Re: [gardeners] New GM plant development
Bargyla Rateaver (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 04 Aug 2001 10:42:35 +0100
I'd like his name. Thank you for telling us about his work.
Vacuole storage is the one possibility for holding anything in solution. It is
a "lake" in the cell for keeping dissolved compounds. There is always a limit to
salinity, but there are plants naturally tolerant to higher concentrations in
the vacuole solution.
Terry King wrote:
> Yesterday I heard a very interesting interview of a Cell Biologist working
> at UC Davis. He has developed genetically modified tomatoes and canola that
> will grow and thrive in saline conditions. At first I thought Oh No, not
> another one but this one makes wonderful sense. Evidently tomatoes and some
> other plants naturally have genes for a protein that allows for adaptation
> to saline conditions. For over one hundred years breeders have been trying,
> unsuccessfully, to breed salt tolerant domestic crops. What this guy did
> was modify the tomatoes with the same protein that tomatoes can produce but
> don't. He took the protein from a salt tolerant mustard. What the protein
> does is tell the plants cells to store the salt in the cells vacules.
> Evidently the fruit does not contain extra salt, has the same sugar and
> protein content of ordinary tomatoes. The plants will also grow in
> non-saline soil/water.
>
> What this breakthrough means, when it becomes commercially available, is
> that all the thousand of acres of farm land that have become unavailable
> because of salt buildup in the soils, can be put back into production. Arid
> areas that have limited freshwater can even water the crops with 40%
> seawater. The plants will also desalinize the soil after a time.
>
> I haven't seen a down side to this genetic modification.
>
> Terry
> E. WA.
--
Bargyla Rateaver
http://home.earthlink.net/~brateaver