Wild plants could be able to resist herbicides.

Credit: Xiao Yang
A genetic-modification technique used widely to make crops herbicide resistant has been found to confer advantages on an invasive form of rice even in absence of the herbicide. This suggests that the benefits of such modification could extend beyond the confines of farms into the wild.

A variety of varieties of crops are created genetically to resist glyphosate. This herbicide, first called Roundup it was released to the market in 1996 under the tradename Roundup. This resistance allows farmers to remove the majority of herbicides from their fields, without harming their crops.

https://www.kohnan-eshop.com/shop/g/g4957919634894/ is a deterrent to plant growth. ラウンドアップ blocks an enzyme known EPSP synthase. This enzyme is responsible in the creation of specific amino acids and other molecules. These compounds could be responsible for as much as 35% of the plant's mass. https://www.kaunet.com/rakuraku/spook3/main?Keyword=%83%89%83E%83%9... -- used, for instance in Roundup Ready crops made by the biotech giant Monsanto, based in St Louis, Missouri -- typically includes inserting genes into the crop's genome to increase EPSP-synthase's production. Genes typically come from bacteria that cause disease to plants.

The additional EPSP synthase helps the plant be resistant to the effects of glyphosate. Biotechnology labs also tried to use plants' genes to increase EPSP-synthase, partly to make use of an American loophole that permits regulatory approval of transgenes not derived by bacterial pests.

Few studies have looked into whether transgenes, such as those that confer resistance the chemical glyphosate can increase the resilience of plants to surviving and reproduce once they cross-pollinate with wild or weedy species. "The traditional expectation is that any sort of transgene will confer disadvantage in the wild in the absence of any selection pressure due to the fact that any additional machinery will reduce the fitness," says Norman Ellstrand, a plant geneticist at the University of California in Riverside.

But now ラウンドアップ マックスロード 希釈 led by Lu Baorong, an ecologist from Fudan University in Shanghai, challenges that view: it shows that the weedy version of the popular rice plant, Oryza sativa, gets an impressive fitness boost due to resistance to glyphosate, even when glyphosate isn't applied.

The study was published in 1. Lu and his collaborators altered the genetics of cultivated rice to increase its EPSP synthase activity and crossed it with a weedy counterpart.

The researchers then allowed the cross-bred offspring to breed with one another, resulting in second-generation hybrids genetically identical to one another apart from the number of copies of gene encoding EPSP synthase. The team found that those with greater than one copy of the gene that codes for EPSP synthase expressed more enzyme and also produced more tryptophan, in line with what was expected.

Researchers also found that transgenic plants had higher rates for photosynthesis and produced more flowers and produced 48-125percent less seeds per plant than the nontransgenic hybrids. This was despite the fact that glyphosate wasn't present.

ラウンドアップ states that making weedy crops more competitive may cause more problems for farmers across the world whose crops are infected by the insect.

"If the EPSP-synthase gene gets into the wild rice plant, their genetic diversity, which is essential to protect is at risk because the transgene's genetic make-up will outcompete the natural species" Brian Ford-Lloyd an expert in plant genetics at the University of Birmingham, UK. "This is one the most clear instances of the highly probable negative consequences [of GM crops] on the environment."

The public has a perception that genetically engineered crops that have extra copies or microorganisms genes are safer than ones with only their own genes. Lu says, "Our study shows this is not necessarily true."

Researchers have concluded that these findings should prompt a reconsideration of the way that genetically modified crops will be regulated in the future. ラウンドアップ states "Some people believe that regulation of biosafety should be looser." Ellstrand adds: "But the study still indicates that innovative products require an in-depth evaluation."