Despite Benefits, Commercialization of Transgenic Horticultural Crops Lags
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UC Agriculture & Natural Resources California Agriculture Title Despite benefits, commercialization of transgenic horticultural crops lags Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3dr9f3dm Journal California Agriculture, 58(2) ISSN 0008-0845 Authors Clark, David Klee, Harry Dandekar, Abhaya Publication Date 2004 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California RESEARCH ARTICLE ▲ ▲ Despite benefits, commercialization of transgenic horticultural crops lags David Clark Harry Klee Abhaya Dandekar ing recombinant DNA technology were engineered with herbicide resistance ▼ available in the United States: papaya, and tested in field trials but remain sweet corn, squash and a carnation. Ex- uncommercialized. Disease resistance, cept for transgenic papaya, which ac- particularly to viruses, can be devel- counts for approximately 50% of the oped using biotechnology, and potato The acreage of agronomic crops Hawaiian crop (HASS 2001), the frac- and papaya cultivars engineered for vi- (soybean, cotton, corn and canola) tion of the total horticultural com- rus resistance have been commercial- developed using recombinant DNA modities represented by transgenic ized, but many potential applications technology has expanded varieties is miniscule. are currently underutilized. Improving dramatically since their introduction The absence of significant commer- traits that directly benefit consumers, in 1996, while the commercialization cialization of transgenic varieties in such as nutritional or aesthetic quality, of biotech horticultural crops horticulture is not due to lack of poten- is also technically feasible now in many tial products or value (Dandekar and horticultural crops, but only a few (vegetables, fruits, nuts and Gutterson 2000; see sidebar, page 94). products have reached the market. ornamentals) has languished. This is The basic techniques of molecular biol- not due to a lack of both current and ogy have become routine, and consid- Approved traits and technologies potential traits that could be utilized erable research is being conducted on The major technologies that have in horticultural crops, as ongoing horticultural crops. For example, herbi- been approved and widely adopted by research is identifying a diverse array cide resistance has been transferred the industry focus on input traits, or of applications. However, into bentgrass and bluegrass to make those affecting production of the crop weed control in municipal and highly rather than the qualities of the final commercialization is stalled by managed turf environments such as product. Although most approved market reluctance to accept biotech golf courses more efficient. However, genes confer insect resistance and her- products, particularly in the absence they have not been commercialized. bicide tolerance, a range of genetic of clear benefits to consumers. High Similarly, some horticultural crops, in- traits has been approved by the U.S. regulatory costs and restricted access cluding lettuce and tomato, have been regulatory system (table 1). to intellectual property create additional hurdles for specialty crops. These challenges are causing the horticultural industry to forego a Florigene number of current benefits. New products with clear advantages for producers, marketers and consumers may be required before the potential of biotechnology can be realized. 2003, nearly 106 million acres IN of transgenic or genetically en- gineered (GE) crops was planted in the United States, part of 167 million acres of such crops grown worldwide (James 2003). Despite the fact that the first commercialized transgenic food crop was the Flavr Savr tomato, four agronomic crops (corn, soy, cotton and canola) account for virtually all of the current acreage. Last year, only Florigene, of Melbourne, Australia, markets transgenic carnations engineered for blue- four horticultural crops developed us- violet color under the variety name ‘Moonshadow’. http://CaliforniaAgriculture.ucop.edu • APRIL-JUNE 2004 89 TABLE 1. Approved transgenic traits for U.S. crops Trait Examples Herbicide tolerance Bromoxynil, glufosinate, glyphosate, sulfonylurea to other damaging diseases, such as Insect resistance Bt kurstaki, Bt tenebrionis those caused by geminiviruses (Gilbertson et al. 1998). Virus resistance Papaya ringspot virus, cucumber mosaic virus, zucchini yellow mosaic virus, watermelon mosaic virus, Flavr Savr tomato. Transgenic horti- potato leaf roll virus, potato virus Y cultural crops providing direct benefits Male sterility Barnase/barstar to the consumer have also been devel- Modified ripening ACC synthase, ACC deaminase, SAM hydrolase, oped. Calgene’s Flavr Savr tomato polygalacturonase silenced the gene encoding