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It Is a Long Way to GM Agriculture

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It Is a Long Way to GM Agriculture PP62-FrontMatter ARI 20 April 2011 14:6 by University of Bern on 08/19/13. For personal use only. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 2011.62:1-23. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org PP62CH01-vanMontagu ARI 4 April 2011 16:10 It Is a Long Way to GM Agriculture Marc Van Montagu Institute of Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Genetics, Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium; email: [email protected] Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 2011. 62:1–23 Keywords First published online as a Review in Advance on Agrobacterium, crown gall, Ti plasmid, T-DNA, opines, vir genes, February 11, 2011 T-DNA binary vector, plant genetic engineering, plant genetic The Annual Review of Plant Biology is online at modification, GM plants, GMO plant.annualreviews.org This article’s doi: Abstract 10.1146/annurev-arplant-042110-103906 When we discovered that crown gall induction on plants by Agrobac- Copyright c 2011 by Annual Reviews. terium tumefaciens is a natural event of genetic engineering, we were con- All rights reserved vinced that this was the dawn of a new era for plant science. Now, more 1543-5008/11/0602-0001$20.00 than 30 years later, I remain overawed by how far and how rapidly we by University of Bern on 08/19/13. For personal use only. progressed with our knowledge of the molecular basis of plant growth, development, stress resistance, flowering, and ecological adaptation, thanks to the gene engineering technology. I am impressed, but also Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 2011.62:1-23. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org frustrated by the difficulties of applying this knowledge to improve crops and globally develop a sustainable and improved high-yielding agricul- ture. Now that gene engineering has become so efficient, I had hoped that thousands of teams, all over the world, would work on improving our major food crops, help domesticate new ones, and succeed in dou- bling or tripling biomass yields in industrial crops. We live in a world where more than a billion people are hungry or starving, while the last areas of tropical forest and wild nature are disappearing. We urgently need a better supply of raw material for our chemical industry because petroleum-based products pollute the environment and are limited in supply. Why could this new technology not bring the solutions to these challenges? Why has this not happened yet; what did we do wrong? 1 PP62CH01-vanMontagu ARI 4 April 2011 16:10 My mother died during my delivery. Death Contents of either the mother or the newborn was very common in those days. My mother was the only THEEARLYYEARS................ 2 survivor of my grandmother’s nine pregnan- PRIMARY AND HIGH SCHOOL . 3 cies. For the first three years I was raised by STATE UNIVERSITY GHENT . 4 my maternal grandmother and her sisters, sur- THE FASCINATION FOR rounded by lots of love and attention, being the RESEARCH...................... 5 only child of my generation in the whole family. RNAPHAGES....................... 7 When my father remarried, I went to live with PLANTTUMORS................... 9 him and my stepmother, who took care of me THE GREAT SHIFT: DISCOVERY like a real mother. They had decided not to have OF TI PLASMID AND T-DNA . 9 another child for fear of treating us differently. Functional Mapping of the The contact with my maternal grandmother re- TiPlasmid..................... 10 mained close, and during the next ten years, I THE WAY TO PLANT spent several days a week with her and her sister. TRANSFORMATION............ 11 The neighborhood I grew up in was typ- PlantGeneVectors................ 11 ical for a city relying on a flourishing textile Selection and Regeneration industry: large factories surrounded by a net- ofTransformedPlants.......... 12 work of dead-end alleys with small working- The First Genetically class houses. Most houses did not have run- ModifiedPlants................. 12 ning water; there was a central tap in the street. THE IMPACT OF Some even had common toilets in the middle THEDISCOVERY............... 12 of the street. Light came from petroleum or gas THE INNOVATION lamps; few houses had electricity. Heating was CHALLENGE . 14 done mostly with a coal stove, which also served ENTREPRENEURSHIP............. 14 for the cooking. Since the bedrooms were not GENETICALLY MODIFIED heated, there were fascinating ice flowers on the AGRICULTURE TODAY windows during winter. ANDBEYOND................... 15 The factories were dark and very noisy, and GENETICALLY MODIFIED clouds of cotton dust would be floating around ORGANISM POLEMIC . 16 the spinning machines. They were so frighten- BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR ing and convincingly repulsive that I felt I never by University of Bern on 08/19/13. For personal use only. DEVELOPMENT................ 