accomplished !!!

1. Transgenic For Crop Improvement :
Global Scenario and Prospects
Prepared by :
ANUBHAV ARYAL
Semester: 7th sem
Roll no :1

2. Introduction and history
 Transgenic plants or GMO’s are made with a purpose to redeem the threats that are
continuously evolving with time .
 These plants have been reprogrammed by the use of foreign gene which is stably
integrated in their DNA by using the tools of genetic engineering.
 The transfer of foreign gene results in synthesis of desirable traits that help to combat
biotic and abiotic stresses and add other valuable properties.
 For instance, resistance to insect pests and diseases, tolerance to herbicides, drought, soil
salinity and aluminum toxicity; improved post-harvest quality; enhanced nutrient uptake
and nutritional quality; increased photosynthetic rate, sugar, and starch production;
increased effectiveness of bio control agents; improved understanding of gene action and
metabolic pathways; and production of drugs and vaccines in crop plants.
 The first genetically modified crop plant was produced in 1982, an antibiotic-resistant
tobacco plant. The first field trials occurred in France and the USA in 1986, when tobacco
plants were engineered for herbicide resistance.

3. Continued..
 Transgenic plants have now been produced in more than 60 plant species mostly in
dicot families.
 In 1987, Plant Genetic Systems (Ghent, Belgium), founded by Marc Van
Montagu and Jeff Schell, was the first company to genetically engineer insect-
resistant tobacco plants by incorporating genes that produced insecticidal proteins
from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).
 The first genetically modified crop approved for sale in the U.S., in 1994, was
the FlavrSavr tomato. It had a longer shelf life, because it took longer to soften
after ripening. In 1994, the European Union approved tobacco engineered to be
resistant to the herbicide bromoxynil, making it the first commercially genetically
engineered crop marketed in Europe.
 In 1995, Bt Potato was approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency,
making it the country's first pesticide producing crop.
 As of mid-1996, a total of 35 approvals had been granted to commercially grow 8
transgenic crops and one flower crop (carnation), with 8 different traits in 6
countries plus the EU.

4. Population statistics and food insecurity
Applications of herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers have greatly increased crop yields in the past.
 More recently, however, crop yields are barely keeping up with world growth, hence the need for
new approaches.
 The United Nations have projected that world population will increase by 25% to 7.5 billion by
2020. At the moment, nearly 1.2 billion people live in a state of ‘absolute poverty’ , of which 800
million people live under uncertain food security, and 160million pre-school children suffer from
malnutrition.
 A large number of people also suffer from deficiencies of micronutrients such as iron, zinc and
vitamin A. Food insecurity and malnutrition result in serious public health problems, and a lost
human potential.

 The amount of land available for crop production is decreasing steadily due to urban growth and
land degradation.
 These cases directly relate to the need of transgenic species.

5. Achievements
 In conventional plant breeding, genes can be transmitted only by crossing in the
same or closely related species. Transgenic techniques have allowed genetic
material to be transferred between completely unrelated organisms.
 So that breeders can incorporate characteristics that are not normally available
within a species. The modified organisms exhibit properties that would be
impossible to obtain by conventional breeding techniques.
 Transgenic methods have been employed over the last 15 years in a number of
important crop plants such as maize, cotton, soybean, oilseed rape and a variety of
vegetable crops like tomato, potato ,cabbage and lettuce.
 The maximum transgenic plants have been released in oil seed rape (290), followed
by potato (133), tobacco and tomato (72) each and maize (65).

6. Insect and Disease Resistance:
 Resistance to insects and diseases has been achieved in many field crops through
the use of transgenes.
 For example, in the famous BT-cotton, a transgenic or genetically modified
variety of cotton, gene for the insect Helicoverpa resistance has been transferred
from soil-borne bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis by Monsanto company of U.S.A.
 In corn, gene for resistance to European corn borer has also been transferred
from above bacterium. In tobacco, insect resistance has been achieved by
transferring trypsin inhibitor gene from cow pea.
 Transgenic virus resistant genotypes have been developed in crops like tobacco,
tomato, potato and cucumbers.

7. 2. Cold Resistance:
 Cold resistance has been achieved in some crop plants through transgenic
breeding. In tomato and tobacco, anti-freezing gene has been transferred from
fish (winter flounder).
 In tobacco, cold resistance has been achieved by transferring a gene from
Arabidopsis thaliana.

8. 3. Improvement in quality
Improvement in quality has been achieved in some crop plants through transgenic
breeding. Some examples are given here.
In alfalfa, protein quality has been improved by transferring ovalbumin gene from
chicken.
In potato, protein quality has been improved by transferring serum albumin gene from
human.
In tobacco, protein quality has been enhanced by transferring glutenin gene of wheat.

9. Herbicide resistance
 Herbicide resistant transgenic plants have been developed in cotton, tobacco,
wheat, maize, potato, tomato, soybean, flax, rapeseed, sugar beet, alfalfa, cabbage
and other crops.
 In majority of cases, herbicide resistant genes have been transferred from
microorganisms (Dale and Irwin, 1995).

