Transgenic Rice Plants Essay -- essays research papers

For centuries, sieve has beenone of the most important fix educates for the world and it now currently feedsmore than two billion people, broadly living in developing countries. Riceis the major(ip) food come of Japan and China and it enjoys a long history ofuse in both cultures. In 1994, worldwide sift production peaked at 530 millionmetric tons. Yet, more than 200 million tons of sift ar lost each year tobiotic stresses much(prenominal) as disease and insect infestation. This extreme lossof crop is estimated to cost at least several billion dollars per year andheavy losses a lot leave third world countries desperate for their staple food.Therefore, measures must be resumen to decrease the amount of crop loss andincrease yields that could be utilize to feed the populations of the world. Onemethod to increase rice crop yields is the institution of transgenic rice plantsthat express insect resistance genes. The two major ways to accomplish insectresistance in rice are th e installation of the white potato vine proteinase inhibitorII gene or the introduction of the boron thuringiensis toxin gene into theplants genome. Other experimental methods of instituting insect resistance implicate the use of the arcelin gene, the snowdrop lectin/GNA (galanthus nivallisagglutinin) protein, and phloem specific promoters and in the long run the SBTI gene.The introduction of the potato proteinase inhibitor II gene, or PINII,marks the first time that efficacious genes were successfully transferred from adicotyledonus plant to a monocotyledonous plant. Whenever the plant is hurtby insects, the PINII gene produces a protein that interferes with the insectsdigestive processes. These protein inhibitors can be pestiferous to the growthand development of a wide range of insects that attack rice plants and resultin insects eating less of the plant material. Proteinase inhibitors are ofparticular interest because they are part of the rice plants natural apologysyste m against insects. They are also beneficial because they are in human activityivatedby formulation and therefore pose no environmental or health hazards to the humansconsumption of PINII treated rice. In order to produce fertile transgenicrice plants, plasmid pTW was used, coupled with the pin 2 promoter and theinserted rice actin intron, act 1. The combi... ... SBTI gene is being cloned into vectors and is being used totransform other types of embryos use the particle gun technique. Inconclusion, through the use of new technologies such as the introduction ofpotato proteinase inhibitor II gene, the establishment of the Bacillus thuringiensistoxin gene and the experimental methods of using the arcelin gene, the snowdroplectin/GNA (galanthus nivallis agglutinin) protein, and phloem specific promotersand finally the SBTI gene, rice plants have become intimately completely resistantto insects that used to destroy much of the crop. This has been an importantstep in biotechnology be cause the onward motion of rice plants is a major concernthat could potentially effect almost all of the populations of the world. Biotechnology has become an increasingly accepted method of solution or so ofthe major problems in agriculture, medicine, and industry. Potentially, withthe advancements of many techniques, almost whenever people eat, drink, takemedicine, or go to work, they will be touched in some way by the many complicatedprocesses of biotechnology, that are striving to desexualise our world a better place to exist in.