33 posts · 44,078 views
Biofortified is a group website devoted to providing factual information and fostering discussion about plant genetics, especially genetic engineering. The site is written by grad students, professors, and the occasional guest expert.
Anastasia Bodnar
11 posts
Karl Haro von Mogel
2 posts
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- May 16, 2012
- 08:59 PM
- 196 views
Next-generation disease resistance breeding
by Guest Posts in Biofortified
Crop plants with DNA deletions are not GMOs by Sophien Kamoun and Eric Ward In 2007, Sebastian Schornack, then a freshly minted Ph.D. student from the laboratories of Thomas Lahaye and Ulla Bonas at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, was fastidiously carrying out follow-up experiments to his thesis work. For the past few years he had been studying how the bacterium Xanthomonas infects its plant hosts. Specifically, he was interested in a class of “effector” proteins, called Cont........ Read more »
Moscou MJ, & Bogdanove AJ. (2009) A simple cipher governs DNA recognition by TAL effectors. Science (New York, N.Y.), 326(5959), 1501. PMID: 19933106
Tesson L, Usal C, Ménoret S, Leung E, Niles BJ, Remy S, Santiago Y, Vincent AI, Meng X, Zhang L.... (2011) Knockout rats generated by embryo microinjection of TALENs. Nature biotechnology, 29(8), 695-6. PMID: 21822240
- May 12, 2011
- 03:45 PM
- 1,130 views
Private nonprofit foundations & Public Health: Potential conflicts of interest in corporate links
by Colby Vorland in Biofortified
From Nutritional Blogma Corporate involvement in public health is a sensitive topic, but one I am largely against. It is pretty clear that corporations usually get the benefit of bettering their brand image (which is often largely unhealthy processed products) at a low cost of sponsorship of health campaigns. See plenty of great/unfortunate examples on blogs such as Food Politics, Weighty Matters, and Appetite For Profit, or my own criticisms of the ADA/Hershey partnership as a specific ........ Read more »
David Stuckler, Sanjay Basu, & Martin McKee. (2011) Global Health Philanthropy and Institutional Relationships: How Should Conflicts of Interest Be Addressed?. PLoS Medicine. info:/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001020
- February 27, 2011
- 03:28 PM
- 734 views
Omics approach shows fewer changes from GE than breeding and environment
by David Tribe in Biofortified
From GMO Pundit. Ricroch AE, Bergé JB, & Kuntz M (2011). Evaluation of genetically engineered crops using transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic profiling techniques. Plant physiology PMID: 21350035 The authors conducted a literature survey on 44 recent “omic” comparisons between GE and non-GE crop lines. Those profiling techniques (transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) have been increasingly applied to the analysis of genetically engineered (GE) crop plants with regard to t........ Read more »
Ricroch AE, Bergé JB, & Kuntz M. (2011) Evaluation of genetically engineered crops using transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic profiling techniques. Plant physiology. PMID: 21350035
- January 27, 2011
- 01:54 PM
- 874 views
Are there unintended health effects of genetic engineering?
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
Francis Thicke, agronomist and organic dairy farmer in Iowa, asks: Do you think there are unanswered questions about the health effects of GE foods? I have heard GE critiques frequently contend that there have been very few feeding trials on the health effects of GE foods, and that in the feeding trials that have been done, the results have raised questions about the safety of GE foods. For starters, what is your opinion Continue reading...... Read more »
Ewen SW, & Pusztai A. (1999) Effect of diets containing genetically modified potatoes expressing Galanthus nivalis lectin on rat small intestine. Lancet, 354(9187), 1353-4. PMID: 10533866
- January 4, 2011
- 10:21 PM
- 1,152 views
Genetic modification of insects part 4
by Joe Ballenger in Biofortified
Using Mosquitoes to Conquer Disease Through Vaccination One of the things I’ve been talking about here on Biofortified is the concept of a ‘pest’, which is a completely anthropocentric term. Different insects can be pests at one part of their life cycle and be totally cool in another. It’s one of those weird science paradoxes which make the field of entomology so much fun. In my last series of posts I discussed a Continue reading...... Read more »
Yamamoto, D., Nagumo, H., & Yoshida, S. (2010) Flying vaccinator; a transgenic mosquito delivers a Leishmania vaccine via blood feeding. Insect Molecular Biology, 19(3), 391-398. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2583.2010.01000.x
- December 12, 2010
- 02:02 PM
- 1,259 views
Why is ecology important to agriculture? Ask the Plataspids.
