Excess genetic baggage dumped
In recent years, putting new genes into plants has become routine, as plant scientists have genetically engineered a wide variety of plant strains having novel genes that help them resists pests and disease, improve their nutritional properties, and produce drugs and industrial enzymes. Not widely appreciated, however, is the fact that all those genes have been introduced into the plants in combination with so-called marker genes, usually encoding for antibiotic or herbicide resistance, that are used as laboratory tools to select the few plants that have acquired the novel genes from the many that have not. The genetic engineers had previously been unable to remove the marker genes, but now scientists have come up with a new version of the gene transfer procedure that allows the marker genes to be expunged after plants have acquired the desired genes.
- OSTI ID:
- 5826971
- Journal Information:
- Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 254:5037; ISSN 0036-8075
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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