New plant marker gene seen altering biotech research and production

In a paper to be published in this month’s issue of Nature Biotechnology, UT plant scientists Mentewab Ayalew and Neal Stewart document the first use of a gene borrowed from weeds as an antibacterial selection marker. Heretofore, scientists have used marker genes resistant to certain antibiotics used in medicine, a practice discouraged in the European Union and elsewhere. Last spring EU regulators expressed concern that Syngenta’s unapproved Bt10 corn variety, which was inadvertently shipped to Europe, contained a marker gene resistant to ampicillin. “Our discovery of a plant-based selection marker will certainly impact the public debate over the use of genetically modified crops,” Stewart said in a UT news release. “It has the potential to make genetically modified crops more attractive to markets overseas.” Conventional marker genes typically come from the E. coli bacterium. Biotech critics have speculated that the code for antibiotic resistance could jump from ingested bioengineered food into the bacteria that live in the human gut, thereby creating a menacing superbug. “Because our marker originates from a plant, it is highly unlikely any horizontal gene transfer would result in antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” Stewart said. The scientists’ paper, “Overexpression of an Arabidopsis thaliana ABC transporter confers kanamycin resistance to transgenic plants,” is available in the Aug. 21 advance online version of Nature Biotechnology. Source: "here":[ http://www.bioreporter.com/ABR/CurrentHeadlines.htm].

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