Genetically modified crops are more advantageous than weeds

Plants in the wild could be treated with herbicides.

Weedy rice can take on transgenes from genetically modified crop rice through cross-pollination. Credit: Xiao Yang
One of the most common methods used to make crops more resistant to herbicides was found to have advantages over rice varieties that are weedy. This suggests that this genetic modifications could also have the potential to have an impact on wild animals.

A variety of cultivars are genetically altered so that they can ward off the glyphosate. This herbicide was first offered under the trade name Roundup. This resistance to glyphosate allows farmers to eradicate most plants without doing any harm to their crops.

Glyphosate is a plant-killer by blocking EPSP synase which is an enzyme that plays a role in the production of amino acids and other chemicals that make up about 35% of plant mass. al Genetic modification is used for instance, in Roundup Ready plants made by Monsanto Biotechnology, a biotech company that is headquartered in St Louis, Missouri. It involves inserting genes into the genome of a plant to increase EPSP synthase-synthase-production. Genes typically come from bacteria that infect plants.

https://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/kaientai/category/sunfulon/ The plant is able to endure the negative effects of glyphosate due to its extra EPSP-synthase. Biotechnology labs tried to use plant genes to boost EPSP synthase production. This was partly to exploit a loophole within US law that permits the regulatory approval of transgenes contained in organisms which have not come from bacteria pests.

A few studies have looked into the possibility that transgenes that confer glyphosate tolerance could -- after they become weedy , or wild relatives through cross-pollinatingenhance the plant's survival and reproduce. Norman Ellstrand of the University of California, Riverside, said that the traditional expectation was that any transgene could be detrimental to nature if there was no selection pressure. This is due to the fact that any additional machines would reduce the performance of the.

Lu Baorong is an Ecologist in Fudan University Shanghai. His research shows that resistance to glyphosate provides a significant fitness benefit, even if it's not applied.

In the study which was published this month in New Phytologist 1, Lu and his colleagues modified the genetics of the rice cultivar to enhance its own EPSP synthase. They also crossed-bred the modified rice with a weedy relative.

The team then allowed offspring cross-bred to breed with one another, resulting in second generation hybrids that were genetically identical to their parents except for the number of copies of the gene that encodes EPSP synthase. As one would expect, hybrids with more copies were more likely to make more tryptophan as well as have greater levels of enzymes than the unmodified hybrids.

Researchers also found that plants with transgenic genes had higher rates for photosynthesis and produced more flowers and produced 48 to 125 percent fewer seeds per plant than non-transgenic hybrids. This was despite the fact that glyphosate was never present.

Lu claims that making weedy grains more competitive may increase the difficulties it causes for farmers across the world whose crops are affected by the pest.

Brian Ford-Lloyd, a researcher at Brian Ford-Lloyd, a researcher at the University of Birmingham, UK Brian Ford-Lloyd from the University of Birmingham, UK "If the EPSP synthase gene is introduced to wild rice species, their genetic variety that was so important in conserving it, could be at risk because it could outcompete the normal varieties." "This is an example of the most probable and damaging effects of GM crops on the environment."

The popular belief that genetically modified crops that contain additional copies of their genes are safer is disproved by this research. Lu claims that the study doesn't support this notion.

The research results call for a review of future regulation of genetically modified crops, some scientists say. Ellstrand says that "some people believe that biosafety regulation could be relaxed since we have a the most comfort with genetic engineering for the past two decades." The study does not prove that new products are safe.