Notes

Genetically modified crops provide more benefits than weeds

In the wild, plants can be given herbicide resistance.

Credit: Xiao Yang
A well-known method of the genetic modification of plants that make them herbicide-resistant is found to confer advantages to the weedy varieties of rice even when herbicide is not present. The findings suggest that this modification may be able to have positive effects on wild rice varieties, as well as crops.

A variety of crops have been genetically modified in order to ward off the effects of glyphosate. ラウンドアップ 口コミ The herbicide was initially offered under the trade name Roundup. Farmers can eliminate most herbicides from their fields by using glyphosate without harming their crops due to this resistance.

Glyphosate can inhibit plant growth by inhibiting EPSP synase which is an enzyme that plays a role in the production of amino acids, as well as other chemical compounds that comprise about 35% of plant mass. The genetic-modification technique -- employed, for example, in the Roundup Ready crops made by the biotech giant Monsanto located in St Louis, Missouri -generally involves inserting genes into a crop's genome to increase the production of EPSP synthase. Genes usually come from bacteria that infects plants.

The plant is able to resist the effects of glyphosate because of the additional EPSP synthase. Biotechnology laboratories are looking to utilize genes from plants rather than bacteria to increase EPSP synthase. This is partly because the US law allows for regulatory approval that allows organisms that have transgenes to be recognized as acceptable.

There aren't many studies that have examined whether transgenes , such as those that confer glyphosate resistance are able to -- once they are wild or weedy relatives by cross-pollination, make plants more competitive in survival and reproduction. Norman Ellstrand, a University of California plant geneticist, claims that, in the absence of competition, any kind of transgene is likely to cause disadvantages in wild plants. The extra machinery would reduce fitness.

https://www.pref.nagano.lg.jp/nogi/sangyo/nogyo/gijutsu/fukyugijutsu/200901/documents/091h06.pdf A new study, led by Lu Baorong, an ecologist at Fudan University in Shanghai, challenges that view: it shows that a weedy variant of the standard rice plant, Oryza sativa has a significant fitness boost from resistance to glyphosate, even when glyphosate isn't applied.

Lu and his colleagues genetically modified the cultivated Rice species to express its EPSP synthase. ラウンドアップ Then, they crossed-bred it to the marijuana-producing parent.

The team allowed the offspring of crossbreeding to crossbreed with one another, resulting in second-generation hybrids that are genetically identical to each other except for the number of copies of the gene that encodes EPSP synase. As one would expect, more copies of the gene produced higher levels enzyme as well as more tryptophan than the unmodified counterparts.

Researchers also discovered that plants with transgenic genes were more photosynthesis-intensive as well as produced more flowers and produced 48-125% fewer seeds per plant than the nontransgenic hybrids. ラウンドアップ ラウンドアップ This was in spite of the fact that glyphosate was not present.

Making the weedy rice more competitive can increase the issues it creates for farmers all over the world who's plots are infested by pests, Lu says.

Brian Ford-Lloyd (a UK plant geneticist) states that if the EPSP synthase genes are introduced into wild rice, then their genetic diversity that is essential to protect could be endangered. The transgene will outcompete regular species. This is one of the most clear examples of plausible negative effects [of GM crop on the environment."

This study challenges public belief that crops modified genetically with additional copies of their own genes are more secure than the ones that have the genes of microorganisms. Lu declares that "our study does not prove that this is true."

Researchers believe that the findings call for an overhaul of how genetically modified crops will be controlled in the future. "Some people are now suggesting that biosafety regulations are relaxed since we've achieved an extremely high level of satisfaction with the two decades of genetic engineering," Ellstrand says. The study doesn't prove that novel products are safe.


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