Notes

Genetically modified crops offer greater benefits than the weeds

Herbicide resistance could give plants an advantage in the wild.

Credit Xiao Yang
A common method of genetic modification that makes crops resistant to herbicides was found to have advantages over the weedy varieties of rice. ラウンドアップ エノコログサ indicates that these changes could be detrimental to the natural environment beyond farms.

Many crops are created genetically to be resistant to the glyphosate. ラウンドアップ , first called Roundup and then introduced to the market in 1996 under the trade name Roundup. This allows farmers to remove the majority of weeds from their fields without harming their crops.

Glyphosate slows the growth of plants by blocking EPSP synthase (an enzyme that plays a role in the creation of certain amino acids as well as other molecules). ラウンドアップ グリホサート can be as large as 35% or more of the plant's total mass. The technique of genetic modification used, for instance, in Roundup Ready crops made by the biotechnology giant Monsanto, based in St Louis, Missouri -generally involves inserting genes into a plant's genome to increase the production of EPSP synthase. ラウンドアップ come from bacteria that infect the plants.

The plant can endure the negative effects of glyphosate since it has an extra EPSP-synthase. Biotechnology labs also have tried to make use of genes from plants rather than bacteria to increase EPSP-synthase levels, in part to exploit the loophole within US law that permits regulatory approval of organisms carrying transgenes that are not derived from bacterial pests.

A few studies have looked into the possibility that transgenes that confer tolerance could -- after they are weedy or become wild relatives by cross-pollinatingenhance the plant's survival and reproduce. ラウンドアップ of the University of California, Riverside, explained that the standard assumption was that any transgene will cause disadvantage in nature when there was no selection pressure. This is due to the fact that any additional machinery would lower the fitness.

Lu Baorong of Fudan University in Shanghai is in the process of challenging this notion. ラウンドアップ demonstrates that resistance to glyphosate even when applied to the weedy variety of the rice crop can give a significant health boost.

http://www.ihs-agri.jp/nouyaku/hatasaku-josou/hatasaku-josou-keiyou/josou101090010301.html and his colleagues genetically modified the cultivated Rice species to express the EPSP synthase. They then crossed it with the weedy parent.

The team permitted the offspring from cross-breeding to cross-breed with one other to create second-generation hybrids. They were identical genetically with the exception of the amount of EPSP synthase genes they carried. The hybrids with more copies were more likely to make more tryptophan and have greater levels of enzymes than the unmodified hybrids.

The researchers also found that the transgenic hybrids had higher rates of photosynthesis, they grew larger flowers and shoots and produced 48-125% more seeds than the non-transgenic hybrids -without the use of the chemical glyphosate.

Lu states that making weedy grains more competitive could cause more problems for farmers across the world who have crops infected by the insect.

Brian Ford Lloyd, a UK plant scientist, has said that the EPSP Synthase gene is able to get in wild rice varieties. This would threaten their genetic diversity, which is very crucial. "This is among the most clear instances of the extremely damaging consequences [of GM crops] on the environment."

The study also challenges the idea that genetically modified plants with extra copies of their genes are less risky than those containing microorganism genes. "Our study shows that this is not necessarily the case" says Lu.

Researchers believe this discovery requires reconsideration of the regulation for genetically modified crops. "Some individuals are suggesting that biosafety regulations can be relaxed because we have an extremely high level of satisfaction in the last two years of genetic engineering" Ellstrand says. "But the study shows that new products require an unbiased examination."


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