Notes

Genetically modified crops have greater benefits than herbicides

In the wild, herbicide resistance could confer advantages to plants.

Credit Xiao Yang
One common genetic-modification method that makes crops resistant to herbicides has been shown to have advantages over weedy forms of rice. This suggests that such genetic modification could also have potential to have an impact on wild animals.

Several types of crops have been genetically modified to be resistant to glyphosate, an herbicide first sold under the brand name Roundup. This resistance to glyphosate allows farmers to eliminate the majority of herbicides in their fields without damaging their crop.

Glyphosate slows the growth of plants through blocking an enzyme, known as EPSP synthase. It is involved in the production of specific amino acids and other molecules that account for approximately 35% of the plant's mass. Genetic modification, for instance, the Roundup Ready crops manufactured by Monsanto in St. Louis, Missouri, involves inserting genes to a crop's genetic code in order to increase EPSP production. The genes typically come from bacteria that infect plants.

The additional EPSP synase makes it possible for plants to resist the harmful effects of glyphosate. Biotechnology labs also have tried to create EPSP synthase with more plant-based components than bacteria, using genes derived that come from plants. This was done to exploit the loophole in US law which allows the approval of regulatory authorities for organisms which aren't the result of bacteria or parasites.

There aren't many studies that have examined whether transgenes , such as those that confer resistance to glyphosate can -- once they become weedy or wild relatives through cross-pollination, make plants more competitive in terms of survival and reproduction. Norman Ellstrand, a University of California plant geneticist claims that, in the absence of selection pressure, any type of transgene is likely to create disadvantages in wild plants. The added machinery will lower fitness.

Lu Baorong, an ecologist from Fudan University in Shanghai has revised that opinion. He has discovered that resistance to glyphosate provides an impressive fitness boost to the weedy variant of the standard rice plant Oryza Sativa.

Lu and his colleagues genetically modified the cultivated Rice species to express the EPSP synthase. They then crossed it with a marijuana-producing parent.

The team permitted the offspring from cross-breeding to cross-breed with one other to produce second-generation hybrids. They were identical genetically apart from the number of EPSP synthase genes they had. Likely, ラウンドアップ with more copies expressed higher levels of the enzyme, and produced more amino acids tryptophan than their non-modified counterparts.

https://www.anochords.org/how-did-roundup-ready-or-roundup-get-their-names/ discovered that plants with transgenic genes were more photosynthesis-intensive as well as produced more flowers and produced 48 to 125 percent fewer seeds per plant than nontransgenic hybrids. This was despite the fact that glyphosate was never present.

Lu believes making weedy, aggressive rice more competitive could hinder farmers to recoup the damage caused by this bug.

Brian Ford-Lloyd is an UK plant geneticist and says, "If the EPSP synthase gene becomes present in wild rice varieties their genetic diversity will be at risk, which is significant because the genotype with transgene has a higher level of competition than the standard species." This is one of the most clear examples of plausible negative effects [of GM crop on the environment."

There is a popular belief that genetically engineered crops that have more copies or microorganisms' genes are less risky than those that only contain the genes of their owners. ラウンドアップ that "our study doesn't prove that this is true."

The research results call for a review of future regulations for genetically modified crops, some scientists say. Ellstrand thinks that biosafety regulations may be relaxed because we enjoy a high level comfort from two decades worth of genetic engineering. https://www.trackometrix.com/what-made-roundup-ready-and-roundup-become-what-they-are-today/ doesn't prove that the new products are secure.


My Website: https://www.anochords.org/how-did-roundup-ready-or-roundup-get-their-names/