultuous and dark times outside, but BingX is trying to stabilize the ship.”

Hashtag: #BingX

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

ALR Technologies Announces Co-branded Distribution Partnership with Covetrus for GluCurve Pet CGM, the First Continuous Glucose Monitoring System for Diabetic Pets

SINGAPORE Media OutReach – 1 December 2022 – ALR Technologies SG Ltd (“ALRT”) (OTCQB: ALRTF), the diabetes management company, today announced it has entered into a co-branded distribution agreement (the “Agreement”) with Covetrus, Inc. (“Covetrus”), a global leader in animal-health technology and services, for ALRT’s GluCurve Pet CGM, a continuous glucose monitoring (“CGM”) system for diabetic cats and dogs. The GluCurve Pet CGM is the first and only continuous glucose monitoring system designed for diabetic cats and dogs and sold directly to veterinarians.

“After meeting with many of the largest animal-health companies, Covetrus stood out as the clear choice as our partner to launch the GluCurve Pet CGM,” said Sidney Chan, chairman and CEO of ALRT. “Covetrus is uniquely suited for the sale and distribution of the GluCurve Pet CGM because of their industry leading service organization and differential go-to-market strategy that will help drive GluCurve to become the new standard of care for millions of diabetic animals around the world.”

According to studies1,2, 1 in 300 dogs and 1 in 175 cats have diabetes and until now, treating them could be a challenge for pet parents and veterinarians. The GluCurve records blood sugar levels every 3 minutes for up to 14 days, readings are displayed for the pet owner in the GluCurve app for iOS and Android and uploaded to a veterinary patient management web portal. In the web portal, the data are analyzed and organized into time saving graphs and tables, along with additional features such as glucose curve comparisons and overlays, insulin dose calculators, best practice guidelines, and more.

“We welcome the opportunity to bring innovative technologies and devices, such as the GluCurve Pet CGM, to market to help animal health professionals battle a progressive but often manageable disease such as diabetes, in new and innovative ways,” said Cesar França, president, Global Proprietary Brands at Covetrus. “Veterinarians and their patients are our first priority and bringing products and technology to our customers that improve access, reduce burden and enhance care are the cornerstones of our mission.”

Under the terms of the Agreement, Covetrus will have the exclusive rights to sell ALRT’s GluCurve Pet CGM as a co-branded product to veterinary clinics throughout the U.S., Brazil, United Kingdom, the European Union, and various other countries globally. Sales in the U.S. are expected to commence by the end of 2022.

The quantity of available units will ramp up monthly to support a full U.S. launch followed by a global launch as inventories permit.

1O’Neill, D G et al. “Epidemiology of Diabetes Mellitus among 193,435 Cats Attending Primary-Care Veterinary Practices in England.” Journal of veterinary internal medicine vol. 30,4 (2016): 964-72. doi:10.1111/jvim.14365

2Yoon, Samuel et al. “Epidemiological study of dogs with diabetes mellitus attending primary care veterinary clinics in Australia.” The Veterinary record vol. 187,3 (2020): e22. doi:10.1136/vr.105467

Hashtag: #petCGM #petdiabetes #vetmedicine #alrt

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About ALR Technologies SG Ltd.

ALRT is a data management company that developed the ALRT Diabetes Solution, a comprehensive approach to diabetes care that includes an FDA-cleared and HIPAA compliant diabetes management system that collects data directly from blood glucose meters and continuous glucose monitoring devices, and a patent pending Predictive A1C algorithm to track treatment success between lab reports and an FDA-cleared Insulin Dosing Adjustment program. The overall goal is to optimize diabetes drug therapies to drive improved patient outcomes.

In addition, the animal health division of ALRT has developed the GluCurve Pet CGM; a solution to assist veterinarians better determine the efficacy of insulin treatments and to help to identify the appropriate dose and frequency of administration for companion animals, thereby delivering the same optimization of diabetic drug therapies to pets as to humans.

More information about ALRT can be found at and .

ALR Technologies SG Ltd Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains certain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements about our plan, objectives, expectations and intentions. Such statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. Factors that could adversely affect our business and prospects are set forth in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and expectations of our management team and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligations to make any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this release or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

About Covetrus

Covetrus is a global animal-health technology and services company dedicated to empowering veterinary practice partners to drive improved health and financial outcomes. We are bringing together products, services, and technology into a single platform that connects our customers to the solutions and insights they need to work best. Our passion for the well-being of animals and those who care for them drives us to advance the world of veterinary medicine. Covetrus is headquartered in Portland, Maine with more than 5,700 employees serving over 100,000 veterinary customers around the globe. For more information about Covetrus, please visit .

Hong Kong Baptist University-led research facilitates more efficient hybrid rice breeding with pioneering female sterility technique

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 1 December 2022 – Research led by Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) involving the use of a pioneering female sterility technique has led to a breakthrough in the production of hybrid rice seeds. Compared to the commonly used “three-line” male sterility technique in hybrid rice seeds production, the novel approach enhances the efficiency of hybrid rice production by eliminating rice seeds that have been produced due to the self-pollination of the “restorer line”. The novel technique enables fully automatic harvesting of hybrid seeds by machines, which can substantially reduce harvesting costs.

