RE: [gardeners] New GM plant development
Terry King (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 4 Aug 2001 11:33:55 -0700
Here is a link to the press release:
http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/newsreleases/07.01/news_tomato_release.html
His name is Edwardo Blumwald.
Terry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gardeners@globalgarden.com
> [mailto:owner-gardeners@globalgarden.com]On Behalf Of Bargyla Rateaver
> Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2001 2:43 AM
> To: gardeners@globalgarden.com
> Subject: Re: [gardeners] New GM plant development
>
>
> 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
>
>