Plant roots could grow twice as fast by putting GM E-Coli bacteria into soil... or so scientists say. They have created a ‘safe’ version of the deadly bacteria that could help to stop soil erosion in desert areas and be used in the future to create super crops. But the drawbacks are that it is the result of genetic engineering, and no one is saying if the ‘freaky foods’ will be edible. The researchers, from Imperial College London, believe that the bacteria, called Aux2in, could be used to ‘talk’ to plants using hormones to make them grow larger roots that will protect the soil. They hope that the bacteria could also be used to tell crops to grow bigger and stronger in areas suffering from drought or famine. However, the need for extensive safety testing means it will be years before the GM bacteria could be used on farms in parts of Africa and the third world. Professor James Field said: ‘Overall the results demonstrate a substantial improvement in root growth. ‘The engineering of plants provides a strategy for crop improvement that could help to provide sustainable food sources for millions of people.’ But Pete Riley, from the campaign group GM Freeze, said: ‘The majority of the public are very sceptical about the benefits of GM foods and I don’t think that this will do anything to persuade them.’
Here are some notes that I made to respond to this article: First of all, the strain of E. coli that is used in labs is non-pathogenic and harmless to humans. This bacteria would not be doing anything different to what some wild bacteria already do in the soil. Since we are engineering E. coli, there will be no alteration to the plant. There will be no alteration to the plant genome. Growth hormones are already used in fertilizers. What we are doing is essentially no different (from the plant's point of view). Saying that anything will take years of safety testing is a mute point that expands outside of synthetic biology. Every product must be tested for safe use. The general public's perception on the field of synthetic biology is skewed. They have less issues with harmful chemicals than GM alternatives. This is probably due to a lack in understanding in the field. We must therefore promote synthetic biology in a manner that is easy to understand. This isn't a new fact, every new technology has growing pains when it comes to the public's opinion.
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ReplyDeletePlant roots could grow twice as fast by putting GM E-Coli bacteria into soil... or so scientists say.
They have created a ‘safe’ version of the deadly bacteria that could help to stop soil erosion in desert areas and be used in the future to create super crops.
But the drawbacks are that it is the result of genetic engineering, and no one is saying if the ‘freaky foods’ will be edible.
The researchers, from Imperial College London, believe that the bacteria, called Aux2in, could be used to ‘talk’ to plants using hormones to make them grow larger roots that will protect the soil.
They hope that the bacteria could also be used to tell crops to grow bigger and stronger in areas suffering from drought or famine. However, the need for extensive safety testing means it will be years before the GM bacteria could be used on farms in parts of Africa and the third world.
Professor James Field said: ‘Overall the results demonstrate a substantial improvement in root growth.
‘The engineering of plants provides a strategy for crop improvement that could help to provide sustainable food sources for millions of people.’
But Pete Riley, from the campaign group GM Freeze, said: ‘The majority of the public are very sceptical about the benefits of GM foods and I don’t think that this will do anything to persuade them.’
Here are some notes that I made to respond to this article:
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the strain of E. coli that is used in labs is non-pathogenic and harmless to humans.
This bacteria would not be doing anything different to what some wild bacteria already do in the soil.
Since we are engineering E. coli, there will be no alteration to the plant. There will be no alteration to the plant genome.
Growth hormones are already used in fertilizers. What we are doing is essentially no different (from the plant's point of view).
Saying that anything will take years of safety testing is a mute point that expands outside of synthetic biology. Every product must be tested for safe use.
The general public's perception on the field of synthetic biology is skewed. They have less issues with harmful chemicals than GM alternatives. This is probably due to a lack in understanding in the field. We must therefore promote synthetic biology in a manner that is easy to understand. This isn't a new fact, every new technology has growing pains when it comes to the public's opinion.