" GM " Potato trials!

[SimonJFoster]

My problem lies with those (scientist, businessman and politician alike) who advocate GM in spite of the ill effects on health,

It's very hard to counter such claims without specifics. There have been no ill effects of human consumption of GM food, despite the 100 million of hectares sown to GM crops around the world, particularly the US.

[SimonJFoster]

selective breeding means taking the best characteristics from two (or more) closely related plants and breeding from them.

GM means splicing genes together from totally unrelated things, eg fish genes put into tomatoes. Read more here

Hi Two_Sheds,

Of course, what you say (bringing together genes from highly unrelated organisms) is possible using GM technology. In practice however, it is very unlikely that doing so would give any useful characteristics to the recipient organism. Your example of fish genes into tomatoes being a case in point. I can't think of any fish genes that would be of use in a tomato. In reality plant genes are transferred into plants. Most often the species are closely related as the further apart the plants are on the 'tree of life', the less likely the genes are to function as intended and confer the desired characteristic.

[SimonJFoster]

Hi Two_Sheds,

Of course, what you say (bringing together genes from highly unrelated organisms) is possible using GM technology. In practice however, it is very unlikely that doing so would give any useful characteristics to the recipient organism. Your example of fish genes into tomatoes being a case in point. I can't think of any fish genes that would be of use in a tomato. In reality plant genes are transferred into plants. Most often the species are closely related as the further apart the plants are on the 'tree of life', the less likely the genes are to function as intended and confer the desired characteristic.

Just as a follow-on. What often is brought up in GM discussions is the use of a gene known as 'green fluorescent protein' which originates from a species of jellyfish. The protein fluoresces green under UV light and thus when attached to other genes being studied, allows those genes to be 'tracked' within the plants (I guess analogous to a barium meal for plants). Other than this, the gene serves no useful purpose for plants and is certainly not something that would be of use in a commercially deployed GM crop plant. Purely a research tool.

[stupot]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for all your in depth replies. You mention you are using the jellyfish gene as a marker. Has this completely replaced antibiotic resistance markers that I know used to be used? These being present in GMOs was always the worry for me.

[tattieman]

I will watch this thread with great interest.
I think the blight resistance gene could be a revolution for the world to produce food easier.
At what stage is the gene introduced to the tuber/plant?
Could this already have been done in eastern europe or Russia?

[stupot]

Just found the answer to my question on the FAQ:
"The potatoes also contain a gene which confers resistance against the antibiotic kanamycin. Kanamycin is used during the genetic modification process as a means to select plant cells that also contain the inserted resistance genes. This antibiotic is not used for medical treatment of either humans or animals."

This is what worries me - having antibiotic resistance genes been propogated outside the lab. Kanomycin is mostly not used in humans because of it's side effects - though it very similar to other antibiotics that are used in humans. Genes can pass quite easily from species to species, from plant to virus to bacteria. With the pressure antibiotic resistant bacteria are putting on the NHS (MRSA, C. diff. - costing the NHS 100s of millions to treat) I think it's dangerous produce an edible plant that contains these genes. Especially since the human gut is full of bacteria that could potentially uptake these genes.

[SimonJFoster]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for all your in depth replies. You mention you are using the jellyfish gene as a marker. Has this completely replaced antibiotic resistance markers that I know used to be used? These being present in GMOs was always the worry for me.

No problem at all.

The green fluorescent protein (GFP) marker from jellyfish is more commonly used to investigate the function of genes in the lab rather than for use in GM crops released for field use.

Our particular potato lines do have an antibiotic marker gene. However, it is important to note that this marker gene has been investigated and cleared for use by the European Food Safety Agency. The antibiotic resistance marker was itself originally isolated from a soil bacterium, thus concerns about transfer from the GM crops to soil bacteria (never observed) is almost a mute point. The resistance gene is routinely found in naturally occurring populations of soil bacteria.

As a final note - our potatoes are not intended for the food chain.

[zazen999]

Hi Simon.

Who is funding this potato GM research?

[SimonJFoster]

This is what worries me - having antibiotic resistance genes been propogated outside the lab. Kanomycin is mostly not used in humans because of it's side effects - though it very similar to other antibiotics that are used in humans. Genes can pass quite easily from species to species, from plant to virus to bacteria. With the pressure antibiotic resistant bacteria are putting on the NHS (MRSA, C. diff. - costing the NHS 100s of millions to treat) I think it's dangerous produce an edible plant that contains these genes. Especially since the human gut is full of bacteria that could potentially uptake these genes.

Sorry, our posts crossed.

It is in fact not the case that genes pass easily from species to species. If that were the case then the world would be full already of GMOs. Transfer of genes between species is an extremely rare event.

Similarly, with respect to eating plant material containing antibiotic resistance genes. It is highly unlikely that this transfer could or would take place. Plant DNA is almost immediately digested in the human stomach and certainly does not survive in a state that would make it easy for a gut bacterium to take it up. As I mentioned, the kamamycin resistance marker was isolated from a naturally occurring soil bacterium (as are many antibiotic resistance markers), if you eat salad, you are very likely to also eat bacteria which contain antibiotic resistance genes - this does not lead to antibiotic resistance in humans so why would eating plant material?

[SimonJFoster]

Hi Simon.

Who is funding this potato GM research?

Hi

The work has all been funded by the BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) - one of the UK science research councils. The Sainsbury Lab itself is funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

[SimonJFoster]

I will watch this thread with great interest.
I think the blight resistance gene could be a revolution for the world to produce food easier.
At what stage is the gene introduced to the tuber/plant?
Could this already have been done in eastern europe or Russia?

Hi,

I'm not sure I fully understand your question about what stage the gene is introduced to the plant/tuber. The YouTube video we have posted may answer your question though: YouTube - GM potato to reduce agrochemicals

This is the first time that these particular resistance genes have been used so it will not be available anywhere in any commercially (or otherwise) available stocks.

[tattieman]

Yes that answers my question with the video. I wondered if you were applying the gene to field grown crops and harvesting the resulting tubers to pass the new gene on.
The video shows me that you are using stem cuttings.

[tattieman]

One more question.
Will the pollen in the flowers of the Desiree contain the new gene for the bees to transfer?

[SimonJFoster]

One more question.
Will the pollen in the flowers of the Desiree contain the new gene for the bees to transfer?

Theoretically yes, any pollen produced in any flowers will be capable of passing on the resistance gene. However, as I'm sure you are aware, cross-pollination of potato over long distances is actually quite rare. As the flowers do not produce nectar they are not favoured by insect pollinators. In the event that a pollination event did occur, this would produce a berry on the pollinated potato plant. For potato this is effectively a dead-end as potatoes are propagated asxually by tubers. It is also worth bearing in mind that a lot of the cultivated potato varieties are not particularly fertile.

Risks of pollination are one of the factors that Defra take into account when considering applications to release GM plants into the environment. They take into account the chances of pollination events occurring and the risks associated with the pollination event if it did occur (in other words, what is the worse case scenario). In our case, both the chance of pollination and the subsequent risk if it did occur are both very low (due to the berry/tuber issue). Part of the conditions under which we have planted our plants include a condition that the GM plants are required to be a minumum of 20 metres from any neighbouring potato plants (ours are in fact in excess of this distance).

[tattieman]

I think it is a great use of technology and could save alot of wastage in the potato world. Will you do more videos as the experiment goes on?