Plant biotechnology. Molecular farming and metabolic engineering promise a new generation of high-tech crops
Abstract
The first generation of transgenic crops was based on the early tools of plant genetic engineering. These crops were (and still are) necessarily relatively unsophisticated and carry only a few simple transgenic traits, such as herbicide resistance or an insecticidal protein. GM crops have been rapidly embraced by farmers because of the benefits from lower inputs and increased productivity and they became cash machines for biotech companies who had the vision to invest in the new technologies, but the opponents of GM have been working hard to make the uninformed public suspicious of transgenic plants. Public opinion on this issue will ultimately be based on individual consumers doing their own risk-benefit analysis. Unless the consumer can see and appreciate direct benefits of GM crops then any perceived risk, no matter how small or misplaced, will outweigh the benefits. The new areas of molecular farming and metabolic engineering promise more readily identifiable benefits for consumers in the form of inexpensive safer medication, more wholesome food and environmentally sustainable industrial feedstocks. We have commissioned reviews that highlight the recent successes and the challenges of these emerging areas of plant biotechnology.
- Publication:
-
Current Opinion in Plant Biology
- Pub Date:
- 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.pbi.2004.01.016
- Bibcode:
- 2004COPB....7..149M