Transgenic crops and their advantage in having better weed control

1. Pollution Management
Student: J.S. Sudha Rani
I.D. No. : RAD/16-04
Department of Agronomy, PJTSAU
Telangana
ASSIGNMENT
on
Course Title :Current Trends in Agronomy
Course Incharge : Dr.K.Suresh
Course No : AGRON: 601

2. CROP IMPROVEMENT
• SELECTION
• HYBRIDIZATION
• TISSUE CULTURING
• MUTATIONS
• TRANSFORMATION( CISGENIC & TRANSGENIC)

3. GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS
• A genetically modified organism (GMO) is
any organism whose genetic material has
been altered using genetic engineering techniques
generally known as recombinant DNA technology.
• Recombinant DNA technology is the ability to
combine DNA molecules from different sources into
one molecule.
• Genetically modified plants are also called
transgenic plants

4. Purpose of modification
• To produce products beneficial to human.
• This technique can help in solving worlds big
problem- food scarcity

5. How transgenic plants are made?
Identification of useful gene
The cloning of the gene into a suitable plasmid
vector
Delivery of the vector into plant cell (insertion and
integration) followed by expression and inheritance
of the foreign DNA encoding a polypeptide.

6. A gene construct consists typically of three
elements:
– The promoter - an on/off switch
– The transgene - encodes selected trait
– The terminator - stop signal
In addition Marker genes for distinguishing GM from non-
GM cells during crop development may also be present

9. Important Facts About Genetically Modified Crops
• The fight to have GMO foods labeled is very
heated right now.
• They are currently GMOs are in 80% of processed
foods.
• The technology to genetically modify food has
been around for over 20 years.
• The very first GMO food to be commercially sold
was the Flavr Savr tomato from California.
• Soybeans, cotton, and corn are the most
common types of genetically modified crops.

10. Advantages of Genetically Modified Crops
1. Better For The Environment
2. Resistance To Disease
3. Sustainability
4. Increased Flavor and Nutrition
5. Longer Shelf Life

11. 6. Keeps It Affordable
One of the biggest effects that the use of GMOs has had on our every day
life is the prices of produce and other foods. Since more crops can be
yielded, the prices can be much lower.
........Continued

12. Disadvantages of Genetically Modified Crops
1. Cross Contamination
The pollen from the genetically modified plants is also contaminated. When this pollen is around other
plants, even things like grass or weeds, they cross pollinate. This could develop “superweeds” that have
the same resistance properties as the crops.
2. Allergies On The Rise
Ever since the introduction of GMO foods, the amount of childhood food allergies has risen significantly.
The exact link to GMO has not yet been found, but many believe this is due to insufficient research in the
area.
3. Less Effective Antibiotics
The crops that have been genetically modified have antibiotic properties put into them in order to make
them immune to certain diseases. When you eat these foods these properties are left in your body and can
make many antibiotics less effective.
4. Not Enough Testing
There has been very little testing and research done on genetically modified foods and the long term
effects have not been discovered yet. This makes many people feel uneasy at the high use of these foods.

13. CROPS IMPROVED WITH GENETIC
ENGINEERING
Transgenic trait Crops
Insect resistance Corn, Cotton, Potato, Tomato
Herbicide tolerance
Corn, Soybean, Cotton, Canola,
Sugarbeet, Rice, Flax
Virus resistance Papaya, Squash, Potato
Altered oil composition Canola, Soybean
Delayed fruit ripening Tomato
Male sterility and restorer
system (used to facilitate
plant breeding)
Chicory, Corn

14. GLOBAL AREA OF G M CROPS
* Area in million ha

15. G M CROPS STATISTICS IN US

17. • Herbicides are generally non-selective (killing both weeds and
crop plants) and must be applied before the crop plants
germinate
• Four potential ways to engineer herbicide resistant plants
1. Inhibit uptake of the herbicide
2. Overproduce the herbicide-sensitive target protein
3. Reduce the ability of the herbicide-sensitive target to
bind to the herbicide
4. Give plants the ability to inactivate the herbicide

19. Herbicides and herbicide resistant:Herbicides are generally nonselective (killing
both weeds and crops and must be applied before the crop plants germinate)
Four potential ways to engineer herbicide resistant plants
- Inhibit uptake of the herbicide
-Overproduce the herbicide -sensitive target protein
-Reduce the ability of the herbicide - sensitive target to bind to the herbicide
- Give plants the ability to inactivate the herbicide
Herbicide-‐resistant plants:
Giving plants the ability to inactive the herbicide
-Herbicide Bromoxynil
-Resistance to bromoxynil (a photosystem II inhibitor)
was obtained by expressing a bacterial (klebsiella ozaenae)
nitrilase gene that encodes an enzyme that degrades this herbicide
Herbicide-‐resistant plants:
Reducing the ability of the herbicide- sensitive target to bind the herbicide
Herbicide: Glyphosate (beRer known as Roundup)
-Resistance to Roundup (an inhibitor of the enzyme EPSP involved in aromatic
amino acid biosynthesis) was obtained by finding a mutant version of EPSP from
E.coli that does not bind Roundup and expressing it in plants (soybeans, tobacco,