by Joe Ballenger in Biofortified
Before moving to the southern US, I lived in Iowa. If there’s one thing Iowa’s known for, it’s known for our row crops. Everywhere in the summer is green and pretty and filled with all sorts of farmland and not much visible biodiversity outside of that. If you live in certain areas of the south, it’s really actually very similar. There are lots of rowcrops… peanuts and soybeans instead of corn and soybeans but Continue reading...... Read more »
D. R. Suiter,1 J. E. Eger, Jr.,2 W. A. Gardner, R. C. Kemerait,3 J. N. All,4 P. M. Roberts,5 J. K. Greene,6 L. M. Ames,, & G. D. Buntin, T. M. Jenkins, and G. K. Douce5. (2010) Discovery and Distribution of Megacopta cribraria (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Plataspidae) in Northeast Georgia. Journal of Integrated Pest Management. info:/
- December 1, 2010
- 01:07 PM
- 1,053 views
Would you eat a brown apple?
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
Have you ever cut up an apple to take for lunch, or prepared apples for a fresh fruit tray only to have them turn an unappealing shade of brown? You’re not alone. There’s nothing wrong with brown apple slices, but they certainly don’t look nice, which discourages some people from eating as many apples as they should. Apples are a healthy snack and anything that gets people to eat more fruit could be considered Continue reading...... Read more »
Herb Aldwinckle, & Mickael Malnoy. (2009) Plant Regeneration and Transformation in the Rosaceae . Transgenic Plant Journal , 1-39. info:/
Bachem, C., Speckmann, G., van der Linde, P., Verheggen, F., Hunt, M., Steffens, J., & Zabeau, M. (1994) Antisense Expression of Polyphenol Oxidase Genes Inhibits Enzymatic Browning in Potato Tubers. Bio/Technology, 12(11), 1101-1105. DOI: 10.1038/nbt1194-1101
Rommens CM, Ye J, Richael C, & Swords K. (2006) Improving potato storage and processing characteristics through all-native DNA transformation. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 54(26), 9882-7. PMID: 17177515
Thipyapong P, Hunt MD, & Steffens JC. (2004) Antisense downregulation of polyphenol oxidase results in enhanced disease susceptibility. Planta, 220(1), 105-17. PMID: 15300439
- November 29, 2010
- 10:47 AM
- 1,103 views
Genetic modification of insects as pest control part 2
by Joe Ballenger in Biofortified
In part 1 of this series, I discussed the history of genetic modification in insects as pest control. We’ve been creating insect GMOs for the purposes of controlling pests for awhile. If you bombard insects with radiation, it can kill rapidly reproducing cells. High doses of radiation can also damage the DNA in quickly reproducing gamete producing cells to the point where it can’t be read, creating severe mutations that stop important proteins from Continue reading...... Read more »
Gong, P., Epton, M., Fu, G., Scaife, S., Hiscox, A., Condon, K., Condon, G., Morrison, N., Kelly, D., Dafa'alla, T.... (2005) A dominant lethal genetic system for autocidal control of the Mediterranean fruitfly. Nature Biotechnology, 23(4), 453-456. DOI: 10.1038/nbt1071
- November 14, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 1,292 views
Climate Change and the Importance of Maintenance Breeding
by Matt DiLeo in Biofortified
Variety IR8 is the original “Miracle rice” of the 1960s. This carefully-crafted variety has a stunted, semi-dwarf phenotype, which increases it’s harvest index (the proportion of grain biomass to total biomass), and allows it to resist lodging (falling over into the mud), even when heavily fertilized. As with wheat, the creation of dwarf varieties of rice played a major role in the enormous yield gains of the Green Revolution. But now it’s in Continue reading...... Read more »
Peng, S., Huang, J., Cassman, K., Laza, R., Visperas, R., & Khush, G. (2010) The importance of maintenance breeding: A case study of the first miracle rice variety-IR8. Field Crops Research, 119(2-3), 342-347. DOI: 10.1016/j.fcr.2010.08.003
