A built-in strategy for transgene containment

The principle beneath this strategy is elegant and simple according to the article. The genes of interest in these transgenic rice plants will be linked with an RNAi cassette which suppresses the expression of the rice detoxification enzyme of Bentazon, rendering the transgenic rice to be sensitive to the herbicide. Conventional rice is highly tolerant to Bentazon.

Dr. Shen’s lab is currently using the technology for developing transgenic rice as well as corn for expression of industrial enzymes and pharmaceutical proteins. “We believe that transgenic crops are the future, and we feel much better knowing that we may release selectively terminable transgenic plants in the future to address the concern of transgene spreading”, said Dr. Shen.

Contact:
Dr Zhicheng Shen
Zhejiang University
Email:

Citation: Lin C, Fang J, Xu X, Zhao T, Cheng J, et al. (2008) A Built-In Strategy for Containment of Transgenic Plants: Creation of Selectively Terminable Transgenic Rice. PLoS ONE 3(3): e1818. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001818

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT (URL live from Mar. 19): http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0001818

PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/pone-03-03-shen.pdf

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