A British Columbia biotechnology company thinks it has found a way to produce genetically modified food that won’t freak out consumers.
Chromos Molecular Systems Inc. hopes its artificial chromosome expression system will revolutionize genetic modification.
Now, scientists bombard a cell with genes and hope one of them inserts itself into a chromosome.
Chromos’s system is less random. An artificial chromosome that already contains the desired gene or genes is inserted into a cell where it coexists peacefully with existing natural chromosomes.
Company president Alistair Duncan said the new technique should help ease the minds of consumers worried about genetic contamination of cells.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
In an interview during the Ag-West Biotech Inc. annual meeting in Saskatoon on Oct. 30, Duncan said the system is “a very controlled rational approach. It gets away from the randomness associated with current transformation technology. That may provide another level of comfort (to consumers).”
He said existing methods can create questions.
“Where does the genetic information that you’ve introduced end up at the end of the day?” he asked.
“When you inject the naked DNA directly into the cell, you have to put a whole bunch in. The reason you have to put a whole bunch in is because there is a number of enzymes that are residing inside the cells that basically attacks the DNA, cuts it up and renders it useless.”
Natural chromosomes contain thousands of genes that make the proteins that are vital to life.
Chromos researchers have created blank template chromosomes that carry no genes, which Duncan called the perfect starting point for genetic modification. Scientists can use those blank templates and insert only the genes they want for the expression of certain traits.
The artificial chromosomes are the ideal vehicles for genetic modification because they have the capacity to carry a much larger genetic payload, he added. They can carry one or more large genes or multiple copies of the same gene.
It allows scientists to produce proteins that could not be manufactured using existing gene delivery systems.
These artificial chromosomes are protected by proteins so the enzymes that would normally attack “naked DNA” can’t get at the genetic material housed in the chromosomes.
Fewer chromosomes are needed to get the desired trait, which means it is easier to track what happens to the genetic material that was injected into a cell.
Promotional material on the Chromos website at www.chromos.com says artificial chromosomes replicate and divide like natural chromosomes in the nucleus of target cells and do not carry harmful sequences.
“Healthy transgenic mice have been generated over multiple generations that carry artificial chromosome expression systems, providing preliminary evidence of the safety of artificial chromosome expression systems.”
So far, the Burnaby company has manufactured mouse-based and human-based platforms for delivering the artificial chromosomes, but nothing for plants.
Duncan said the company has created the wholly owned subsidiary Agrisoma Biosciences Inc. to use the technology in agriculture. Agrisoma will either use the mouse-based platform or create a plant-based artificial chromosome for crops, but Duncan said that is still a number of years away.
