Genetically engineered crops allowed in the U.S. food supply
Product
Institution(s) Engineered Trait(s)
Sources of New
Genes
Name
Date Allowed on
Market
Canola
Bayer
Resist glufosinate herbicide to
control weeds
Bacteria, virus
LibertyLink
2000
Canola
Monsanto
Altered oil (high lauric acid) for
soap and food products
Calif bay, turnip
rape, bacteria,
virus
Laurical
1995
Corn
Bayer
Resist glufosinate herbicide to
Bacteria, virus
control weeds/male sterile to
facilitate hybridization
SeedLink
Date unknown
Corn
Bayer
Resist glufosinate herbicide to
control weeds/Bt toxin to
control insect pests
(European corn borer)
Bacteria, virus
StarLink
1998 (approved
only for animal
feed)
Cotton
Monsanto/
Bayer
Resist bromoxynil herbicide to
control weeds
Bacteria, virus
BXN Cotton
1995
Cotton
Monsanto
Bt toxin to control insect pests
(cotton bollworms and
tobacco budworm)
Bacteria
Bollgard
1995
Cotton
Monsanto
Resist glyphosate herbicide to
control weeds
Arabidopsis,
bacteria, virus
Roundup Ready
1996
Genetically engineered crops allowed in the U.S. food supply
Product
Institution(s) Engineered Trait(s)
Sources of New Name
Genes
Date Allowed on
Market
Flax
Univ
Saskatchewan
Resist sulfonylurea
herbicide to grow in soils
with herbicide residues
Arabidopsis,
bacteria
CDC Triffid
1999
Papaya
Cornell Univ/
Univ Hawaii
Resist papaya ringspot
virus
Bacteria, virus
Sunup, Rainbow
1997
Potato
Monsanto
Bt toxin to control insect
pests (Colorado potato
beetle)/resist potato virus
Y
Bacteria, virus
NewLeaf Y
1999
Rice
Tomato
Bayer
Monsanto/
Calgene
Resist glufosinate
herbicide to control
weeds
Altered ripening to
enhance fresh market
value
Bacteria, virus
LibertyLink
2004
Tomato, bacteria,
virus
FlavrSavr
1994
GM food production (1996 – 2004) (million Ha)
total
Developed
countries
Developing
countries
GM food production (1996 – 2003) (million Ha)
Soybean
Corn
Cotton
Canola
Current Products
• Transgenic Soybean
– Roundup Ready
• Resistant to Roundup
Herbicide
• Reduces the amount of
herbicide applied to crops
– Altered fatty-acid
content
• Changes the nutritional
value
Field after one round of
application of Roundup herbicide
Glyphosateresistance
(sugar beet, canola, soybean, chicory, corn)
Glufosinatresistance
(sugar beet , canola, soybean, chicory, rice, corn)
Male sterility
(Canola, chicory, corn)
Increased oleic acid content
(soybean)
Current Products
• Canola
– Herbicide resistant
• Better for the environment
– Altered fatty-acid
composition
• A value-added food
Bromoxynilresistance
(cotton, tobacco, canola)
Sulfonylurea-resistance
(cotton, canola)
Increased lauryl acid and myristic acid
content (canola)
Current Products
• Tomato
– Flavr Savr Tomato
• Delayed softening
• Consumers get a better tasting tomato
• Failed
– Virus resistant tomato
• Resistant to pests
• Decreases the amount of
pesticide applied to crops
Transgenic tomato plants show resistance (left)
while non-transformed plants are susceptible to
cucumber mosaic virus under field conditions (right)
Altered ripe
(tomato, water melone)
Current Products
• Corn
– Bt Corn
Wild-type corn showing
infestation - Bt corn is
resistant to this
The Monarch Butterfly debate:
– A microbial gene added results in the crop being resistant
to insects
– Does it impact the Monarch Butterfly?
» Well planned experiments are critical to the survival of
biotechnology
Current Products
• Cotton
– Yes – clothes can be made from transgenic crops!
– Bollgard cotton
• Insect resistance
• Lowers pesticide
usage
Insect infestation on Bt (right) and non-Bt (left) cotton bolls
Current Products
• Papaya
– Virus resistant
• Restored the papaya industry in Hawaii
• Reduced crop loss
• Japan blocked imports of transgenic papaya
Virus-resisance
(Papaya, potato, cucmber)
Current Products
• Golden Rice
– Biotechnology’s poster child?
