Notes

Genetically modified crops offer more advantages than the weeds

In nature, resistance to herbicides could confer advantages to plants.

Weedy rice can absorb transgenes derived from genetically modified rice through cross-pollination. https://search.yahoo.co.jp/video/search?rkf=2&ei=UTF-8&fr=wsr_gvu&p=%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A6%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%82%A2%E3%83%83%E3%83%97 Credit: Xiao Yang
The most common method for the genetic modification of plants to make them herbicide resistant has been found to give advantages to weedy varieties rice even when herbicide is not present. These findings suggest that such modifications may have a wide variety of impacts that extend beyond farms, and even into the wild.

A wide range of crops has been genetically modified to make them immune to Roundup herbicide glyphosate. This resistance to glyphosate permits farmers to eliminate plants without doing any harm to their crops.

Glyphosate can inhibit plant growth by inhibiting EPSP synase which is an enzyme involved in the production of amino acids as well as other chemicals that make up about 35% of plants' mass. The genetic modification technique that is employed by Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops, which are based in St Louis (Missouri), typically involves inserting genes in the DNA of a plant to boost EPSP synthase production. The genes are often derived from bacteria that has affected the plant.

The plant is able to endure the negative effects of glyphosate because it has an extra EPSP-synthase. Biotechnology labs also have tried to create EPSP-synthase that is more plant-based than bacteria, using genes derived taken from plants. This was partly done to exploit the loophole in US law, which permits the approval of regulatory authorities for organisms which aren't the result of bacteria.

A few studies have looked into the possibility that transgenes like glyphosate-resistant genes are able to -- when introduced to weedy or wild plants through cross-pollination make these plants more competitive in terms of survival, reproduction and growth. ラウンドアップ Norman Ellstrand is a University of California Riverside plant geneticist. "The assumption is that any kind of transgene could cause disadvantages in the wild, in the absence of select pressure, because it would reduce fitness," Ellstrand said.

Lu Baorong is an Ecologist at Fudan University Shanghai. His research shows that resistance to glyphosate provides a significant fitness benefit even when it's not used.

ラウンドアップ In the study published this month in New Phytologist 1, Lu and his colleagues genetically modified the rice plant to overexpress the species' own EPSP synthase. ラウンドアップ They crossed the modified rice with a weedy cousin.

The group then permitted the offspring from cross-breeding to cross-breed to create second-generation hybrids. They were genetically identical with the exception of the amount of EPSP synthase genes they carried. ラウンドアップ The ones with more copies expressed greater levels of the enzyme and also produced more amino acid tryptophan than their non-modified counterparts.

Researchers also discovered that transgenic plants had higher rates for photosynthesis as well as produced more flowers and produced 48 to 125 percent fewer seeds per plant than non-transgenic hybrids. This was despite the fact that glyphosate wasn't present.

Lu suggests that making weedy Rice more competitive could cause more problems for the farmers around the world who's fields are infested with the pest.

Brian Ford-Lloyd of Brian Ford-Lloyd, a researcher at the University of Birmingham, UK, says "If the EPSP synthase gene is introduced to wild rice varieties, their genetic variety is crucial to conserve, may be endangered because it will outcompete the normal varieties." "This is among the most clear instances of the highly probable negative effects [of GM crops] on the natural environment."

The belief of the public that genetically modified crops that contain additional copies of their genes are more secure is questioned by this study. Lu says that Lu's study does not support this notion.

Researchers say this finding calls for rethinking the future regulation on genetically modified crops. Ellstrand believes that biosafety laws can be relaxed since we are able to have a great level of security from two decades of genetic engineering. "But the study demonstrates that the new technologies require an unbiased examination."


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