Scientists Develop Sugar-Enriched Corn

By enhancing the expression of the Glossy 15 gene, scientists at the University of Illinois developed transgenic corn plants that produce more biomass. The gene was originally identified for its roles in giving corn seedlings a waxy coating that acts like a sun screen to protect the young plant. The gene is also responsible for slowing down shoot maturation.

Stephen Moose and colleagues observed that amplification of Glossy 15 in corn resulted to bigger plants. Although there is less grain, the transgenic plants produce more sugar in the stalks. This makes the corn suitable as biofuel feedstock and livestock feed.

One advantage of growing the sugar-enriched corn rather than switchgrass or miscanthus is that sugar corn is an annual. Moose said that if it would attract a pest or develop a disease, farmers could rotate a different crop the next year. Moose also noted that the GM corn is as safe as its non-transgenic counterparts. "It's a gene that's already in the corn — all we did was to put an extra copy in that amps it up," Moose said.

The original article is available at http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/news/stories/news4683.html