• A true value added food
• Vitamin A enriched rice
prevents disease and blindness
• Golden in colour
Golden rice and normal (white)
www.fumento.com/ wsjbiotech.html
• Golden Rice has not been developed by and for industry.
• It fulfills an urgent need by complementing traditional interventions.
• It presents a sustainable, cost-free solution, not requiring other
resources.
• It avoids the unfortunate negative side effects of the Green
Revolution.
• Industry does not benefit from it.
• Those who benefit are the poor and disadvantaged.
• It is given free of charge and restrictions to subsistence farmers.
• It does not create any new dependencies.
• It will be grown without any additional inputs.
• It does not create advantages to rich landowners.
• It can be resown every year from the saved harvest.
• It does not reduce agricultural biodiversity.
• It does not affect natural biodiversity.
• There is, so far, no conceptual negative effect on the environment.
• There is, so far, no conceivable risk to consumer health.
• It was not possible to develop the trait with traditional methods, etc.
Edible Vaccines
• Plants producing vaccines could eliminate
or simplify vaccine distribution problems in
developing nations
How a transgenic plant
containing a vaccine is
made
Edible Vaccines
• May have advantages
over injected vaccines
• Plants being studied
include potato, banana,
papaya, tomato, lettuce,
carrot, rice, wheat, corn
and soybean – Quite a
salad!
Potatoes are one of many plants being used to
produce vaccines
Edible Vaccines
• Tomato and potato plant can make antigens
from Hepatitis B, E. Coli and V. cholerae
• Feeding to test animals induces an immune
response
• Potatoes fed to human volunteers induced
and immune response to an inactive form of
the E. coli toxin
Other Cool Plant Biotech Products
• Blue Carnations and Roses
– Nature can not make these
• Non-allergenic peanuts
– Kids can take peanut butter
sandwiches to school again!
• Decaffeinated coffee
– Less processing
How to constuct transgenic plants?
•Microinjection
•Viral vectors (e.g. lentiviruses, adenoviruses)
(Univ. Pnnsylvania: Jesse Gelsinger)
How to constuct transgenic plants?
• Agrobacterium tumefaciens
– Cancerous growth in plant cells
• (bacterial DNA)
• Gene-gun
– Gold or Wolframparticles (DNA-coated)
• Particles must hit the cells
• Cells must be able to repair the holes on cell membrane
• DNA must intagrate into the genome
– Selection markers (e.g. Ab-resistance)
• The transgene contains:
– Promoter sequence, structural gene, stop sequence, marker-gene
GM Products: Benefits
• Crops
–
–
–
–
–
Enhanced taste and quality
Reduced maturation time
Increased nutrients, yields, and stress tolerance
Improved resistance to disease, pests, and herbicides
New products and growing techniques
• Animals
– Increased resistance, productivity, hardiness, and feed efficiency
– Better yields of meat, eggs, and milk
– Improved animal health and diagnostic methods
• Environment
–
–
–
–
–
"Friendly" bioherbicides and bioinsecticides
Conservation of soil, water, and energy
Bioprocessing for forestry products
Better natural waste management
More efficient processing
• Society
– Increased food security for growing populations
GM Products: Controversies
• Safety
– Potential human health impact: allergens, transfer of antibiotic resistance
markers, unknown effects Potential environmental impact: unintended transfer
of transgenes through cross-pollination, unknown effects on other organisms
(e.g., soil microbes), and loss of flora and fauna biodiversity
• Access and Intellectual Property
– Domination of world food production by a few companies
– Increasing dependence on Industralized nations by developing countries
– Biopiracy—foreign exploitation of natural resources
• Ethics
–
–
–
–
Violation of natural organisms' intrinsic values
Tampering with nature by mixing genes among species
Objections to consuming animal genes in plants and vice versa
Stress for animal
• Labeling
– Not mandatory in some countries (e.g., United States)
– Mixing GM crops with non-GM confounds labeling attempts
• Society
– New advances may be skewed to interests of rich countries
Results of GM rice experiments in China
Costs of pesticides
Amount of pesticides
Work
Yield
Health related problems
GM
31 jüan/ha
2 kg/ha
0,73 day/ha
6364 kg/ha
0
non GM
243 jüan/ha
21,2 kg/ha
9,1 day/ha
6151 kg/ha
3