18 wanted to be obliged to work there. At noon- Institute of Plant Biotechnology for time, when it was not raining, many workers Developing Countries (IPBO) . 18 would sit in the street on the sidewalk, eat- Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 2011.62:1-23. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org International Industrial ing their bread and drinking from a gourde Biotechnology Network (IIBN) . 18 they had brought from home. They were com- FINAL THOUGHTS . 19 pletely covered by the white dust, which made them look like ghosts. I often made remarks about these disturbing working conditions to my grandmother. She insisted that this was so much better than before, when she was a child. THE EARLY YEARS Now they were working only a good 8 hours; Born in 1933 in Ghent, Belgium, in a period before it was 10, sometimes even up to 12 hours of great economic recession and raised in a a day. In my grandmother’s youth 50% of working-class neighborhood, I was an unlikely the workers were children, many younger than candidate ever to do higher studies, let alone 10 years of age. They were important for slid- make contributions of importance to society. ing under the machines and knotting the broken 2 Van Montagu PP62CH01-vanMontagu ARI 4 April 2011 16:10 treads. Her father-in-law had been one of the quent at night. The sky would be lit by search- founders of the workers movement in Ghent in lights and exploding antiaircraft shells, a beau- the 1870s. My stepmother also came from a mil- tiful son et lumi`ere for a 10-year-old. itant socialist family, from Bruges. That meant I had the good fortune that the teacher of that during all of my youth I was solidly em- the last year in primary school insisted, as I was bedded in a politically conscious environment. among the top pupils of the class, that I should May 1st (our labor day) was the most important go on to high school—preferably to the Latin holiday of the year. Never would we miss the section of the Atheneum, a state school with an parade, and the whole day we would sing mili- outstanding reputation. In a city where 80% of tant songs. Of course that was before the War schools were run by the Catholic Church, the and later again after 1945. ranking of the best went to some Jesuit colleges, Political activities remained very central un- but these were for children of the middle or up- til my graduation, after which science took over, per class, not of the working class. As nobody although the striving for more social justice and in the family, not even friends or acquaintances, better living conditions remained a basic moti- was religious, it was self-evident that if I con- vation. Did not the Enlightenment teach us that tinued with the schooling system, I would go knowledge would set us free? to the Atheneum. Going on with my education was a big decision, but the family concluded that it was worth trying because everybody noticed PRIMARY AND HIGH SCHOOL that the only thing I seemed able to do was to A brother-in-law of my grandmother was the read books all day long. only family member with three years of sec- The first years were not brilliant. Educated ondary education. He became a school teacher with the strong imprint never to disturb or try and retired as a director of a primary school. to draw attention, I was isolated and lonely. I He insisted that I go to the best primary school always managed to sit on a bench in the first within walking distance. That certainly gave me row, but that was the most daring thing I ever a good head start. did; I never went any further and did not attract The daily school routine was disturbed in the attention of the teachers. early 1940. Part of the school building was A complete change occurred in the third turned into army barracks. Family members year. The mathematics teacher was an out- were drafted into the army. As the German standing pedagogue who really made an effort troops were approaching, many bridges of the to have the whole class follow him. Also, the by University of Bern on 08/19/13. For personal use only. city were blown up, and the barges on the canals courses of physics and chemistry fascinated me. were sunk with explosives. I was puzzled by the This was the first year of a new section called view of hundreds of Belgian soldiers waving Latin/Science. The best teachers had made an Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 2011.62:1-23. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org white handkerchiefs above their heads, march- effort to obtain an assignment to this section, ing in surrender toward two German soldiers. and the program was novel and experimental. School continued, although during the follow- I became most captivated by chemistry and ing years the atmosphere in class changed.
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