WALNUTS grown from genetically modified plants could soon be hitting the
supermarket shelves. The GM roots will beat off costly bacterial infections but
the nuts themselves will be GM-free. The hybrid plants, the first of their kind,
should appease both farmers and consumers wary of GM food.
Fruit tree and vine growers are plagued by Agrobacterium, a bug
which causes cancerous growths called galls in the roots. The bug gets into the
roots via a wound and transfers tumour-causing genes, which invade the plant’s
DNA and the gall starts to form. Now Abhaya Dandekar and a team at the
University…
