How Genetics Affects What Plants How Genetics Affects What Plants We Grow and How We Grow ThemWe Grow and How We Grow Them
Peggy G. LemauxCooperative Extension
SpecialistUC Berkeley
CELLS
Cell WallNucleus
Dividing cell
Chromosomes
Chromosome
Genes
Triticum aestivum
Modern bread varietyTriticum monococcum
Ancient variety
How is a new plant variety created by
classical breeding?
Chemical units represented by alphabetic letters
Random retention of information from each parent
of wheat
Yield Increase by year
Used for Marker-Assisted Breeding
wheat
1700 books (or 1.7 million pages)
Genomics
SOURCE: “Body announces plan to develop drought-tolerant maize for Africa”, April 1, 2008, Checkbiotech.orghttp://www.checkbiotech.org/green_News_Genetics.aspx?infoId=17403
Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) uses marker-assisted breeding and biotechnology to
develop African maize varieties
equivalent to a gene
Inserts randomly
in genome
Genetic Engineering Methods
GMO Genetically Modified OrganismGEO Genetically Engineered OrganismLMO Living Modified OrganismrDNA Recombinant DNABiotechnology
TERMS USED
Classical Breeding
Uses plant machinery in plant Uses plant machinery in laboratory
Genetic Engineeringcompared to
Gene exchange is random involving entire genome
Gene exchange is specific, single or a few genes
Only between closely related or within species
Source of gene from any organism
When/where genes expressed not controlled by breeder
When/where gene expressed can be controlled precisely
SOURCE: NCFAP; USDA
GE Corn73% of 2007 acreage
(Insect Resistant: 25% Herbicide resistant: 21% Stacked gene: 15%)1% of corn with Bt (ECB) + Bt (rootworm) + herbicide
GE Canola75% of 2004 acreage
GE Cotton87% of 2007 acreage
(Insect Resistant: 18% Herbicide resistant: 26% Stacked gene: 39%)
GE Soybean91% of 2007 acreage
(Herbicide resistant: 89%)
GE Alfalfa~1.5% of 2007 acreage
SOURCE: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/BiotechCrops/
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Global Area of Biotech Crops, 1996 to 2007:Industrial and Developing Countries (Million Hectares)
Total
Industrial
Developing
Source: Clive James, 2008
23 industrial and developing countries in order of acreage: US, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, China, Paraguay, South Africa, Uruguay, Philippines, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, France, Honduras, Czech Republic, Portugal, Germany, Slovakia. Romania, Poland.
282 million acres worldwide: comparable in size to combined areas of CA and TX
Estimated 75% of Processed Foods Have GE Ingredients
GE Papaya
GE Squash
Only a few whole foods on the market
are genetically engineered
GE Sweet Corn
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE?
SOURCE: http://archives.foodsafety.ksu.edu/agnet/2007/4-2007/agnet_april_10.htm#story0
Arcadia Biosciences develops canola that uses 50% less nitrogen fertilizer
SOURCE: Rivero, R.M., Kojima, M., Gepstein, A., Sakakibara, H., Mittler, R., Gepstein, S. and Blumwald, E. 2007. Delayed leaf senescence induces extreme drought tolerance in a flowering plant. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104: 19631-19636.
Engineered drought tolerance leads to vigorous growth of plants after prolonged
drought while control plants died
Mitigating food allergies, like peanut,
soy and wheat, through engineering of
plants
SOURCE: Niederberger et al., 2004. Vaccination with genetically engineered allergens prevents progression of allergic disease. PNAS early edition (August 13, 2004)
Genetically engineered pollen reduces allergy symptoms in sufferers
“Production of specific vaccinesfor lymphoma in tobacco”
“Production of specific vaccinesfor lymphoma in tobacco”
S O U R C E : P N A S 9 6 : 7 03 - 7 0 8 , M c C o r m ic k , e t a l .
SOURCE: Fierobe et al. 2005. Action of Designer Cellulosomes on Homogeneous Versus Complex Substrates:
CONTROLLED INCORPORATION OF THREE DISTINCT ENZYMES INTO A DEFINED TRIFUNCTIONAL SCAFFOLDIN. J. Biol. Chem. 280:16325-16334.
Genetic engineering used to improve Genetic engineering used to improve breakdown of global wastepaper glutbreakdown of global wastepaper glut
SOURCE: Doty, S.L., James, C.A., Moore, A.L., Vajzovic, A., Singleton, G.L., Ma, C., Khan, Z., Xi, G., Kang, J.W., Park, J.Y., Meilan, R., Strauss, S.H., Wilkerson, J., Farin, F. and Strand. S.E. 2007. Enhanced phytoremediation of volatile environmental pollutants with transgenic trees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104:16816-16821.
Engineered poplar removes environmental pollutants through roots and air
Removal of carbon tetrachloride
P h o to c o u r te s y o f M ic h a e l B a r n e s , S e n io r W r ite r , U n iv e r s ity o f C a lif o r n ia O f fic e o f th e P r e s i d e n t
Green algae have a switch that can changemetabolic processes and produce hydrogen gas -
potentially providing a renewable, clean fuel source
ENERGY FARMS
What is the U.S. regulatory What is the U.S. regulatory process that governs these process that governs these
engineered plants?engineered plants?
• Field testing-Permits-Notifications
• Determination ofnon-regulated status
U.S. Regulatory AgenciesU.S. Regulatory Agencies(based oversight on existing (based oversight on existing
regulations)regulations)
USDAUSDAUSDAUSDA FDAFDAFDAFDA EPAEPAEPAEPA• Food
safety
• Feed safety
• Pesticidal plants-tolerance exemption-registrations
• Herbicide registration
Safety of engineered food: Safety of engineered food: Is it as safe as a conventional food?Is it as safe as a conventional food?
Concept of Concept of substantial substantial equivalence:equivalence:Modified food has essentially all characteristics of Modified food has essentially all characteristics of
nonmodified food with respect to food and feed valuenonmodified food with respect to food and feed value exceptexcept
SOURCE: Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods: Aproaches to Assessing Unintended Health Effects 2004. Natl Acad Press
for the introduced genetic material and the for the introduced genetic material and the products made from it. These products have to products made from it. These products have to be tested and analyzed separately. Regulators be tested and analyzed separately. Regulators
look at, for example, specificity and mode of look at, for example, specificity and mode of action of protein, source of protein, its stability action of protein, source of protein, its stability
during digestion and processingduring digestion and processing
Substantial
SOURCE: Catchpole et al. 2005. Hierarchical metabolomics demonstrates substantial compositional similarity between genetically modified and conventional potato crops. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 105: 14458-14462.
“…“…apart from targeted changes, these GM potatoes in this apart from targeted changes, these GM potatoes in this study appear substantially equivalent to traditional cultivars.”study appear substantially equivalent to traditional cultivars.”
Hierarchical metabolomics demonstrates substantial compositional Hierarchical metabolomics demonstrates substantial compositional similarity between genetically modified and conventional potato cropssimilarity between genetically modified and conventional potato crops
Precautionary principleThe assumption that experimentation should only proceed where there is a
guarantee that the outcome will not be harmful.