GMO Research
Abstract: Research purpose. Examine under conditions in vitro effect of aqueous extract of GM roundup resistant soybean compared with soy classical breeding activity propionic acid bacteria are used in starters in the manufacture of hard cheeses with a long shelf life, and the use of transgenic soybeans in feeding chicks and laying hens with the …
Abstract: Prenatal exposure to environmental endocrine disruptors can affect development and induce irreversible abnormalities in both humans and wildlife. The northern part of Kibale National Park, a mid-altitude rainforest in western Uganda, is largely surrounded by industrial tea plantations and wildlife using this area (Sebitoli) must cope with proximity to human populations and their activities. …
Abstract: Using agrichemicals to control unwanted species has become a necessary and common worldwide practice to improve crop production. Although most currently used agrichemicals are considered relatively safe, continuous usage contributes for soil and water contamination and collateral toxic effects on aquatic species. Few studies correlated the presence of agrichemicals on fish blood cells and …
Abstract: Current crop production relies heavily on use of transgenic, glyphosate-resistant cultivars (GR). The impacts of widespread cultivation of genetically-modified (GM) crops and the use of one herbicide class on agroecosystems, especially considering potential effects on biological processes, have received considerable attention. This paper reviews impacts of glyphosate on rhizosphere microorganisms and activities and summarizes …
Abstract: Glyphosate is a non-selective, broad-spectrum herbicide that kills plants by inhibiting the enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimic acid-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), which is necessary for synthesis of aromatic amino acids. A secondary mode of action involves infection of roots of glyphosate-susceptible plants by soil-borne micro-organisms due to decreased production of plant protection compounds known as phytoalexins. Varieties of …
Abstract: OBJECTIVES: This longitudinal study measured the glyphosate and paraquat concentrations found in maternal and umbilical cord serum in 82 pregnant women who gave birth in three provinces of Thailand. METHODS: Through questionnaires and biological samples collected at childbirth, factors such as personal characteristics, family members occupation, agricultural activities, and herbicide use in agricultural work …
Abstract: The expression of foreign genes in pollen may pose potential problems in the field release of transgenic plants, since pollen represents a route whereby foreign genes and their products may escape into the wider environment. The possible risks posed by cross-hybridization with wild relatives have been extensively explored, but problems that may arise due …
Abstract: Pesticide leaching is an important process with respect to contamination risk to the aquatic environment. The risk of leaching was thus evaluated for glyphosate (N-phosphonomethyl-glycine) and its degradation product AMPA (amino-methylphosphonic acid) under field conditions at one sandy and two loamy sites. Over a 2-yr period, tile-drainage water, ground water, and soil water were …
Abstract: Glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] inhibits 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase, EC 2.5.1.19 (EPSPS), thereby blocking aromatic amino acid synthesis. While glyphosate-tolerant (GT) soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] contains resistant EPSPS, the N2-fixing symbiont in soybean root nodules, Bradyrhizobium japonicum, does not contain a resistant enzyme, and glyphosate spray to GT soybean may interfere with the symbiotic relationship. Glyphosate-tolerant soybean …
Abstract: Interkingdom gene transfer is limited by a combination of physical, biological, and genetic barriers. The results of greenhouse experiments involving transplastomic plants (genetically engineered chloroplast genomes) cocolonized by pathogenic and opportunistic soil bacteria demonstrated that these barriers could be eliminated. The Acinetobacter sp. strain BD413, which is outfitted with homologous sequences to chloroplastic genes, …
Abstract: Greenhouse studies were conducted to determine the following: if treating henbit or downy brome with glyphosate increased populations of Fusarium solani f. sp. pisi and Pythium ultimum in soil and rhizosphere soil; if treating henbit or downy brome with glyphosate increased root colonization and infection by E solani f sp. pisi or P ultimum; …
Abstract: A survey of farmers from six U.S. states (Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Mississippi, and North Carolina) was conducted to assess the farmers’ views on glyphosate-resistant (GR) weeds and tactics used to prevent or manage GR weed populations in genetically engineered (GE) GR crops. Only 30% of farmers thought GR weeds were a serious issue. …
