GM technology available to everyone

2005/02/17 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Teknologia
• Genetika
• Mikrobiologia

The image shows a tobacco leaf and those blue spots on the tobacco leaf are bacteria. And don't miss it! It is about transforming the genome of the tobacco plant, that is, its function is to get transgenic tobacco.

Normally, researchers use the bacterium Agrobacterium to introduce foreign genes into a plant's DNA. This allows modifying the characteristics of the plant. However, the system is not cheap, as the technology based on Agrobacterium is patented.

However, researchers from Camberra have looked for ways to replace Agrobacterium, obtaining very good results with three bacteria, Sinorhizobium meliloti, Mesorhizobium loti and Rhizobium sp. NGR234 with bacteria. These bacteria, present in nature, interact spontaneously with plants. They have now been shown to be suitable for genetic transformation. In addition, they have not patented the technique developed based on alternative bacteria, so from now on biotechnology research can be cheaper than before.

Photo: CHANGE