Apr. 30 2000 / Agence France Presse English
PARIS -- Scientists working for Pioneer Hi-Bred International were cited as reporting in May's issue of the peer-reviewed journal Nature Biotechnology that they have devised a pinpoint technique that could revolutionise the effectiveness of genetically-modified plants.
Current genetically engineered crops such as corn, cotton and soybean which have been made resistant to herbicides or exude insecticides to kill pests, were made by taking genes from other species and introducing them at random positions in the plant's chromosome.
The story says that the new method, originally developed to repair genes in damaged cells in mammals, uses hairpin-shaped molecules of DNA and its workhorse, RNA.
These molecules are used to make single changes in the bases, the letters that make up the genetic code.
Using this approach, the team was cited as saying they have successfully generated herbicide-resistant plants with just a single change in the genetic code.
In a further success, the changes have been handed on in successive generations of the modified plants, which proves the results are long-lasting, they say.
(posted without permission)