Welch, J., Vincent, J., Auffhammer, M., Moya, P., Dobermann, A., & Dawe, D. (2010) From the Cover: Rice yields in tropical/subtropical Asia exhibit large but opposing sensitivities to minimum and maximum temperatures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(33), 14562-14567. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1001222107
- October 28, 2010
- 01:50 AM
- 1,430 views
AquAdvantage update
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
In Risk assessment and mitigation of AquAdvantage salmon I discussed exactly what Aqua Bounty was asking permission from the FDA to do, as well as the environmental, animal welfare, and human health concerns associated with the AquAvantage fish in comparison to non-transgenic farmed salmon. The Center for Food Safety has a “new” document to bring to the discussion: an opinion (pdf) written by the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposal a........ Read more »
L. Fredrik Sundstro ̈m, Wendy E. Tymchuk, Mare Lo ̃hmus, & Robert H. Devlin. (2009) Sustained predation effects of hatchery-reared transgenic coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch in semi-natural environments. Journal of Applied Ecology, 762-769. info:/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01668.x
- October 25, 2010
- 01:00 PM
- 1,226 views
Organic pesticides aren’t necessarily more sustainable than synthetic
by Colby Vorland in Biofortified
From Nutritional Blogma It would seem illogical that organic compounds are all more sustainable than synthetics, or vice versa. The term “organic” has a health halo, biasing many people toward believing organic growing techniques are best for the environment. I’ve already covered analyses suggesting that there isn’t enough evidence that suggests organic foods are better for your health, so is the higher cost justified by a lessened environmental impact? Bahlai et al. published a C........ Read more »
Bahlai CA, Xue Y, McCreary CM, Schaafsma AW, & Hallett RH. (2010) Choosing organic pesticides over synthetic pesticides may not effectively mitigate environmental risk in soybeans. PloS one, 5(6). PMID: 20582315
- October 20, 2010
- 01:19 PM
- 1,076 views
The regulatory bottleneck for biotech specialty crops
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
We often hear that there are only two genetically engineered traits on the market – Roundup Ready and Bt. And, for the most part, that’s correct. There are a few other commercialized traits, such as virus resistant papaya and squash, but why aren’t there more? We see all sorts of papers about awesome genetically engineered traits, from nemotode resistance to nutritional enhancement to really specialized traits like nicotine free tobacco and allergen free Continue reading...... Read more »
Miller JK, & Bradford KJ. (2010) The regulatory bottleneck for biotech specialty crops. Nature biotechnology, 28(10), 1012-4. PMID: 20944582
- October 16, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 656 views
Risk assessment and mitigation of AquAdvantage salmon
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
Aqua Bounty Technologies, Inc. has recently applied for deregulation of AquAdvantage salmon — salmon that have been genetically engineered to grow faster than wild-type salmon. These salmon have the potential benefit of providing high-quality animal protein without putting additional pressure on declining wild fish stocks. However, these salmon present some potential risks that warrant examination. First, effects on the health and welfare of the animals must be determined. Second, if genetica........ Read more »
Devlin, R., Yesaki, T., Donaldson, E., Du, S., & Hew, C. (1995) Production of germline transgenic Pacific salmonids with dramatically increased growth performance. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 52(7), 1376-1384. DOI: 10.1139/f95-133
Yaskowiak ES, Shears MA, Agarwal-Mawal A, & Fletcher GL. (2006) Characterization and multi-generational stability of the growth hormone transgene (EO-1a) responsible for enhanced growth rates in Atlantic Salmon. Transgenic research, 15(4), 465-80. PMID: 16906447
