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Old 10-10-2003, 06:02 PM
Peter Ashby
 
Posts: n/a
Default A Danger to the World's Food: Genetic Engineering and the Economic Interests of the Life Science

In article ,
"pearl" wrote:

Firstly they seem to
confer magical malicious properties on a promoter sequence. So it might
recombine? so might many thousands of other sites all over the
integrated genome, including endogenous retroviruses. There is nothing
there to suggest A) that this promoter would recombine preferentially
compared with endogenous viral promoters in the plant genome. or B) that
this magically malicious promoter would be able to do anything once
recombined. As an analogy, is an isolated light switch lying on a bench,
not connected to anything dangerous? No, so why should a promoter
sequence be? Both are switches, not effectors.


'Double-stranded DNA break repair (DSBR) is recognized to be
involved in the illegitimate recombination which enables plasmid DNA
to integrate into plant genomes following plant transformation (22-23);
and transgene rearrangements have been identified in both
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (24) and particle bombardment
(25). Illegitimate recombination was also observed between a resident
transgene in a transgenic tobacco plant and a newly delivered transgene
(26). Illegitimate recombination involves sequences with either
microhomology or no homology between the junctions, often resulting in
filler DNA and deletions of nucleotides from one or both of the recombining
ends (27).


yawn, this is just an attempt to fool the gullible. If you don't know
why the above is not relevant to the risk from integrated transgenes
then you are in well over your head. Hint: there are no plasmids
involved.

You may want to
look further at the source to find why too. Not exactly unbiased.


Ok.. 'The School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee was
formed in October 2000 from the Departments of Anatomy


And we do no work on transgenic plants. For that you need to travel down
the road to Invergowrie and the Scottish Crop Research Institute. There
are informal links with the university but they are entirely separate
institutions with different aims, objectives and funding sources. As for
my funding, to be brutally honest I don't know which pot of money I am
currrently funded by. I have been funded by the BBSRC, the MRC and the
Human Frontier Science Program. I have never worked on transgenic plants
and think it unlikely I will ever do so. I have never worked in industry
nor knowingly recieved industry backing for my research. I am not
currently seeking industry funding.

Here endeth my statement of interests.

Next attempted smear please.

--
Peter Ashby
School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland
To assume that I speak for the University of Dundee is to be deluded.
Reverse the Spam and remove to email me.