There is clearly a benefit to farmers, if transgenic plants are developing a resistant into Osimertinib price specific pest. For example, Papaya-ring-spot-virus resistant papaya has been commercialized and grown in Hawaii since 1996.12 There may also be a benefit to the environment, if the use of pesticides is reduced. Transgenic crops, containing insect

resistance genes from Bacillus thuringiensis, have made it possible to reduce significantly the amount of insecticide, applied on cotton in the USA. However, populations of pests and disease, causing organisms, adapt readily and become resistant to pesticides. Vitamin A deficiency causes half a million children to become partially or totally blind each year.13, 14 and 15 GSI-IX research buy Milled rice is the staple food for a large fraction of the World’s human population. Traditional breeding methods have been unsuccessful in producing crops, containing a high concentration

of vitamin A. Researchers have introduced three genes into rice: two from daffodils and one from a microorganism. The transgenic rice exhibits an increased production of beta-carotene as a precursor to vitamin A and the seed is yellow in color.16 Such yellow, or golden, rice may be a useful tool to treat the problem of vitamin A deficiency in young children living in the tropics. A vast landmass across the globe, both coastal as well as terrestrial has been marginalized because of excessive salinity and alkalinity. A salt tolerance gene from Mangroves (Avicennia marina) has been identified, cloned and transferred to other Oxygenase plants. The transgenic plants were found to be tolerant to higher concentrations of salt. The gut D gene from Escherichia coli has been used to generate salt tolerant transgenic maize plants. Such genes are a potential source for developing cropping systems for marginalized lands (MS Swaminathan, Personal Communication, 2000).

Researchers, at the University of California Davis campus have created transgenic tomatoes that grew well in saline soils. The transgene was a highly-expressed sodium/proton antiport pump which sequestered excess sodium in the vacuole of leaf cells. There was no sodium buildup in the fruit. Water availability and efficient usage have become global issues. Soils subjected to extensive tillage (plowing) for controlling weeds and preparing seed beds are prone to erosion, and there is a serious loss of water content. Low tillage systems have been used for many years in traditional communities. There is a need to develop crops that thrive under such conditions, including the introduction of resistance to root diseases currently controlled by tillage and to herbicides which can be used as a substitute for tillage.17 Proteins of therapeutic importance, like those used in the treatment, diagnosis of human diseases can be produced in plants, using recombinant DNA technology.