Plants in the wild could be given resistance to herbicides.
Weedy rice is able to absorb transgenes derived from genetically modified rice by cross-pollinating. Credit: Xiao Yang
Genetic modification to create crops resistant to herbicides is widely utilized to provide advantages to the varieties of rice that are weedy. The results suggest that the benefits of this modification could extend beyond the confines of farms out into the wild.
A variety of varieties of crops are created genetically to be resistant to the glyphosate. This herbicide, first known as Roundup and then introduced into the market in 1996 under the trade name Roundup. This glyphosate-resistant crop allows farmers to eliminate the majority of herbicides in their fields without damaging their crops.
Glyphosate inhibits growth of plants by stopping EPSP synthase (an enzyme involved in the formation of amino acids as well as various other molecules). The enzyme can be as large as 35 percent or more of a plant’s total mass. The genetic-modification method, used for Roundup Ready crops by Monsanto (based in St Louis in Missouri) involves inserting genetic material into a crop to increase EPSP synthase’s output. Genes are typically derived from bacteria that infect the plants.
ラウンドアップ The additional EPSP synase allows for the plant to resist the effects of glyphosate. Biotechnology labs also tried to make use of the genes of plants to increase the EPSP synthase enzyme, in part to make use of an American loophole that permits regulatory approval of transgenes not derived bacteria-based pests.
There aren’t many studies that have examined the possibility that transgenes that confer glyphosate tolerance could — after they become weedy , or wild relatives through cross-pollinating- increase the plants’ survival and reproduce. Norman Ellstrand, a University of California plant geneticist, says that without competition, any kind of transgene is likely to cause disadvantages on wild plants. ラウンドアップ エクセル The added machinery will lower fitness.
But now a study led by Lu Baorong, an ecologist from Fudan University in Shanghai, challenges that view It reveals that the weedy form of the common rice plant, Oryza sativa has an impressive fitness boost due to the resistance to glyphosate even when glyphosate is not applied.
Lu and his coworkers modified cultivars of rice to make more EPSP synthase. ラウンドアップ They also crossed the modified rice with a weedy related. Their work was published in NewPhytologist 1..
The group then let offspring to crossbreed with one another, resulting in second-generation hybrids that are genetically similar to their parents except for how many copies of the gene that encodes EPSP synthase. As was expected, those with more copies of the gene had more enzyme activity and more amino acid tryptophan compared to their counterparts that were not modified.
Researchers also discovered that transgenics have higher rates, more flowers, and 48 to 125 percent more seeds per plant than nontransgenics.
Lu states that making the weedy grain more competitive could cause more problems to farmers around the world who have crops infected by the pest.
Brian Ford-Lloyd of the University of Birmingham, UK Brian Ford-Lloyd, a researcher at the University of Birmingham in the “If the EPSP synthase gene is introduced to wild rice species, their genetic variety that was so important in conserving it, could be threatened because it would outcompete the normal varieties.” “This is among the clearest instances of the extremely damaging impacts (of GM crops] on the environment.”
This study challenges popular notion that genetically modified plants with extra copies of their own genes are less dangerous than the ones that have the genes of microorganisms. ラウンドアップ Lu says, “Our study shows this is not necessarily true.”
Researchers say these findings should prompt an overhaul of the way that genetically modified crops will be regulated in the future. Ellstrand saysthat “Some people think that biosafety regulation should be relaxed.” Ellstrand says: “But this study has shown that novel products still require careful analysis.”
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