North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

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From: Plant Breeding News <Plant_Breeding_News@cornell.edu>
To: PBN-L@mailserv.fao.org
Subject: EDITION 117, Sept 29,, 2000
Date: Fri, Sep 29, 2000, 7:09 AM


GENE-MODIFIED FRUIT WILL FIGHT TOOTH DECAY Agnet Sept 21, September 21, 
2000  The Windsor Star  LIFE  B8  Tim Radford, The Guardian      Scientists 
in England are, according to this story, planning to convert apples and 
strawberries into anti-bacterial treatments that would protect against 
tooth decay. Tooth decay occurs because a bacterium called streptococcus 
mutans sticks to the tooth surface in a plaque and begins eating away at 
the enamel. David James, of Horticulture Research International at East 
Malling, England, told the British Association science festival last week 
that he and colleagues were working with scientists at Guy's Hospital on a 
new peptide-a form of protein-that did not kill the germs but prevented 
them from sticking to the plaque. "The problem they have is, how do you 
deliver this to the consumer?" James said. "Obviously you could make it as 
a pharmaceutical product. But our idea in the longer term is to have a 
means of delivery that involves a raw product. It can't be a processed 
product because the protein would be destroyed."  

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