A research team led by Professor Zhang Jianhua, Chair Professor of the Department of Biology at HKBU explores female sterility technique for hybrid rice breeding.

The research results have recently been published in Cell Research, a top-ranking international scientific journal.

Male sterility technique incurs high harvesting costs

Self-pollinating plants are known to maintain their genome homozygosity, and as a result, their offspring can have the same features over generations.

Heterosis, which refers to the increased rate of growth due to genome heterozygosity as a result of the hybridisation of distant parents, is difficult to exploit with self-pollinating plants. In nature, rice is usually bred using self-pollination. However, over the past few decades, scientists – following pioneering work by Professor Yuan Longping, the “Father of Hybrid Rice” – have developed hybrid rice breeding techniques by exploiting sterile male genes, and these techniques can produce hybrid seeds with the normally self-pollinating rice plants in large quantities. China and other countries around the world have extensively used the male sterility technique to produce hybrid rice seeds, and it has led to a substantial increase in rice yields.

The male sterility technique first breeds cultivars, i.e. plant varieties, of the “male-sterile line” of rice as pollen receivers. Rice cultivars from the “restorer line” with normal fertility act as pollen donors, and they are grown close to the “male-sterile line” to facilitate pollen transfer for hybridisation. However, self-pollinating seeds can also be produced by the “restorer line”, and they must be removed manually to avoid mixing them up with the hybrid seeds before mechanical harvest, resulting in high harvesting costs. In theory, using sterile female rice as the “restorer line” is ideal because it cannot produce any self-pollinated seeds. However, this approach has not been adopted because the germplasm of sterile female rice remains extremely rare in nature and sterile female plants find it difficult to self-reproduce.

TFS1 mutation exhibits female sterility

After nearly a decade of ongoing study, a research team led by Professor Zhang Jianhua, Chair Professor of the Department of Biology at HKBU, has managed to identify a “spontaneous thermo-sensitive female sterility 1” (TFS1) gene mutation in an elite rice cultivar during paddy field production. This genetic mutation exhibits female sterility under regular or high temperature conditions (i.e. above 25°C), and fertility is partly resumed under low temperature conditions (i.e. 23°C). It does not have any defects in terms of its vegetative growth.

The team observed that rice with the TFS1 gene mutation can produce healthy pollen with normal male fertility. Rice with normal fertility can produce normal seeds after receiving pollen from rice with the TFS1 gene mutation. Further investigations revealed that under regular or high temperature conditions, after pollen has landed on the stigma of rice with the TFS1 gene mutation, pollen tubes that have grown from the pollen cannot enter the embryo sac. The embryos therefore fail to develop and seeds cannot be produced. But under low temperature conditions, the ability to fertilise and develop embryos is partially recovered.

Following genetic analysis using gene cloning and molecular techniques, the team found that the female sterility mutation is created by a point mutation in the genic region of Argonaute7 (AGO7), a member of the Argonaute (AGO) protein complex that is responsible for the production of many small interfering RNAs, namely tasiR-ARFs. The downstream regulation of these tasiR-ARFs regulates the pollen tube entrance into the embryo sac, but it failed under regular or high temperature conditions in the rice with TFS1 mutation, and hence double fertilisations cannot be achieved.

No need to remove “restorer lines” before harvest

To evaluate the potential of using TFS1 as a genetic tool for hybrid rice production, the team conducted field trials in Hong Kong and Hunan Province in mainland China. The TFS1 gene mutation was introduced into three cultivars of rice by introgression and genome editing to create the germplasms with thermo-sensitive female sterility. They acted as the “restorer lines” for pollen donation. Another three cultivars of rice with male sterility were used as the “male-sterile lines”.

The team planted the “restorer lines” separately next to the “male-sterile lines” as in traditional hybrid breeding, or randomly mixed them on the farm when planting. In both planting arrangements, more than 30% of the panicles of the “male-sterile lines” in Hong Kong, and 40% in Hunan Province produced hybrid seeds. The proportion of seed sets is similar to the hybrid production yields using existing “restorer lines”, but the hybrid rice seeds can be harvested without the removal of the “restorer lines”.

Great commercial potential with reduced harvesting costs

Professor Zhang said: “Nowadays, producing hybrid rice seeds is still a labour-intensive process in agriculture. Female sterility, if it can be introduced into a ‘restorer line’ as a pure pollen donor, has great potential to reduce the cost, because the male and female parents of hybrid rice can be grown and harvested together by machines without worrying about seed purity.

“Our research findings provide a suitable trait for fully mechanised hybrid rice breeding, and our genetic tool has shown great promise for commercial applications. To maximise rice yields, we need further large-scale field trials to improve the receptibility between female and male-sterile lines.”

Apart from researchers from HKBU, the research team included scientists from the Hunan Agricultural University, the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the University of California at Davis, and the National Agriculture and Food Research Organisation in Japan.

Hashtag: #HKBU

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.