BIOTECH 12.01 Lecture 1.

4 Commercialized GM Crop Plants

Plant Biotechnology Ø Altered oil content (for nutritional value)
RAGAZA, Janice A. Ø Delayed fruit ripping
o Ex. Flavr Savr
I. Plant Biotechnology § A tomato with longer shelf life
1.1 Plant Tissue Culture Ø GM Crops à higher nutritional value or longer shelf life
Ø Sterile in vitro cultivation of plant parts Ø Other properties:
o in vitro o Herbicide resistant plants
o Uses explant § Modify the binding site for
® Any tissue from a plant that is herbicides of the plants therefore
put in the nutrient medium then herbicides could no longer bind
wait for callus to form to it. If the herbicides binds to it,
undifferentiated. the plant would be inactive or
o Undifferentiated render the herbicide ineffective
® means it by releasing certain proteins
can § They modify binding sites
become a For herbicides in plants.
seed, a o Insect resistant plants
root, a § Ex. BT Plants
stem; o Virus Resistant Plants
because it § They put in a gene for protein
is coat that make the plant immune
undefined. to viruses
o Differentiated § They put a protein coat so that it
® Whatever will be immune to viruses.
you start
with is the 1.5 GM Food
end result Ø Vegetable oil, soy flour, and soy protein from soy bean
® If you start Ø Oil, syrup, vitamin C, baking powder, flour, starch,
out with a alcohol and sweeteners from corn. (Whiskey is from
seed, you corn).
end with a Ø Chips, peanut butter, candies, and pastries from cotton
seed. seed oil.
- Ø GMO: soy bean, cotton, and corn
Ø Use solidified or liquid nutrient media Ø 60% OF WHAT YOU BUY CONTIAN GMO

1.2 Micropropagation
Ø Genetically identical plants 1.6 Molecular Farming
Ø Aesthetically desirable plants Ø GM plants for pharmaceutical and vaccines
- Same method: Ø Process:
(1) Just get any part from the plant (seed, 1. Insert gene of interest into plant
roots, etc.) expression vector 2
(2) Put it in the liquid or solid medium 2. Transform the cell
(3) Forms a callus 3. Introduce to plants à transgenic
(4) Once it forms into a plant, you can plants
transfer it to another substrate 4. Plant and harvest
5. Extraction
1.3 Chemicals From Plants a. Plants as bioreactors
Ø Fragrances Ø Examples
Ø Pharmaceutical Products o Edible vaccines: engineer edible plants that
Ø Insecticides produce vaccine
§ Citronella (not proven to be effective) § Potato to contain e.coli and
Ø Dyes enterotoxin: diarrhea
§ Ex. § Rats ate the potato and became
§ Red Beet immune to e.coli and enterotoxin
§ Rhubarb o Video: Fighting Disease with Plants
Ø Flavourings § Quicker production time;
o Ex. cheaper
o Lagundi § Doesn’t actually cause the
® Vitex negundo (ascof) disease itself?
§ To treat cough § Australian dwarf tobacco
§ Was researched by UP, Manila defective plant immune system;
who invested lots of money to makes it easier to produce
produce it vaccines with it
§ Sold it to Pascual Laboratory for § Blen leave, use material to isolate
80 – 100 million pesos new vaccine
 § Zmap?
o Blue roses: delphindin gene makes the use
blue; Japans use it for aesthetic purposes

1.7 Plant Biotechnology in the World

Ø Phytase corn for commercial production in China (2013)
o Phytase: enzyme that degrades phytates and
phosphorus, both of which are pollutants
Ø Helps pigs digest more phosphorus
Ø Enhance growth and reduce pollution form animal
waste
Ø Ex.
o GM papaya: commercialized in Japan
o Labeled as GMO in the market
o Virus resistant papaya

1.8 GM Plants in the Philippines

Ø BT Corn: 10th largest producer of BT corn
Ø 100K hectares of BT corn in Isabela
Ø Trial fields in Pangasinan
Ø Pioneer in SEA
Ø Resistant to Corn-Borer
Ø Golden rice: not yeat approved
Ø Has beta-kerotene, pre-cursor of vitamin A
Ø Multilocational BT Eggplant; not yet approved