Notes

Genetically modified crops pass advantages to weeds

The wild plants may possess an herbicide resistance advantage.

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 of rice even when herbicide isn't in use. This suggests that the modifications could have an impact on the natural environment beyond farms.

A wide range of crops have been genetically modified so that they become resistant to Roundup herbicide glyphosate. This resistance allows farmers to remove the majority of weeds from their fields without harming their crops.

ラウンドアップ Glyphosate inhibits growth of plants by blocking EPSP synthase (an enzyme that is involved in the creation of certain amino acids as well as other molecules). This enzyme could be as large as 35% or more of the plant's total mass. The technique of genetic modification that is employed by Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops, which are located in St Louis (Missouri), generally involves inserting genes into the DNA of a plant to boost EPSP synthase's production. ラウンドアップ Genes are typically obtained from bacteria that infects crops.

The additional EPSP synase allows for plants to counter the effects of glyphosate. Biotechnology labs also have tried to use genes from plants rather than bacteria to boost the production of EPSP synthase partly to make use of the loophole that is in US law that allows approval by regulators of organisms that have transgenes not that are derived from bacteria.

There aren't many studies that have examined the possibility that transgenes, such as glyphosate-resistant ones could -- after introduction to weedy or wild plants via cross-pollination increase the competitiveness of these plants in reproduction, survival and growth. "The common belief is that any sort of transgene can cause disadvantages in the wild, in the absence of pressure to select, because the additional machinery could reduce the fitness," says Norman Ellstrand, a plant geneticist at the University of California in Riverside.

Lu Baorong is an Ecologist at Fudan University Shanghai. His study shows that glyphosate resistance is a major fitness benefit, even though it's not applied.

Their research was published in 1. Lu and his colleagues genetically modified cultivated rice to boost its EPSP synthase expression , and then crossed it with a weedy counterpart.

The group then allowed breeding offspring from the cross to mix with one another, resulting in second-generation hybrids genetically identical to one another except in the amount of copies of the gene that encodes EPSP synthase. As expected, the hybrids that had more copies of the gene were more likely to make more tryptophan and have higher enzyme levels than their unmodified counterparts.

Researchers also found that transgenic hybrids grew between 48-125percent more seeds per plant, and had more photosynthesis, and had more shoots than non-transgenic ones.

ラウンドアップ Making the weedy rice more competitive could exacerbate the problems it causes for farmers all over the world where plots are ravaged by pests, Lu says.

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/ Brian Ford-Lloyd, an UK plant geneticist and says, "If the EPSP synthase gene is introduced into wild rice species their genetic diversity will be threatened which is really significant because the genotype with transgene has a higher level of competition than the standard species." "This is among the clearest examples of extremely plausible damaging impacts (of GM crops on the environment."

The study also challenges the notion that genetically modified crops containing additional copies of their genes are safer than crops that have microorganism genes. https://pesticide.maff.go.jp/agricultural-chemicals/details/14360 ラウンドアップ "Our study proves that this isn't necessarily the case," says Lu.

https://www.nouyaku-tsuhan.jp/SHOP/3706.html The finding calls for a review of future regulations for genetically modified crops, some researchers suggest. Ellstrand claims that some people believe that biosafety regulations could be relaxed because we've had more than two years of genetic engineering. "But the research shows that the new technologies require careful examination."


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