Butler TM, & Fletcher GL. (2009) Promoter analysis of a growth hormone transgene in Atlantic salmon. Theriogenology, 72(1), 62-71. PMID: 19324402
Devlin, R. (2004) Growth, viability and genetic characteristics of GH transgenic coho salmon strains. Aquaculture, 236(1-4), 607-632. DOI: 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2004.02.026
Sundström LF, Lõhmus M, Tymchuk WE, & Devlin RH. (2007) Gene-environment interactions influence ecological consequences of transgenic animals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(10), 3889-94. PMID: 17360448
Hu W, & Zhu Z. (2010) Integration mechanisms of transgenes and population fitness of GH transgenic fish. Science China. Life sciences, 53(4), 401-8. PMID: 20596905
Witten, P., Gil-Martens, L., Huysseune, A., Takle, H., & Hjelde, K. (2009) Towards a classification and an understanding of developmental relationships of vertebral body malformations in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Aquaculture, 295(1-2), 6-14. DOI: 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2009.06.037
Piferrer, F., Beaumont, A., Falguière, J., Flajšhans, M., Haffray, P., & Colombo, L. (2009) Polyploid fish and shellfish: Production, biology and applications to aquaculture for performance improvement and genetic containment. Aquaculture, 293(3-4), 125-156. DOI: 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2009.04.036
Ching B, Jamieson S, Heath JW, Heath DD, & Hubberstey A. (2010) Transcriptional differences between triploid and diploid Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) during live Vibrio anguillarum challenge. Heredity, 104(2), 224-34. PMID: 19707232
Nakamura R, Satoh R, Nakajima Y, Kawasaki N, Yamaguchi T, Sawada J, Nagoya H, & Teshima R. (2009) Comparative study of GH-transgenic and non-transgenic amago salmon (Oncorhynchus masou ishikawae) allergenicity and proteomic analysis of amago salmon allergens. Regulatory toxicology and pharmacology : RTP, 55(3), 300-8. PMID: 19679156
Vicini J, Etherton T, Kris-Etherton P, Ballam J, Denham S, Staub R, Goldstein D, Cady R, McGrath M, & Lucy M. (2008) Survey of retail milk composition as affected by label claims regarding farm-management practices. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 108(7), 1198-203. PMID: 18589029
Juniper, D., Browne, E., Bryant, M., & Beever, D. (2007) Digestion, rumen fermentation and circulating concentrations of insulin, growth hormone and IGF-1 in steers given maize silages harvested at three stages of maturity. Animal Science, 82(01). DOI: 10.1079/ASC200513
Giovannucci E, Pollak M, Liu Y, Platz EA, Majeed N, Rimm EB, & Willett WC. (2003) Nutritional predictors of insulin-like growth factor I and their relationships to cancer in men. Cancer epidemiology, 12(2), 84-9. PMID: 12582016
Upton Z, Yandell CA, Degger BG, Chan SJ, Moriyama S, Francis GL, & Ballard FJ. (1998) Evolution of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) action: in vitro characterization of vertebrate IGF-I proteins. Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part B, Biochemistry , 121(1), 35-41. PMID: 9972282
Mero A, Kähkönen J, Nykänen T, Parviainen T, Jokinen I, Takala T, Nikula T, Rasi S, & Leppäluoto J. (2002) IGF-I, IgA, and IgG responses to bovine colostrum supplementation during training. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 93(2), 732-9. PMID: 12133885
Fleming, I. (1996) Reproductive strategies of Atlantic salmon: ecology and evolution. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 6(4), 379-416. DOI: 10.1007/BF00164323
Fraser DJ, Houde AL, Debes PV, O'Reilly P, Eddington JD, & Hutchings JA. (2010) Consequences of farmed-wild hybridization across divergent wild populations and multiple traits in salmon. Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America, 20(4), 935-53. PMID: 20597281
- October 12, 2010
- 05:45 PM
- 1,495 views
The organic halo alters food and exercise choices
by Colby Vorland in Biofortified
