32 posts · 34,570 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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- August 2, 2010
- 07:31 PM
- 3,127 views
The 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 for any biocontrol project. So…how did Continue reading...... 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
- March 19, 2010
- 02:22 PM
- 1,748 views
GMOs could render important antibiotics worthless
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
That headline catches your eye, doesn’t it?
We’ve seen such claims made in popular media such as the March 2010 Fury as EU approves GM potato: Critics claim plant could spread antibiotic-resistant diseases to humans in the Independent: “Opponents fear bacteria inside the guts of animals fed the GM potato – which can cause human diseases [...]... Read more »
Dona, A., & Arvanitoyannis, I. (2009) Health Risks of Genetically Modified Foods. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 49(2), 164-175. DOI: 10.1080/10408390701855993
Halford NG, & Shewry PR. (2000) Genetically modified crops: methodology, benefits, regulation and public concerns. British medical bulletin, 56(1), 62-73. PMID: 10885105
Hotopp JC, Clark ME, Oliveira DC, Foster JM, Fischer P, Torres MC, Giebel JD, Kumar N, Ishmael N, Wang S.... (2007) Widespread lateral gene transfer from intracellular bacteria to multicellular eukaryotes. Science (New York, N.Y.), 317(5845), 1753-6. PMID: 17761848
- March 31, 2010
- 04:49 PM
- 1,629 views
Glowing phagocytosis
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
Usually, when we think about biotechnology, it’s in the context of agriculture, and occasionally in the context of medicine, but biotechnology is useful for a lot more. It can be used to study complex cellular and developmental processes with results that can be stunningly beautiful, and sometimes silly.
Margaret Clarke researches the soil amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum using [...]... Read more »
Clarke M, & Maddera L. (2006) Phagocyte meets prey: uptake, internalization, and killing of bacteria by Dictyostelium amoebae. European journal of cell biology, 85(9-10), 1001-10. PMID: 16782228
- July 9, 2010
- 06:17 PM
- 1,482 views
Breeding, Biotech and Bulls
by Matt DiLeo in Biofortified
I’ve been meaning to tell this story for some time. It’s a good example of how not all biotechnology is genetic engineering. Traditional Breeding In trad breeding, the breeder/gardener simply crosses two parents that show great (and complementary) traits, grows up the offspring, selects the best and repeats. It’s effective, slow, labor intensive and limited by the perception of the breeder. Most traits are also very heavily impacted by the environment, so each new Continue reading...... Read more »
Bernardo, R., & Yu, J. (2007) Prospects for Genomewide Selection for Quantitative Traits in Maize. Crop Science, 1082-1090. DOI: 10.2135/cropsci2006.11.0690
Schaeffer LR. (2006) Strategy for applying genome-wide selection in dairy cattle. Journal of animal breeding and genetics , 123(4), 218-23. PMID: 16882088
- March 29, 2010
- 12:01 PM
- 1,434 views
How do polydnaviruses work?
by Joe Ballenger in Biofortified
In Polydnaviruses: Nature’s GMOs, I wrote about how wasps use viruses to disable the immune defenses of their hosts. Braconid and ichneumonid wasps use a system that genetically modifies their hosts in order to shut their immune systems down.
So how does this all work?
A good system to use to describe how polydnavirus proteins work is [...]... Read more »
Fath-Goodin A, Kroemer JA, & Webb BA. (2009) The Campoletis sonorensis ichnovirus vankyrin protein P-vank-1 inhibits apoptosis in insect Sf9 cells. Insect molecular biology, 18(4), 497-506. PMID: 19453763
Gad W, & Kim Y. (2008) A viral histone H4 encoded by Cotesia plutellae bracovirus inhibits haemocyte-spreading behaviour of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella. The Journal of general virology, 89(Pt 4), 931-8. PMID: 18343834
Thoetkiattikul H, Beck MH, & Strand MR. (2005) Inhibitor kappaB-like proteins from a polydnavirus inhibit NF-kappaB activation and suppress the insect immune response. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(32), 11426-31. PMID: 16061795
- January 22, 2010
- 01:31 AM
- 1,410 views
Those naughty plants!
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
Many people, including me, are concerned about potential harm to crop biodiversity from gene flow. Most people’s concern focuses on transgenics. There is a certain probability, albeit small, that transgenes will end up in the progeny of non-transgenic plants, weedy relatives of the crop, or wild relatives that grow nearby due to pollen flow. Transgenes can also be moved from place to place by accidental or purposeful movement of seeds. How much transgene flow is actually happening is a subject of some controversy, but that’s not what I want to talk about in this post.
What I’ve been wondering for a long time is why people aren’t concerned about gene flow between non-transgenic plants. There is potential for problems whenever plants that aren’t supposed to cross stray from their intended mates. Some things to think about include how gene flow happens at the field and genetic levels and what characteristics of the genes themselves can affect permanence of contaminating genes once they get into a variety they shouldn’t be in.