20. • Herbicide: Bromoxynil
• Resistance to bromoxynil (a photosytem II inhibitor) was
obtained by expressing a bacterial (Klebsiella ozaenae)
nitrilase gene that encodes an enzyme that degrades this
herbicide

21. Herbicide-resistant plants:
Reducing the ability of the herbicide-sensitive target to bind to the
herbicide
• Herbicide: Glyphosate (better known as Roundup)
• Resistance to Roundup (an inhibitor of the enzyme EPSP
involved in aromatic amino acid biosynthesis) was obtained by
finding a mutant version of EPSP from E. coli that does not bind
Roundup and expressing it in plants (soybean, tobacco,
petunia, tomato, potato, and cotton)
• 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSP) is a
chloroplast enzyme in the shikimate pathway and plays a key
role in the synthesis of aromatic amino acids such as tyrosine
and phenylalanine
• This is a big money maker for Monsanto!

22. How to make a Roundup Ready Plant

23. Development of stress- and senescence-tolerant plants:
genetic engineering of salt-resistant plants
• Overexpression of the
gene encoding a Na+/H+
antiport protein which
transports Na+ into the
plant cell vacuole
• This has been done in
Arabidopsis and tomato
plants allowing them to
survive on 200 mM salt
(NaCl)

24. SUPER WEED A POTENTIAL THREAT

25. Controversies and Moratoriums associated with GM Crops in India –
• 2002 – Bt cotton introduced in India.
• 2006 – Activists filed a PIL against GM crops in the Supreme Court.
• 2010 – The then environmental minister Jairam Ramesh blocked the release of Bt
Brinjal until further notice owing to a lack of consensus among scientists and
opposition from brinjal-growing states. No objection certificates from states were
made mandatory for field trials.
• 2012 – Parliamentary standing committee on agriculture, in its 37th report asked
for an end to all GM field trials in the country.
• restarted.)

26. • 2013 July – New crop trials have been effectively on hold since late 2012, after a
supreme court-appointed expert panel recommended suspension for 10 years
until regulatory and monitoring systems could be strengthened. Though the SC
panel suggested moratorium on GM trails, there was no official verdict from the
Supreme Court on this issue.
• 2013 July – Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan put on hold all trials
following SC panel suggestions.
• 2014 – Her successor, Veerappa Moili cleared the way for trails. (NB: Two of
Manmohan Singh’s own environment ministers had stalled GM trials earlier, but
Veerappa Moily took an opposite stand and the process of approving the one-
acre field trials
• 2014 March – GEAC (UPA government) approved field trials for 11 crops,
including maize, rice, sorghum, wheat, groundnut and cotton.
• 2014 July – 21 new varities of genetically modified (GM) crops such as rice,
wheat, maize and cotton have been approved for field trials by the
NDA government in July 2014.
• The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) — consisting mostly of bio-
technology supporters — rejected just one out of the 28 proposals up for
consideration. Six proposals were rejected for want of more information.
• 2016: GEAC gave green signal to GM Mustard for field trial, but SC stayed the
order and sought public opinion on the same.
• There are as many as 20 GM crops already undergoing trails at various stages.

27. Country has yet to approve commercial cultivation of a GM food crop
The only genetically modified cash crop under commercial cultivation in India is cotton.
Bt Cotton
• For the time being, the only genetically modified crop that is under cultivation in
India is Bt cotton which is grown over 10.8 million hectares. Bt cotton was first used
in India in 2002.
Bt Brinjal
• In 2007 the commercial release of Bt Brinjal, was , recommended which was
developed by Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company) in collaboration with
the Dharward University of Agricultural sciences and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural
University. But the initiative was blocked by GEAC in 2010.
GM-mustard
• Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 or DMH-11 is a genetically modified variety of mustard
developed by the Delhi University’s Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop
Plants. If approved by the Centre, this will be the second GM crop, after Bt Cotton,
and the first transgenic food crop to be allowed for cultivation in the country.

