Purdue University Innovation Introduces Vital Traits to Plants Without Creating Transgenics

Agri-biotech researchers will soon have access to an innovation of Purdue University that can be used to introduce valuable traits to plants without leaving a foreign DNA in a plant's genome.

Conventional Agrobacterium strains deliver transfer DNA, or T-DNA, into plants to be part of the plant's genome. This introduction can lead to expression of valuable traits such as enhanced drought tolerance or improved nutritional content. However, the T-DNA becomes a permanent part of the plant genome, making the plant “transgenic” and would need to go through a stringent regulatory process prior to its release.

Professor Stanton Gelvin and team at Purdue University's College of Science developed Agrobacterium strains that transport the T-DNA and express the vital traits without generating a transgenic plant.  Through this method, the T-DNA is eventually degraded or diluted out of the plant nucleus as the cells divide.

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