Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
Back in October, I posted about Poplar trees genetically engineered to remove carcinogens from groundwater. The project is moving from the experimental stage into real world application, as described in Fighting pollution the poplar way. The test site was used for oil storage in the 1960s, and became contaminated with trichloroethylene. TCE is an industrial…
Arcadia Biosciences has developed rice that uses nitrogen more efficiently, so the plants need less fertilizer. As described in the Guardian article Biotech firm plans to fund GM rice crops with carbon credits yesterday, Arcadia “is working with the Chinese government to reward farmers in China that grow the firm’s genetically modified (GM) rice, with…
In a study conducted by the University of Granada and Andalusian School of Public Health in Spain, 100% of people (387 volunteers) had at least one kind of pesticide in their adipose tissue. The researchers tested for “persistent organic compounds” (POCs), chemicals that can enter the body through food, water, or air. The chemicals accumulate…
Some pesticides are, frankly, frightening. As a DoD certified Pest Controller, I was taught the history, usage, and dangers of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, etc. so I say this with some authority. Our instructors would joke about “methyl-ethyl-death”, referring especially to fumigants that had been widely used on food crops in decades past. Pesticides frequent news…
I was very young when I first read Copernick’s Rebellion by Leo Frankowski. It captured my imagination, and is directly responsible for my thoughts on genetic engineering and my desire to become a genetic engineer. The author was ahead of his time, taking the (then fictional) idea of manipulating genomes to fantastic conclusions. The characters…
Where a transgene incorporates into a plant’s chromosomes can not be controlled. So, scientists have to transform many plants, and hope that at least one individual didn’t have the transgene interrupt a native gene. One solution to this problem is called a mini-chromosome. This technique uses the natural centromere sequence of an organism to build…
Poplar trees genetically engineered to remove carcinogens from groundwater. The trees have been genetically engineered with a gene for an enzyme that breaks down contaminants in groundwater. The gene is actually from rabbits, where the enzyme breaks down toxins in the rabbit’s liver. The next step of the project is to find an applicable gene…
Read More “News: GMO poplar trees, recycling, stress reduction” »
Vaclav Havel, of Prague, wrote an intriguing editorial about global warming in the NY Times title “Our Moral Footprint.” With my recent trip to Prague, I was intrigued to see how someone from the Czech Republic might feel about the subject, and it turns out to be very similar to how I feel about the…
Read More “News: ‘Moral Footprint’, ‘Crossroads’, ‘mobile slaughter units’” »
Teosinte is a so-called primitive version of corn. Basically it’s corn’s version of our monkey, but corn and teosinte can still interbreed. To a corn breeder, teosinte is a puzzle box of genes that have been lost from maize cultivars. What secrets wait for us to discover? We could find disease resistance, drought resistance, improved…
Chickens fed an enzyme have less phosphorus in their waste. Animals can not digest most of the phosphorus in their grain based feed because of the way it is tied up in the molecules phytate and phytic acid (which occur naturally in the grains fed to the chickens). The enzyme phytase lets the phosphorous molecules…
Read More “News: chicken feed, stress tolerant rice, shark overfishing” »