Genetically modified sugar beet
Plant scientists in Belgium have grown genetically engineered sugar beet that survives the action of a weedkiller. It is the first time that researchers have managed to grow sugar beet plants from single cells carrying a foreign gene for herbicide resistance. The researchers aim to produce a variety of sugar beet that survives when sprayed with a herbicide that kills weeds.
The scientists, from a Belgian company called Plant Genetic Systems, have inserted into cultured cells of sugar beet a gene taken from the bacterium Streptomyces. The gene orchestrates the production of an enzyme, phosphinotricin…