28. Biosafety evaluation of GE products:
involves assessment for
a) toxicity,
b) carcinogenicity,
c) allergenicity,
d) nutritional effects, and
e) any unintended effects.
Environmental safety assessment involves
a) the impact on non-target organisms,
b) b) pollen mediated gene flow,
c) c) and impact on biodiversity and environment.
The safety of GE crops along these parameters has now been amply demonstrated
by 30 years of research and
18 years of commercialization.
The excessive time and financial costs of GE crop development, with the costs of regulation
often being more than the costs of product development,
discourage the public sector institutions.

29. POTENTIAL THREATS WITH GM
•Bt crops may cause a number of potentially significant
environmental impacts.
•Two primary concerns with insecticide-producing crops are
the effects they may have on non-target, beneficial insects
• such as monarch butterflies, and the fact that widespread use
is likely to create resistance in insects that the Bt crops are
meant to control.
•Other potential problems include build-up of Bt in the soil,
with unknown long-term effects,
• crossbreeding with nearby weedy relatives or other crops, and
increased pesticide use in the long term.

30. The Seeds
•Act A draft Seeds Act of 2001 was being finalised on the basis of the recommendations of
Seed Policy Review Group. It would replace the existing Seeds Act of 1966 and Seed
(Control) Order of 1983.
• It proposes the establishment of a National Seeds Board and the compulsory registration
by the Board of any seed or planting material (produced in India or imported) that is
intended for sowing (planting).
•Any Indian firm that produces and /or imports seeds and planting material will be required
to declare whether such material is a product of genetic modification and incorporates
Genetic Use Restriction Technology (the so called ‘terminator technology’)65.

31. The Patents Act and Intellectual Property
Rights
As a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India is obliged to abide by the
provisions of the WTO’s agreement on trade related intellectual property rights
(TRIPS),
• which also cover the trade in biotechnology products and processes in all sectors of
biotechnology (medical/pharmaceutical, agricultural, industrial and environmental).
•In order to align Indian legislation with TRIPS, the Indian parliament amended the
earlier patents legislation by passing the Patents (second) Amendment Bill 1999 in
May 2002

32. ....continued
•The IPR covers the company’s GM-technology and thus any crop into which this
technology gets embedded, irrespective of whether or not the particular crop was
developed and patented by the company and irrespective of the origin of the
original crop variety and the traditional knowledge of farming and crop breeding
communities that has gone into its development.
•Propelled by the above concerns, and under pressure from a broad-based front of
stakeholders, the May 2002 amendment to the Indian Patents Act expressly forbids
the patenting of traditional knowledge and life forms.

33. • The Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM) under the Department
of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST);
• The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of
Environment and Forestry (MoEF);
• The Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) under DBT/MoST;
The structure and functioning of the regulatory edifice In India
GM-crops are regulated by the following three-tier structure:

34. Initiative to reform the biosafety
regulatory regime
The Swaminathan Taskforce’s Report recommends that
• an autonomous Agricultural Biotechnology Regulatory Authority
(ABRA) be set up
• pending the creation of an ABRA,
(i) the GEAC should be split into two separate wings, one dealing with
transgenic crops and the other with transgenic medical and
pharmaceutical products,
(ii) GEAC’s role be limited to ‘environmental clearance’, and the
authority for deciding on the commercial release of GM-crops
transferred to ICAR and MoA,
(iii) the RGCM should be authorised to grant approvals for open field
testing for biosafety, while ICAR and the applicant company should
be asked to conduct large-scale field trials, and (iv) the post-release
monitoring of GM-crops be done by MoA and ICAR.

35. ....continued
• if “a transgene has been declared bio-safe, its derivatives need not always be
evaluated for biosafety again“
• farmers’ and consumers’ organisations be invited to participate in the process
of assessing GMcrops, but not other GM-concerned NGOs/CSOs, with the
farmers’ and consumers’ organisations given complete information on the
benefits and risks associated with GM crops
• before embarking on the development of any specific GM-crop, "the
alternatives available for meeting the food and nutritional needs should be
reviewed comprehensively and the export market should be kept in view”

36. • GM- foods and products be labelled as such, along the lines of the recommendations by the
UN’s Codex Alimentarius
• organic farming zones and agro-biodiversity sanctuaries be established to prevent GM-plants
from cross-pollinating non-GM plants,
• the impact of GM-feeds and GM-vaccines on milk, meat and eggs be studied
• the government creates special insurance schemes, provides venture capital for and promotes
public-private partnerships for the production and marketing of GM-seeds
• government agencies be created at the state and district levels for preventing the proliferation of
illegal GM-seeds
• a ‘single window information centre’ be created for providing information on all aspects of
bioethics and biosafety The two GM-concerned leading CSOs in India, Gene Campaign and
Greenpeace India, both of which were consulted by the Taskforce, have strongly questioned
several of its key recommendations