john@prism.TMC.COM (01/17/90)
The 1/16/90 New York Times has an article in the Science section,
about putting human genes in plants. "Tobacco procuces sun screen
and antibodies". My question: Why tobacco? Is there something
kind of fishy here, like the major tobacco companies funding this
research?, or finding alternative uses for the stuff so it's harder
to just quit growing the damn stuff? I would think that almost
any other plant would be a better practical candidate for this kind
of thing. Tobacco is very hard to grow, and takes a lot out of the soil.
I've read of other genetic research on this plant as
well. I remember that somebody got tobacco plants to make the same
enzymes that fireflies do, and the plants would grow in the dark. Now this.
What gives? Why tobacco?
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JOHN DOWD john@mirror.TMC.COM
{mit-eddie, pyramid, harvard!wjh12, xwait}!mirror!john
Mirror Systems Cambridge, MA 02140dresnick@athena.mit.edu (David I Resnick) (01/17/90)
In article <203100003@prism> john@prism.TMC.COM writes: > >The 1/16/90 New York Times has an article in the Science section, >about putting human genes in plants. "Tobacco procuces sun screen >and antibodies". My question: Why tobacco? Is there something >kind of fishy here, like the major tobacco companies funding this >research?, or finding alternative uses for the stuff so it's harder >to just quit growing the damn stuff? I would think that almost >any other plant would be a better practical candidate for this kind >of thing. Tobacco is very hard to grow, and takes a lot out of the soil. >I've read of other genetic research on this plant as >well. I remember that somebody got tobacco plants to make the same >enzymes that fireflies do, and the plants would grow in the dark. Now this. >What gives? Why tobacco? > >---- >JOHN DOWD john@mirror.TMC.COM OB>{mit-eddie, pyramid, harvard!wjh12, xwait}!mirror!john >Mirror Systems Cambridge, MA 02140 I think that there are actually quite a few good reasons to use tobacco. I seem to recall that tobacco plants are unusually easy to regenerate in culture from a single cell - this is very useful for integrating new genes into the plant. While use of Arabidopsis thaliana (small weed) is more popular in labs due its small genome, small size, and short generation period, tobacco is probably commercially much more practical for production of bulk transgenic products. I sort of doubt that there are ulterior motives at work here, since the processing/sale of the product would be out of the domain of the tobacco giants. (note that I am not that big on plants, so some of this could be wrong....) ************************************************ * David Resnick dresnick@athena.mit.edu * * Kwajalein? Where is that anyway? * ************************************************
werner@aecom.yu.edu (Craig Werner) (01/18/90)
In article <203100003@prism>, john@prism.TMC.COM writes: > > The 1/16/90 New York Times has an article in the Science section, > about putting human genes in plants. "Tobacco procuces sun screen > and antibodies". My question: Why tobacco? Is there something > kind of fishy here, like the major tobacco companies funding this > research?, or finding alternative uses for the stuff so it's harder > to just quit growing the damn stuff? I would think that almost > any other plant would be a better practical candidate for this kind > of thing. Tobacco is very hard to grow, and takes a lot out of the soil. Perhaps, but the genetics of tobacco are very well known, as are that of its viruses, so it is very easy to genetically manipulate the plant. It is not clear if currently, tobacco company money pays for a lot of this research, although clearly the economic clout of tobacco was what originally steered research in this direction. By now, the science just sort of has a life of its own, because it is easier to build on existing work than it is to go discover a new plant that has such facility. There is of course, a lot of work going on with the (for lack of a better word) noxious weed, Arabidopsis thaliana. Cereals (wheat and rice) are very difficult to manipulate by molecular genetic techniques. -- Craig Werner (future MD/PhD, 4.5 years down, 2.5 to go) werner@aecom.YU.EDU -- Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1935-14E Eastchester Rd., Bronx NY 10461, 212-931-2517) "It's tough to incriminate a bread mold."