Horizonal gene transfer: Sweet potato naturally 'genetically modified'
Date:April 21, 2015
Source:Ghent University
Summary:
Sweet potatoes from all over the world naturally contain genes from the bacterium Agrobacterium, researchers report. Sweet potato is one of the most important food crops for human consumption in the world. Because of the presence of this "foreign" DNA, sweet potato can be seen as a "natural GMO," the researchers say.
Sweet potatoes from all over the world naturally contain genes from the bacterium Agrobacterium. Researchers from UGent and the International Potato Institute (CIP) publish this discovery on the website ofPNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America). Later it will be on the cover of this magazine. Sweet potato is one of the most important food crops for human consumption in the world. Because of the presence of this "foreign" DNA, sweet potato can be seen as a "natural GMO."