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Marker gene safety rediscovered
Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:35 pm
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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), a scientific body typically ignored by European politicians and regulators, has discovered, once again, that marker genes are safe. Meanwhile, the safety of marker genes has long been common knowledge in the US. We'd all be better off if these scientists worked on inventing things, instead of wasting their efforts on the European Commission.

The EFSA found (yawn):
The transfer of antibiotic resistance marker genes from GM plants to bacteria has not been shown to occur either in natural conditions or in the laboratory in the absence of sequence identity in the recipient bacterial cell. Sequence identity is necessary to allow homologous recombination between the transformed DNA in the plant and bacterial DNA.

DNA transfer from GM plants to bacteria, if occurring, is considered to be of low frequency compared with gene transfer between bacteria.

Recent metagenomic analyses of total bacterial populations (including non-cultivable bacteria) have demonstrated that resistance determinants of kanamycin, neomycin and streptomycin are present in all environments investigated. Such resistance genes may be selected from this environmental reservoir and disseminated among bacteria.
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GMO (noun) 1. An acronym for the term, 'Genetically Modified Organism'. 2. A plant, animal or microbe with a genetic code which has been intentionally altered, such as through forced evolution (see selective breeding); through random mutations induced with radiation or chemicals (see mutagenesis); or through the selective transfer, promoting or silencing of specific genes (see genetic engineering). 3. Most generally, any descendant of a primordial urbiote. (See evolution.)

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