10. Future prospects
 Insect resistance – high priority is now being assigned to sucking pests (lygus and
mirids).
 Disease resistance to the pathogens Fusarium, Verticillium, Rhizoctonia, Pythium
and Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) – the latter is critically important in Pakistan and
some areas of the Punjab in India; nematode resistance is being explored.
 Improved cotton which is more tolerant to selected abiotic stresses which include
salinity, high and low temperatures, and water logging.
 Quality traits ranging from improved fiber, to better oil quality, and gossypol free
seed.

11. Risks for human health
 Formation of new allergens from the novel proteins expressed in the transgenic
organism , which could trigger allergic reactions at some stage.
 Creation of new toxins through unexpected interactions between the product of
the genetic modification and other endogenous constituents of the organism.
 Dispersion of antibiotic resistance genes used as markers from the genetically
modified organism derived food to gut microorganisms and intensification of
problems with antibiotic resistant pathogens.

12. Risks for the environment
 Gene transfer from the transgenic plant to related species as a result of hybridization that
could lead to new pests.
 The transgenic plant escapes its intended use and becomes an invader to the natural
environment.
 Harmful effects on non-target species with the expression, for example, of insecticide
toxins that can kill beneficial as well as targeted insects.
 Development of resistance from the continuous use of the same agent on the target
organism.
 Harmful effects on ecosystems when transgenic plant products interfere with natural
biochemical cycles.
 Harmful effects on biodiversity if a transgene offers an adaptive advantage in transgenic
plants escaped in the area of cultivation or in wild relatives where it could be transferred
by cross-fertilization.
 Therefore GMO’S have been debatable issue in many countries.

13. Global scenario
 2011 was the 16th year of commercialization of biotech crops, 1996-2011, when growth continued after
a remarkable 15 consecutive years of increases; a double-digit increase of 12 million hectares, at a
growth rate of 8%, reaching a record 160 million hectares.
 The US is the lead producer of biotech crops with 69.0 million hectares (43% of global).
 Brazil ranks second only to the USA in biotech crop hectar age in the world, with 30.3 million hectares,
and is emerging as a global leader in biotech crops.
 In 2011, plantings of Bt cotton in India surpassed the historical milestone of 10 million hectares (10.6)
for the first time, and occupied 88% of the record 12.1 million hectare cotton crop.
 Biotech soybean continued to be the principal biotech crop in 2011, occupying 75.4 million hectares or
47% of global biotech area, followed by biotech maize (51.00 million hectares at 32%), biotech cotton
(24.7 million hectares at 15%) and biotech canola (8.2 million hectares at 5%) of the global biotech crop
area.
 The largest gain in Argentina was biotech maize increasing by ~900,000 hectares, and in Canada
herbicide tolerant canola increased by ~1.6 million hectares after Canada reported its largest ever
canola crop.

14. Table 1. Global Area of Biotech Crops in 2011: by Country (Million
Hectares)
Source: Clive James, 2011.

15. Global scenario
 In the Philippines, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has successfully
bred the Golden Rice traits into IR64 and other Asian mega varieties including the
variety PSBRc82 in the Philippines, and BRRI dhan 29, a Bangladesh variety.
 It will confer, for the first time, a sustainable and durable level of resistance to
potato late blight, a devastating disease that has plagued the world for over 150
years, which today costs global society up to US$7.5 billion each year and US$1.5
billion in EU countries.
 Global value of biotech seed alone was US$13.2 billion in 2011, with the end
product of commercial grain from biotech maize, soybean grain and cotton valued
at ~US$160 billion or more per year.

16. In Nepal :
 January 8, 2014, the Supreme Court of Nepal issued an interim order banning the
import of genetically modified seeds .

17. IPR: Intellectual Property Rights
• Intellectual property is a ‘product of mind’ .
• In biotechnology, one of the most important examples of intellectual property
is the processes and products, which result from development of rDNA
technology. The rights to protect this property are called Intellectual Property
Rights.
• A patent is a personal property which can be licensed or sold like any other
property. It is infact a legal right .
• Misuse of IPR can lead to biopiracy .
• Various biotechnological processes and product have been patented in case
of development of transgenic crops.

18. Conclusion
Using biotechnological applications, sustainable agricultural methods can be
developed which can meet the demands of the growing population.
• Using traditional breeding methods ,it takes 15 years or more to introduce disease
resistant genes into a particular crop plant but genetic engineering it takes fraction
of that time in achieving same goal.
• Biotech crops as fastest adopted crop technology has been certained as the global
trend of cultivation has been increasing in a geometric ratio.
• Above all, biosafety issues of transgenic crops should be well marked in order to
flourish their cultivation .

19. References
 academic.oup.com/jxb/article/51/suppl_1/487/502357/Transgenic-approaches-to-
crop-improvement
 /www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/
 http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/bi430-fs430/Documents-2004/7B-
MIN%20TILL%20AG/dale-nat-biotech-rev-envGMO-2002.pdf
 www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/biosci/Dunwell_JExpBotReview2000.pdf

20. 
Thank you !!!!!!