Insulin produced in genetically modified lettuce relieves diabetes in mice

Capsules of **insulin** produced in **genetically modified lettuce** could hold the key to restoring the body's ability to produce insulin and help millions of Americans who suffer from insulin-dependent diabetes, according to University of Central Florida biomedical researchers. Professor Henry Daniell's research team **genetically engineered tobacco** plants with the **insulin gene** and then administered freeze-dried plant cells to five-week-old **diabetic** mice as a powder for eight weeks. By the end of the study, the diabetic mice had normal blood and urine sugar levels, and their cells were producing normal levels of insulin. Those results and prior research indicate that **insulin** capsules could someday be used to prevent **diabetes** before symptoms appear and treat the disease in its later stages, Daniell said. He has since proposed using **lettuce** instead of **tobacco** to produce the insulin because that crop can be produced cheaply and avoids the negative stigma associated with tobacco.... Whole article on "checkbiotech":[ http://www.checkbiotech.org/green_News_Genetics.aspx?Name=genetics&infoId=15246]

---