From Nutritional Blogma Nutrient-based claims on food labels are shown in some research to promote calorie underestimation. This is often called the health halo effect; certain buzz words associated with what people consider healthy cause them to overgeneralize other attributes of a food, downplay the number of calories, and not pay as much attention to the nutrition facts panel. A couple recent studies by Schuldt and Schwarz (1) show this happens with the Continue reading...... Read more »
Schuldt, Jonathon P., & Schwarz, Norbert. (2010) The “organic” path to obesity? Organic claims influence calorie judgments and exercise recommendations. Judgment and Decision Making, 5(3), 144-150. info:/
- October 11, 2010
- 08:52 PM
- 1,330 views
Substantial equivalence
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
One important concept that is used in most countries to regulate products of genetic engineering is substantial equivalence. The way to determine substantial equivalence is comparative assessment. What do substantial equivalence and comparative assessment mean? Depending on the source we use, we might find different definitions and different opinions of how useful they are in determining the safety of products of genetic engineering. The USDA provides information on Food Safety Assessment and C........ Read more »
Hoekenga OA. (2008) Using metabolomics to estimate unintended effects in transgenic crop plants: problems, promises, and opportunities. Journal of biomolecular techniques : JBT, 19(3), 159-66. PMID: 19137102
Kogel KH, Voll LM, Schäfer P, Jansen C, Wu Y, Langen G, Imani J, Hofmann J, Schmiedl A, Sonnewald S.... (2010) Transcriptome and metabolome profiling of field-grown transgenic barley lack induced differences but show cultivar-specific variances. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(14), 6198-203. PMID: 20308540
Baker JM, Hawkins ND, Ward JL, Lovegrove A, Napier JA, Shewry PR, & Beale MH. (2006) A metabolomic study of substantial equivalence of field-grown genetically modified wheat. Plant biotechnology journal, 4(4), 381-92. PMID: 17177804
Coll A, Nadal A, Collado R, Capellades G, Messeguer J, Melé E, Palaudelmàs M, & Pla M. (2009) Gene expression profiles of MON810 and comparable non-GM maize varieties cultured in the field are more similar than are those of conventional lines. Transgenic research, 18(5), 801-8. PMID: 19396622
Gregersen PL, Brinch-Pedersen H, & Holm PB. (2005) A microarray-based comparative analysis of gene expression profiles during grain development in transgenic and wild type wheat. Transgenic research, 14(6), 887-905. PMID: 16315094
- October 6, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 1,494 views
Organic agriculture pest control through enemy evenness
by Colby Vorland in Biofortified
Recently I wrote about a study on organic vs synthetic pesticides on sustainability, which suggested that organic pesticides are not always more efficacious against pests nor as selective (not killing natural enemies of pests) than synthetic pesticides. Earlier this month a study was published on a related area: organic farming on natural enemy evenness. Different farming techniques can alter the balance of the natural enemy species’ and cause a reduction to only a select few species. ........ Read more »
Crowder DW, Northfield TD, Strand MR, & Snyder WE. (2010) Organic agriculture promotes evenness and natural pest control. Nature, 466(7302), 109-12. PMID: 20596021
- October 6, 2010
- 01:00 AM
- 1,390 views
Organic vs. conventional food on health: not enough data
by Colby Vorland in Biofortified
You may recall last year’s review by Dangour and colleagues that concluded, based on 162 studies, that “there is no evidence of a difference in nutrient quality between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs.” This brought about much controversy on the web, as well as a rebuttal by Benbrook et al. Media reporting that failed to acknowledge limitations of this research, such as that it did not examine potential contaminant use, health outcomes, or Continue reading...... Read more »
Dangour AD, Lock K, Hayter A, Aikenhead A, Allen E, & Uauy R. (2010) Nutrition-related health effects of organic foods: a systematic review. The American journal of clinical nutrition. PMID: 20463045