polygalac- Modified oils High lauric, myristic, oleic acids turonase, an enzyme implicated in fruit softening. The expectation was that the tomato would soften and spoil more slowly and could be picked at a later Insect resistance. Insect resistance bicide resistance have been commer- stage of maturity. This later harvest, in has been engineered primarily by using cialized, although several have been principle, would permit greater devel- two classes of bacterial genes derived developed and tested. opment of flavor compounds and better from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) ssp. Virus resistance. The use of viral taste. This product, first marketed in kurstaki and ssp. tenebrionis (de Maagd coat protein genes to confer resistance 1994, was a success with consumers but et al. 2003). These Bt genes control a has been approved for several virus- failed economically for a variety of rea- broad spectrum of lepidopteran and co- crop combinations (table 1). The most sons (Martineau 2001). This same gene leopteran insects, respectively. The commercially successful has been papa- was also used in a tomato variety pro- genes have been approved for use in yas engineered for resistance to the pa- cessed for paste and marketed by major row crops (feed corn and cotton) paya ringspot virus. This product has Zeneca in the United Kingdom. The and some horticultural crops (sweet revived the Hawaiian papaya industry, trait reduced processing costs and con- corn and potato). Potato and sweet corn which was devastated by the virus in sumers accepted the clearly labeled varieties engineered for resistance to the 1990s (see sidebar, page 92). Small product, until the European uproar Colorado potato beetle and corn ear- acreages of transgenic squash resistant over biotech foods forced it off the su- worm, respectively, were in commer- to mosaic viruses are also grown. permarket shelves. cial production for several years and Virus-resistant potato varieties were U.S. regulatory agencies also ap- were technically and agronomically formerly commercialized but are not proved several other delayed-ripening successful, allowing significant reduc- currently being marketed. Newer tech- tomato varieties based on strategies tar- tions in insecticide use (Shelton et al. nologies, such as RNA interference or geted to block the ethylene biosynthetic 2002). However, the transgenic potato RNA silencing (Waterhouse et al. 2001), pathway (ACC deaminase and varieties were withdrawn from the offer promise for developing resistance antisense/cosuppressed ACC synthase) market after major processors and dis- that is essential for ripening. None of tributors chose not to purchase and these products is currently marketed, market them. Bt sweet corn, while still despite their technical feasibility and available, is not widely grown for the potential consumer benefits. Rather, same reason (Cornell Cooperative Ex- they were preempted by a nonbiotech tension 2003). Courtesy of USDA-ARS approach utilizing the naturally occur- Herbicide tolerance. Several ring rin mutant of tomato that delays herbicide-tolerance genes are registered fruit ripening. Heterozygous plants for use. The most widely commercial- produce fruits that ripen at a signifi- ized gene is a bacterial enzyme confer- cantly slower rate than normal fruits. ring tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient of Roundup herbicide. Transgenes conferring tolerance to bromoxynil (Buctril), glufosinate (Lib- erty) and sulfonylurea (Glean) herbi- cides are also approved for use in a Doug Wilson/USDA-ARS wide variety of crops. In addition, crops tolerant to imidizolinone (Clearfield) and sulfonylurea herbicides have been developed through Left, scientists are investigating ways to prevent Pierce’s disease in grapes by genetically nontransgenic methods based on natu- engineering genes from a naturally resistant variety, Muscadinia rotundifolia, into ral or induced mutations. However, no susceptible varieties. In a peer-reviewed study, a parasitoid wasp that controls the horticultural crops engineered for her- diamondback moth, right, a canola pest, was not affected by Bt canola. 90 CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE, VOLUME 58, NUMBER 2 A nontransgenic approach achieved es- not find a major- sentially the same objective, and aggres- ity negative opin- sive breeding and marketing of the ion about it (see long-shelf-life rin hybrid tomatoes made page 99). Many Courtesy of UC Biotech Web site the transgenic approach redundant. food companies Lengthening postharvest time. are unwilling to Similarly, virtually all bananas mar- risk the conse- keted in the United States are naturally quences of alien- deficient in their ability to initiate ethyl- ating even a small ene synthesis, allowing them to be fraction of their shipped green and ripened by