Notes

Genetically modified crops have more advantages than the weeds

Wild plants could be resistant to herbicides.

Weedy rice may take on transgenes from genetically modified crops through cross-pollination. ラウンドアップ : Xiao Yang
The use of genetic modification of crops to make them resistant to herbicides has been widely used to produce advantages for species of rice that are weedy. These findings suggest that such modifications may have a wide spectrum of effects that extend beyond farms, and even in the wild.

A variety of crops are genetically modified in order to ward off the glyphosate. The herbicide was initially sold under the tradename Roundup. This makes it possible for farmers to remove the majority of herbicides from their fields, without harming their crops.

Glyphosate is a plant-killer by blocking EPSP synase which is an enzyme that plays a role in the production amino acids and other chemicals that make up about 35% of plant mass. The technique of genetic modification is employed in, for instance, Roundup Ready plants made by Monsanto Biotechnology Inc., a biotech firm based out of St Louis, Missouri. It involves inserting genes into the genome of a plant to increase EPSP synthase synthase synthase production. Genes are usually derived from bacteria that infect crops.

This extra EPSP synthase enables the plant to withstand the effects from glyphosate. Biotechnology laboratories are trying to make use of genes from plants instead of bacteria to increase EPSP synthase. This is partly because the US law permits approval by the regulatory authorities to allow organisms that carry transgenes to get approved.

Few studies have tested the possibility that transgenes like ones that confer resistance to glyphosate can -- once they get into weedy or wild relatives through cross-pollination -make plants more competitive for survival and reproduction. Norman Ellstrand, a University of California plant geneticist, says that in the absence of selection pressure, any type of transgene is likely to cause disadvantages on wild plants. The additional machinery could reduce fitness.

But now a study led by Lu Baorong, an ecologist from Fudan University in Shanghai, disproves that belief: it shows that a weedy version of the popular rice plant, Oryza sativa, gets an important boost in fitness due to the resistance to glyphosate even when glyphosate has not been used.

Lu and colleagues modified cultivars of rice to improve its EPSP synthase. The modified rice was then cross-bred with a wild-type relative.

ラウンドアップ allowed offspring cross-bred to breed with one-another, creating second-generation hybrids that are genetically similar to their parents except for the number of copies of the gene that encodes EPSP synthase. https://search.kakaku.com/%8F%9C%91%90%8D%DC%20%83%89%83E%83%93%83h%83A%83b%83v%83%7D%83b%83N%83X%83%8D%81%5B%83h/ discovered that the ones who had greater copies of the gene that encodes EPSP synthase had more enzyme expression and produced more tryptophan, which is what we expected.

Researchers also discovered that transgenics had higher rates, had more flowers and 48-125percent more seeds/plant than nontransgenics.

https://www.komeri.com/disp/CKmSfGoodsPageMain_001.jsp?GOODS_NO=1013169 states that making weedy grains more competitive could increase the difficulties it causes to farmers all over the world who have crops infected by the insect.

Brian Ford-Lloyd is a UK plant geneticist who states, "If the EPSP synthase gene is introduced into wild rice species, their genetic diversity would be threatened which is really crucial because the genotype that has transgene outcompetes the normal species." "This is one instance of the most plausible and damaging effects of GM crops on the environment."

The study also challenges the public perception that genetically modified crops with additional copies of their own genes are more secure than those that contain the genes of microorganisms. Lu claims that the research "shows that this isn't always true".

The findings call for a reconsideration of the future regulation of genetically modified crops, some researchers claim. Ellstrand believes that biosafety regulations may be relaxed because we can enjoy a high level satisfaction from the two decades of genetic engineering. ラウンドアップ isn't proof that the new products are secure.


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