Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - [permaculture] FW: Is "maxq tall fescue" a GMO?

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Bill McDorman <bm@seedsave.org>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] FW: Is "maxq tall fescue" a GMO?
  • Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 14:12:55 -0700

I sent the question to some of the best scientists working with Native
Grasses and DNA in the Intermountain West. You can follow the response
below.

bill
---------------------------------------------------------------
Bill W. McDorman
Seeds Trust, High Altitude Gardens
bm@seedsave.org
http://www.seedstrust.com


Bill,

See additional message from Joe Bouton. Joe is one of the codevelopers, and
now leads the Forage Biotechnology division of the Nobel Foundation. You can
be absolutely sure that neither the plant nor endophyte are GMO.

Steven R. Larson
Research Geneticist
USDA Agriculture Research Service
Forage and Range Research Laboratory
Utah State University
Logan, UT 84322-6300
TEL: 435-797-1703
FAX: 435-797-3075

----- Original Message -----
From: Bouton, Joe <mailto:jhbouton@noble.org>
To: stlarson@cc.usu.edu
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 1:22 PM
Subject: Re: Is "maxq tall fescue" a GMO?


Not GMO - it is a naturally occuring isolate.
Joe
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld


------ Forwarded Message
From: "Steve Larson" <stlarson@cc.usu.edu>
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 12:25:53 -0700
To: "Bill McDorman" <bm@seedsave.org>
Cc: "Chatterton, N. Jerry" <njchatt@cc.usu.edu>
Subject: Fw: Is "maxq tall fescue" a GMO?

Bill,

See message below from Andy. The answer is NO, neither the plant nor the
endophyte are GMO.

Steve

----- Original Message -----
From: "Hopkins, Andy" <aahopkins@noble.org>
To: "Steve Larson" <stlarson@cc.usu.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 11:48 AM
Subject: RE: Is "maxq tall fescue" a GMO?


Steve,
No, the MaxQ endophyte is not genetically engineered in any fashion.
This endophyte was found to naturally occur in a tall fescue host plant,
was isolated, then inoculated into other tall fescue plants, and
transmitted to the progeny via seed, just like any other strain of tall
fescue endophyte. I can't vouch for the comment below about the
endophyte reducing the plant's need for nitrogen; I have not seen this
in the literature, and this is the first time I've heard that claim.
At present there are no "GMO" tall fescue cultivars approved for
marketing and use in the USA, or anywhere else in the world for that
matter.

Andy Hopkins

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Larson [mailto:stlarson@cc.usu.edu]
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 12:20 PM
To: Bill McDorman
Cc: Bouton, Joe; Waldron, Blair; Chatterton, N. Jerry; Hopkins, Andy
Subject: Re: Is "maxq tall fescue" a GMO?

Bill,

I do not work on Tall Fescue, but that is an interesting question. I do
not think that the plant per se is classified as a GMO, but the
endophyte may have been genetically modified by recombinant DNA
technology--I am not absolutely sure. I am referring this question to
some other scientists (including a codeveloper of this variety, Dr.
Bouton) who can definitively answer your question.

Steve



----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill McDorman" <bm@seedsave.org>
To: <stlarson@cc.usu.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 10:37 AM
Subject: Is "maxq tall fescue" a GMO?


> Steve:
>
> I met you at the Native Plant Summit and talked to you about visiting
> someday. Do you know anything about MaxQ tall fescue?
>
> bill
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Bill W. McDorman
> Seeds Trust, High Altitude Gardens
> bm@seedsave.org
> http://www.seedstrust.com
>
>
> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: Paul Wheaton <paul@richsoil.com>
> Subject: [permaculture] Is "maxq tall fescue" a GMO?
>
> For years, tall fescue has been a no-no for folks grazing ruminent
animals
> because the
> endophyte growing in tall fescue is toxic. Then there came endophyte
free
> tall fescues
> which did not perform very well because, well, the endophytes provide
a
> symbiotic
> relationship and help the grass thrive. Then there was edophyte
enhanced
> tall fescues
> for lawns ....
>
> Now, there is "MaxQ", a variety of tall fescue that has a "friendly
> endophyte." Not
> toxic to ruminents and the grass grows great.
>
> Tall fescue is famous for having very deep roots and therefore being
drought
> tolerant.
> My impression is that the endophyte somehow reduces the nitrogen needs
of
> the grass.
> Sounds like a great permaculture variety to me.
>
> But I wonder if it is a GMO. I can't find anything anywhere on that.
And
I
> can't help
> but think that if I call the folks selling it that they will just tell
me
> whatever they
> think I want to hear.
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
>
>
> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>


------ End of Forwarded Message





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page