----- Original Message -----
From: "Evon Kochey" <sydney151@earthlink.net>
To: "Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group"
<SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2004 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: [SANET-MG] there's gold in them thar spuds
Joe- I read the story in the times. It says nothing about the
methods
used to genetically modify these potatoes.
I continue to be concerned about the use of antibiotic resistant
markers in the GM foods? am I correct in assuming that with the
current state of genetic modification antibiotic resistant markers
would be required.
Evon
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1368222_2,00.html
But how does a discovery in Dundee - which has so far produced only
a
few sackfuls of the new potato - make it into fields and foodbowls
across the Third World? For the next stage in the product's
development, Davies is looking to the richest businessman in the
world.
An international consortium led by Davies - with partners in
America,
China, India, South Africa and Denmark - has applied for a $7m
(£3.8m)
grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges
in
Human Health programme.
This is a $200m (£108m) fund set up by the Microsoft boss in January
2003 to find new ways to combat disease and malnutrition among the
two
billion poorest people on earth. As well as programmes to counter
HIV,
malaria and water sanitation, $20m (£10.8m) has been allocated to
"create a full range of optimal, bioavailable nutrients in a single
staple plant species".
Many of the applicants are expected to focus on rice and various
cereal crops. But the Scottish team believes potatoes will play an
important role and they understand their application is being looked
at sympathetically. An answer is expected just after Christmas.
----- Original Message -----
From: "jcummins" <jcummins@UWO.CA>
To: <SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2004 5:41 PM
Subject: [SANET-MG] there's gold in them thar spuds
The paper below was featured in today's sunday times.
The problem with beta carotene and vitamin D is that if it is
too
low
it is just public relations as in golden rice, if it is too high
you
face human birth defects and resulting lawsuites.
Like Goldylocks porridege, it has to be just right.
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/eri016 2004
RESEARCH PAPER
Metabolic engineering of high carotenoid potato tubers containing
enhanced levels of -carotene and lutein
Laurence J. M. Ducreux 1, Wayne L. Morris 1, Peter E. Hedley 2,
Tom
Shepherd 1, Howard V. Davies 1, Steve Millam 2, and Mark A. Taylor
1*
1 Quality, Health and Nutrition, Scottish Crop Research Institute,
Invergowrie, Dundee, DD2 5DA, UK
2 Gene Expression, Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie,
Dundee, DD2 5DA, UK
Abstract
In order to enhance the carotenoid content of potato tubers,
transgenic
potato plants have been produced expressing an Erwinia uredovora
crtB
gene encoding phytoene synthase, specifically in the tuber of
Solanum
tuberosum L. cultivar Désirée which normally produces tubers
containing
c. 5.6 µg carotenoid g-1 DW and also in Solanum phureja L. cv.
Mayan
Gold which has a tuber carotenoid content of typically 20 µg
carotenoid
g-1 DW. In developing tubers of transgenic crtB Désirée lines,
carotenoid levels reached 35 µg carotenoid g-1 DW and the balance
of
carotenoids changed radically compared with controls: -carotene
levels
in the transgenic tubers reached c. 11 µg g-1 DW, whereas control
tubers
contained negligible amounts and lutein accumulated to a level
19-fold
higher than empty-vector transformed controls. The crtB gene was
also
transformed into S. phureja (cv. Mayan Gold), again resulting in
an
increase in total carotenoid content to 78 µg carotenoid g-1 DW in
the
most affected transgenic line. In these tubers, the major
carotenoids
were violaxanthin, lutein, antheraxanthin, and -carotene. No
increases
in expression levels of the major carotenoid biosynthetic genes
could be
detected in the transgenic tubers, despite the large increase in
carotenoid accumulation. Microarray analysis was used to identify
a
number of genes that were consistently up- or down-regulated in
transgenic crtB tubers compared with empty vector controls. The
implications of these data from a nutritional standpoint and for
further
modifications of tuber carotenoid content are discussed.
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