permaculture

["sal" <sals@rain.org>]

check out an organic farmers homepage
http://www.rain.org/~sals/my.html
sals@rain.,org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wilson, Dale" <WILSONDO@PHIBRED.COM>
To: <SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2000 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: Plant Breeding 101 Please


> Sal,
>
> > \ U did say it will cross with sweetcorn and make the sweetcorn
> > a transgenic sweetcorn.
>
> Actually, I brought up sweetcorn to warn about the danger of sweetcorn
> pollen (transgenic or not) if one is trying to isolate seed production of
> heirloom OP corn.  Sweetcorn is kind of wild and produces a lot of pollen,
> plus it is usually earlier than field corn.
>
> >  so I take it the insecticide will be in the corn on the cob.
> >  so folks will be eating the insecticide just like the bugs.
>
> Well, yeah.  Also, I believe there are some Bt sweetcorns on the market, I
> know they have been developed, but maybe not marketed yet.
>
> > I'm asking will the seed from non transgenic corn become transgenic
> > if the pollen that makes the seed or corn is transgenic even
> > without waiting for next years plantings.
> > ...if I plant organic non transgenic seed and the corn is
> > non transgenic but gets its pollen from a transgenic corn will
> > that turn the fruit or the corn we eat into transgenic and will it
> > be a mix of mom non transgenic and dad into transgenic even though
> > I planted organic seed from the start?
>
> Yes, the embryo and endosperm will be transgenic.  But not all genes are
> expressed in the embryo or endosperm.  For example, Bt event 176 is
> expressed only in green tissue and in the pollen, while the more common Bt
> constructs are expressed all through the plant, but less strongly in the
> pollen than 176.
>
> Dale