WHEN is a genetically modified organism not a genetically modified organism? When it doesn’t contain any foreign genes, claims Joachim Messing at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Messing and his colleague Jinsheng Lai have created a variety of maize that produces nearly twice as much of the amino acid methionine as normal. Methionine is an essential nutrient for mammals, but ordinary maize contains little of it. The new variety could save farmers worldwide the billion dollars a year they spend on methionine supplements for maize-fed animals. And in poor countries where many people have a low-protein diet, it could reduce…