Abstract: Glyphosate, N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine, is the most extensively used herbicide in the history of agriculture. Weed management programs in glyphosate resistant (GR) field crops have provided highly effective weed control, simplified management decisions, and given cleaner harvested products. However, this relatively simple, broad-spectrum, systemic herbicide can have extensive unintended effects on nutrient efficiency and disease severity, …
Abstract: According to the current legal background for the regulation of genetically modified plants (GMPs) in Europe, an environmental risk assessment (ERA) has to be performed considering i) the crop plant, ii) the novel trait relating to its intended effect and phenotypic characteristics of the GM crop plant and iii) the receiving environment related to …
Abstract: The aim of this study was to generate an easy to use index to evaluate the ecological state of agricultural land from a sustainability perspective. We selected environmental indicators, such as the use of organic soil amendments (green manure) versus chemical fertilizers, plant biodiversity (including crop associations), variables which characterize soil conservation of conventional …
Abstract: Background. Magnesium (Mg), as an essential mineral element for plants and microbes, can have both indirect as well as direct effects on disease. Balanced nutrition is critical for the expression of disease resistance since nutrition is part of a delicately balanced interdependent system influenced by the plant’s genetics and the environment. A deficiency or …
Abstract: Micronutrients are regulators, inhibitors and activators of physiological processes, and plants provide a primary dietary source of these elements for animals and people. Micronutrient deficiency symptoms are often indistinct (“hidden hunger”) and commonly ascribed to other causes such as drought, extreme temperatures, soil pH, etc. The sporadic nature of distinct visual symptoms, except under …
Abstract: Mineral nutrients are routinely applied to boost crop yields and improve overall plant health and quality. Their judicious use in production agriculture, horticulture, and environmental settings is critical for improved production efficiency and a sustainable ecosystem. The nutrition of a plant determines in large measure its resistance or susceptibility to disease, its histological or …
Abstract: BACKGROUND. Glyphosate drift onto off‐target sensitive crops can reduce growth and yield and is of great concern to growers and pesticide applicators. Detection of herbicide injury using biological responses is tedious, so more convenient and rapid detection methods are needed. The objective of this research was to determine the effects of glyphosate on biological …
Abstract: The effects of the insecticidal Cry1Ab protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) on the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, were studied with soil from experimental fields cultivated with transgenic Bt corn (MON810) and with trypsinized Cry1Ab protein expressed in Escherichia coli. The content of Cry1Ab protein was above the detection limit of an ELISA test in only …
Abstract: The industrial agriculture system consumes fossil fuel, water, and topsoil at unsustainable rates. It contributes to numerous forms of environmental degradation, including air and water pollution, soil depletion, diminishing biodiversity, and fish die-offs. Meat production contributes disproportionately to these problems, in part because feeding grain to livestock to produce meat–instead of feeding it directly …
To the editor: The editorial by Derek Burke, former chair of the government’s Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACRE), certainly had a reassuring tone about it, but it also suffered from a fairly major dose of complacency.1 It would be surprising if a man who had for nine years chaired the committee that …
Text: What’s unspeakable in horizontal gene transfer? Horizontal gene transfer is the transfer of genes across species including those in different kingdoms. It goes counter to both modern genetics and the theory of evolution. Disappointingly, little of the momentous significance of the process comes across in a volume replete with detailed examples. GM foods – …
Abstract: In order to help facilitate scientific debate on GMO risks a literature search of peer-reviewed science was conducted on GMO risks resulting in the following bibliography. While there is a great deal of published science on genetic modification in general, there is far less that specifically targets the bio-safety issues associated with genetic modification. …
Abstract: Field experiments were conducted for 2 years at Urbana, Illinois, to evaluate the response of soybeans (Glycine max (L.) Merr., var. Harosoy 63) to soil and foliar applications of 3,6-dichloro-o-anisic acid (dicamba), 4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid (picloram), and 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D). Soil incorporated applications of 2,4-D or dicamba at rates up to 8 oz/A or …
