Genetically Modified Forest Planned for U.S. Southeast
February 1st, 2010Via: Scientific American:
Genetic engineering is coming to the forests.
While the practice of splicing foreign DNA into food crops has become common in corn and soy, few companies or researchers have dared to apply genetic engineering to plants that provide an essential strut of the U.S. economy, trees.
But that will soon change. Two industry giants, International Paper Co. and MeadWestvaco Corp., are planning to transform plantation forests of the southeastern United States by replacing native pine with genetically engineered eucalyptus, a rapidly growing Australian tree that in its conventional strains now dominates the tropical timber industry.
The companies’ push into genetically modified trees, led by their joint biotech venture, ArborGen LLC, looks to overcome several hurdles for the first time. Most prominently, they are banking on a controversial gene splice that restricts trees’ ability to reproduce, meant to allay fears of bioengineered eucalyptus turning invasive and overtaking native forests.
If such a fertility control technology — which has come under fire in farming for fear seed firms will exploit it — is proven effective, it could open the door to many varieties of wild plants, including weedy grasses, to be genetically engineered for use in energy applications like biomass and next-generation biofuels without fear of invasiveness.
I think I posted something about this on the cryptogon subreddit several months ago. I was visiting Colorado at the time and could not help but notice that vast swathes of pine trees were rust-colored due to their deaths at the hands of “beetle-kill.” I speculated that this would present opportunities for a biotech company to sell the state genetically modified, beetle-resistant trees. Shortly thereafter, I read something about International Paper Co. wanting to plant genetically modified forests.