Read more on Those naughty plants!…
... Read more »
Chen LJ, Lee DS, Song ZP, Suh HS, & Lu BR. (2004) Gene flow from cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) to its weedy and wild relatives. Annals of botany, 93(1), 67-73. PMID: 14602665
Shivrain VK, Burgos NR, Gealy DR, Sales MA, & Smith KL. (2009) Gene flow from weedy red rice (Oryza sativa L.) to cultivated rice and fitness of hybrids. Pest management science, 65(10), 1124-9. PMID: 19530257
Mercer, K., & Wainright, J. (2008) Gene flow from transgenic maize to landraces in Mexico: An analysis. Agriculture, Ecosystems , 123(1-3), 109-115. DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2007.05.007
- October 6, 2010
- 01:00 AM
- 1,222 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
- November 14, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 1,137 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
- 1,107 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 about Continue reading...... 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 6, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 1,086 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. Existing Continue reading...... 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
- August 12, 2010
- 04:48 PM
- 1,079 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 Risk in Soybeans (full text) by Christine Bahlai Continue reading...... 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
- December 12, 2010
- 02:02 PM
- 1,074 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:/
- October 21, 2009
- 11:45 AM
- 1,063 views
Biofortified Lettuce not a Bitter Pill
by Karl Haro von Mogel in Biofortified
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body, and most of it is found in our bones and teeth. Without this element to form the hard structures of our bodies, life as we know it as mammals would be in peril. We need it for our nerves and muscles to function properly, too. Many people in the United States are deficient in calcium, upwards of 44%, and in the developing world, these numbers are sadly much, much higher. And as we age, we lose more and more calcium from our bones, leading to osteoporosis. Women are particularly at risk for this disease once they go through menopause.
What can we do? Pills don't work very well, many vegetables high in calcium don't let us absorb it well, and breeding for calcium content is complicated and uncertain. How about engineering your lettuce to express more of a calcium transporter protein to boost the levels of calcium?
OK so it works, but does the lettuce taste good?... Read more »
Park, S., Elless, M., Park, J., Jenkins, A., Lim, W., Chambers IV, E., & Hirschi, K. (2009) Sensory analysis of calcium-biofortified lettuce. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 7(1), 106-117. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7652.2008.00379.x
- February 7, 2010
- 10:14 PM
- 1,055 views
I say tomato…
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
Researchers at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in India have found a surprisingly simple way to extend the shelf life of fresh tomatoes. Most tomatoes will last about 10-15 days before going unappealingly squishy. The enhanced tomatoes last 45 days or more and are firmer than unmodified tomatoes, which I imagine makes for [...]... Read more »
Meli, V., Ghosh, S., Prabha, T., Chakraborty, N., Chakraborty, S., & Datta, A. (2010) Enhancement of fruit shelf life by suppressing N-glycan processing enzymes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0909329107
- June 14, 2010
- 01:12 AM
- 1,036 views
New possibilities for drought tolerance
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
An Arabidopsis stomate showing two guard cells exhibiting green fluorescent protein and native chloroplast (red) fluorescence. via Wikipedia. This image is an extreme closeup of a stomate (singular, the plural form is stomata). These two cells, called guard cells, control the plant’s respiration: how much carbon dioxide gets in and how much oxygen and water vapor gets out. The control isn’t very good, though. Most plants just have their stomata open all day Continue reading...... Read more »
Hu H, Boisson-Dernier A, Israelsson-Nordström M, Böhmer M, Xue S, Ries A, Godoski J, Kuhn JM, & Schroeder JI. (2010) Carbonic anhydrases are upstream regulators of CO2-controlled stomatal movements in guard cells. Nature cell biology, 12(1), 87. PMID: 20010812
- October 12, 2010
- 05:45 PM
- 1,034 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 25, 2010
- 01:00 PM
- 1,034 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 Continue reading...... 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
- February 23, 2010
- 08:42 PM
- 1,029 views
Escape! Crop-Specific Gene Flow to Wild Relatives
by Cody Cobb in Biofortified
As a molecular biologist, most of my work is done on a bench at or below room temperature. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to a research field because I have more than two fingers. I’ve never taken a course in ecology, and I’ve rarely dealt with full, intact [...]... Read more »
Snow, A., Pilson, D., Rieseberg, L., Paulsen, M., Pleskac, N., Reagon, M., Wolf, D., & Selbo, S. (2003) A Bt TRANSGENE REDUCES HERBIVORY AND ENHANCES FECUNDITY IN WILD SUNFLOWERS. Ecological Applications, 13(2), 279-286. DOI: 10.1890/1051-0761(2003)013[0279:ABTRHA]2.0.CO;2
- January 4, 2011
- 10:21 PM
- 973 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
- October 11, 2010
- 08:52 PM
- 934 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 Considerations as part Continue reading...... 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
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