Due to lack of effective safety control measures, the testing and promotion of GM crops are strictly controlled. A few days ago, the research group headed by Professor Shen Zhicheng of Zhejiang University’s College of Agriculture invented a simple and controllable transgenic technology. The rice obtained through this technique is like being branded and ensured the authenticity of conventional rice. The research results were published on the March 19th in the "Public Science Library - General" magazine published in the United States.
For decades, transgenic technology has been continuously improved, but there are potential risks in the testing and promotion of genetically modified crops. When genetically modified crops are planted, their genes are transferred to other crops due to "drifting" of genes such as pollen transmission. Or wild plants, but also because of human error, animal activities and other accidental transmission, mixing it into the conventional food, affecting the purity of conventional food. Therefore, the testing and production of genetically modified crops are strictly controlled in all countries.
Shen Zhicheng discovered that farmers often use the herbicide Bendazon between rice fields because rice contains “detoxifying enzymes†for the herbicides. Herbicides kill weeds but are harmless to rice. Three years ago, a reverse thinking inspired the research group: Why not add a "surgery" to suppress the expression of this gene when rice is genetically modified? The treated transgenic rice is a herbicide like Bendazosone. Lost resistance. The research group made an attempt to suppress the expression of detoxification genes using RNA interference technology while developing new varieties of insect-resistant rice, cellulases containing rice, and lactoferrin-containing rice. The transgenic rice obtained through this technique has a "natural defect" and no resistance to bentazone, which is exactly the opposite of conventional rice. After several field trials conducted by the research team, it was found that once spraying bentadsone can eliminate all these transgenic rice mixed in conventional rice.
Bentazon also removes genetically modified rice while weeding. How do we remove the weeds from the transgenic rice fields? Shen Zhicheng said that there is a broad-spectrum herbicide called glyphosate, which can kill weeds and conventional rice. So long as the genetically modified rice varieties are transferred into glyphosate resistant genes, the obtained transgenic rice will not be covered with grass. Glyphosate kills.
The development of "reliable, simple, and low-cost" GM rice and corn control technology is an important guarantee for China's large-scale promotion of transgenic crops, and will also be an important competitive basis for the genetically modified industry. Shen Zhicheng said: "This invention will not only be used to control genetically modified rice. We are also using its principles to develop genetically modified corn that can be controlled."