GM agriculture has shown good prospects for human beings, but due to the lack of effective safety control measures, the testing and promotion of GM crops have been strictly controlled and it is not yet possible to quickly benefit humanity. A few days ago, the research group headed by Prof. Shen Zhicheng of Zhejiang University of Agriculture invented a simple and controllable transgenic technology. The rice obtained through this technique is like being stamped with a “brandâ€, such as “escape†from experimental fields mixed with conventional rice. The transgenic rice can be easily “formed†and removed by herbicides, ensuring the purity of conventional rice. This has profound implications for improving the level of safety control of transgenic crops. The research results were formally published on the 19th of April in the "Public Science Library-Integration" (PLoS ONE) magazine published in the United States and applied for a series of domestic and foreign patents.
For decades, scientists around the world have continuously invented and improved transgenic technologies that can easily transfer specific genes between different species. Using this technology, we can make crops with functions such as insect resistance, disease resistance and herbicide resistance, and we can also use genetically modified crops as bioreactors to “produce†pharmaceuticals with significant economic value such as insulin and swine vaccines. Industrial protein. However, there are potential risks in the testing and promotion of genetically modified crops. Because genetically modified crops may be genetically transferred to other crops or wild plants due to the gene transfer phenomenon, such as pollen transmission, they may also be Human errors, animal activities and other accidental transmissions cause them to be mixed into conventional foods, affecting the authenticity of conventional food and causing adverse consequences. For example, Professor Shen said, “For example, a kind of transgenic rice that produces 'pig' vaccine is mixed with conventional rice as an ordinary food crop. Even if it is not toxic to humans, it is not suitable for large-scale consumption. Therefore, the trial and production of genetically modified crops are All countries are strictly controlled. When a corn expressing disease antigen protein in a large American biotechnology company, ProdiGene, contaminated nearby crops, the U.S. government demanded that it completely acquire and destroy all potentially contaminated crops and receive heavy penalties. At present, it is difficult to completely prevent the drift, spread, and miscellaneous genes of interest by merely strengthening physical management methods.
Professor Shen Zhicheng has been engaged in research and development of genetically modified rice for a long time. He said, “GMO crops are indeed one of the successful modern agricultural biotechnologies, but good technologies can produce unexpected hazards without good control methods.†When consulting the data, he found that farmers often use the herbicide Bendazon in paddy fields because rice contains precisely the “detoxifying enzyme†for this herbicide, which can kill weeds but is harmless to rice. Three years ago, a reverse thinking inspired the research group: Why not add a "surgery" to suppress the expression of this gene when rice is genetically modified? The treated transgenic rice is a herbicide like Bendazosone. Lost resistance. The research group made an attempt to suppress the expression of detoxification genes using RNA interference technology while developing new varieties of insect-resistant rice, cellulases containing rice, and lactoferrin-containing rice. The transgenic rice obtained through this technique has a "natural defect" and no resistance to bentazone, which is exactly the opposite of conventional rice. After several field trials conducted by the research team, it was found that once spraying bentadsone can eliminate all these transgenic rice mixed in conventional rice.
Bentazon also removes genetically modified rice while weeding. How do we remove the weeds from the transgenic rice fields? Shen Zhicheng said that there is a broad-spectrum herbicide called glyphosate, which can kill weeds and conventional rice. So long as the genetically modified rice varieties are transferred into glyphosate resistant genes, the obtained transgenic rice will not be covered with grass. Glyphosate kills.
The research group's invention was considered by foreign agricultural biotechnology peers to be unique in its creativity, clever in methodology and has broad application prospects. One of the main accomplishments of the research, Lin Zhaoyang, a doctoral student at Zhejiang University of Agriculture, said: "The advantages of this invention are not only safe and controllable, but also because it can be combined with the weed control in peacetime, so it does not increase the cost. We can simply The use of bentazone to prevent weeds while simultaneously achieving the purpose of killing bioreactor rice." That is to say, this technology can guarantee non-transgenic requirements for export food raw materials and export seeds. The other two main performers of this project, Xu Xiaoli and Fang Jun, added that this technology seems to have brought a magic spell to the GM crops. Once they are found to escape, we can easily control them.
At present, China has invested a lot of research power in transgenic rice and is currently considering the further application and promotion of transgenic crops. The development of "reliable, simple, and low-cost" GM rice and corn control technologies is an important guarantee for China's large-scale promotion of transgenic crops, and will also be an important competitive basis for the genetically modified industry. If non-transgenic rice will be difficult to avoid being mixed with transgenic rice, it will seriously affect China's safe use of transgenic technology to improve crops, but also affect the export of rice-based food products to Europe and other countries, affecting China's exports of Southeast Asian rice seeds. Professor Shen Zhicheng said, "This invention will not only be used to control genetically modified rice, we are also using its principles to develop controlled genetically modified corn."