Re: "AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST" a song

At 08:51 AM 12/01/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>Joe,
>
>Not to be argumentative, but we there are several areas that could benefit
>agriculture that would require multigene transfer.  The most obvious would
>be cold resistance and possibly drought resistance.  If citrus could be
>given better cold resistance it could be grown without frost losses.
>Another, is the transference of nitrogen fixation to non-leguminous crops.
>Crop plants could be put more directly under the farmer's control by
>inserting regulatory mechanisms that require external stimuli to control
>growth, flowering  and fruit set.  Timing the crop could be made to better
>fit weather conditions.   And, finally, the possibility of turning annual
>crops into perennials so that the would not have to be replanted each year.
>The possibilities are endless.
>

our quest for the red leaf hosta is a drop of water in the ocean compared
to changing annuals to perrennials and nitrogen fixation, u are looking at
nobel prize things
, if these kids today only knew whats ahead..... indianabob,,, i wish i
studdied botany or  biology in highschool..... who knows
>Jim Anderson
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <halinar@open.org>
>To: <hosta-open@mallorn.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 1999 12:17 AM
>Subject: Re: "AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST" a song
>
>
>> Jim:
>>
>> >In order to make substantial changes in plants (or animals for that
>> >matter) that truly change the form of the organism will require the
>> >transfer of several genes.  We do not at present have the insight to
>> >know how to control these changes,
>>
>> It is true that genetic engineering is transfering one gene at a time,
>> but that is also because that is what is needed.  There is no need to
>> radically change a corn plant - all you want to do is make it resitent
>> to corn weevil.  It's only necessary to add one gene.
>>
>> However, substantial changes do occure in nature, depending on how you
>> define substantial.  Many of the species in the iris genus are the
>> result of crosses between two species, via unreduced gametes that
>> produced a new species.  Luther Burbank was the first to do this in
>> cultivation, although he was ridiculed at the time when he present his
>> one and only scientific paper at a horticulture meeting.  He took two
>> poisonous nightshade family species and tried crossing them for 13
>> years and finally got one seed, which germinated and produced true
>> breeding progenies that looked like hybrids of the two parents, but
>> the seedling was NOT poisonous.  It was sold for many years as
>> Wonderberry, Sunberry and Garden Huckleberry and may still be
>> available.
>>
>> Also, it's not difficult to combine diferent genomes via protoplast
>> fusion that combine existing genomes into new combinations.  Some of
>> these systems would be so far out of balance that they wouldn't
>> survive, but there is no reason why some wide combinations might not
>> be successful.  Not sure why this line of research isn't being
>> perused, as it isn't really that difficult.
>>
>> Joe Halinar
>>
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