New findings on genetically modified plants and foods

New treatments, nutritional boosts and allergy issues

SAN FRANCISCO -- More than 25 scientific papers featured at the 219th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, will focus on the agricultural and food chemistry behind genetically modified plants and foods. Selected studies are described below.

• New treatments from the genetically modified medicine cabinet: California researchers will discuss administering oral vaccines through edible transgenic plants, including a potential vaccine for transmissible gastroenteritis and cryptosporidiosis (a parasitic infection caused by contaminated water or food) and treatment of autoimmune diseases. Texas chemists will report on their selection of maize as the crop of choice from which to make pharmaceuticals and animal vaccines, including an edible vaccine for pigs that protects against a potentially deadly virus. Finally, researchers will discuss a process that could raise the quality and purity of plant-based herbal medicines such as St. John's wort, Echinacea, feverfew and Huang-qin. The process -- involving biochemical characterization of the active compounds, mass multiplication and fortification -- is expected to lead to more sterile, consistent formulations of these popular herbal medicines. (L. M. Welter, USC School of Medicine, Los Angeles, Calif., AGFD 74, Monday, March 27, 4:05 p.m.; E. E. Hood, ProdiGene, College Station, Texas, AGFD 70, Monday, March 27, 2:25 p.m.; and P. K. Saxena, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, AGFD 73, Monday, March 27, 3:45 p.m. Moscone Convention Center, Room 112, Exhibit Level. See page 58 in the final program.)

• Modifying foods to pack more nutritional punch: Can fatty nuts and seeds be modified to boost their healthful content of fatty acids while increasing their antioxidant values? Researchers discuss similar improvements in canola oil that may hold the answer. A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) paper will focus on transgenic changes in the glutenin content of wheat that result in bread doughs that are stronger, weaker or more elastic, thus allowing wheats to be targeted for specific baking needs. And because plant proteins are poor in protein content and quality, researchers have introduced a synthetic storage protein gene into sweet potatoes, which resulted in increased protein quality and, surprisingly, a fourfold increase in protein content. (V. Knauf, Monsanto Corporation, Davis, Calif., AGFD 124, Tuesday, March 28, 2:45 p.m.; A. E. Blechl, USDA, Albany, Calif., AGFD 127, Tuesday, March 28, 4:05 p.m.; C. S. Prakash, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Ala., AGFD 69, Monday, March 27, 2:05 p.m. Moscone Convention Center, Room 112, Exhibit Level. See pages 58 and 59 in the final program.)

• New tests described for allergens in biotech plants: The genetic modification of crops carries the potential for the transfer of allergens because the process introduces one or more new, novel proteins into foods. (All allergens are proteins, but only a few of the proteins found in nature are allergenic.) Nebraska researchers will discuss an approach to the assessment of the allergenicity of genetically modified crops that is currently being widely used by the biotech industry. (S. L. Taylor, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb.; AGFD 128; Tuesday, March 28, 4:25 p.m., Moscone Convention Center, Room 112, Exhibit Level. See page 59 in the final program.)

A nonprofit organization with a membership of 161,000 chemists and chemical engineers, the American Chemical Society www.acs.org publishes scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences, and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.