- August 19, 2010
- 03:59 PM
- 814 views
Ethics of Labeling
by Anastasia B in Biofortified
We’ve discussed labeling many times at Biofortified, usually looking at things from a practical perspective, such as in the posts What’s in a label? and Labeling GMOs. I argue that anything that is scientifically proven to be a hazard should be a mandatory label. For example, a label that a product contains nuts is justified by severe allergic reactions, even though the additional label may add to the cost of a product for people who don’t have Continue reading...... Read more »
MacDonald, C., & Whellams, M. (2007) Corporate Decisions about Labelling Genetically Modified Foods. Journal of Business Ethics, 75(2), 181-189. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-9245-8
- August 12, 2010
- 04:48 PM
- 1,276 views
Toward a better agriculture… for everyone
by Anastasia B in Biofortified
A recent paper in PLoS concluded: we reject the organic-conventional dichotomy and emphasize that, in order to optimize environmental sustainability, individual tactics must be evaluated for their environmental impact in the context of an integrated approach, and that policy decisions must be based on empirical data and objective risk-benefit analysis, not arbitrary classifications. The paper was Choosing Organic Pesticides over Synthetic Pesticides May Not Effectively Mitigate Environmental Ris........ Read more »
Bahlai CA, Xue Y, McCreary CM, Schaafsma AW, & Hallett RH. (2010) Choosing organic pesticides over synthetic pesticides may not effectively mitigate environmental risk in soybeans. PloS one, 5(6). PMID: 20582315
- August 2, 2010
- 07:31 PM
- 1,266 views
Evolution of the Polydnavirus: How Wasps Began Using Viruses to Engineer Their Hosts
by Joe Ballenger in Biofortified
In Polydnaviruses, Nature’s GMOs, I explained how polydnaviruses disabled host immune defenses through genetic modification. A post after that, I discussed how polydnaviruses use modified insect proteins to interfere with these systems. So if you’re a biologically-minded person, there’s one question you should be asking yourself. It’s a rather important question because it’s answer could shed light on what makes these wasps species-specific, and this is essential f........ Read more »
Webb, B., Fisher, T., & Nusawardani, T. (2009) The Natural Genetic Engineering of Polydnaviruses. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1178(1), 146-156. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05023.x
Wu, G., Jun, S., Sims, G., & Kim, S. (2009) Whole-proteome phylogeny of large dsDNA virus families by an alignment-free method. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(31), 12826-12831. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0905115106
Bigot, Y., Samain, S., Augé-Gouillou, C., & Federici, B. (2008) Molecular evidence for the evolution of ichnoviruses from ascoviruses by symbiogenesis. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 8(1), 253. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-8-253
Tillman, P., Styer, E., & Hamm, J. (2004) Transmission of Ascovirus from (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) by Three Parasitoids and Effects of Virus on Survival of Parasitoid (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) . Environmental Entomology, 33(3), 633-643. DOI: 10.1603/0046-225X-33.3.633
Bigot Y, Rabouille A, Doury G, Sizaret PY, Delbost F, Hamelin MH, & Periquet G. (1997) Biological and molecular features of the relationships between Diadromus pulchellus ascovirus, a parasitoid hymenopteran wasp (Diadromus pulchellus) and its lepidopteran host, Acrolepiopsis assectella. The Journal of general virology, 1149-63. PMID: 9152436
Renault S, Petit A, Bénédet F, Bigot S, & Bigot Y. (2002) Effects of the Diadromus pulchellus ascovirus, DpAV-4, on the hemocytic encapsulation response and capsule melanization of the leek-moth pupa, Acrolepiopsis assectella. Journal of insect physiology, 48(3), 297-302. PMID: 12770103
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