Roundup Ready is the
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...
trademark for its patented line of
genetically modified crop
Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of ''Agrobacterium'' for the delivery of s ...
seeds that are resistant to its
glyphosate
Glyphosate (IUPAC name: ''N''-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) is a broad-spectrum Herbicide, systemic herbicide and Crop desiccation, crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts by inhibiting the plan ...
-based herbicide,
Roundup.
History
In 1996, genetically modified ''Roundup Ready''
soybeans
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...
resistant to Roundup became commercially available, followed by ''Roundup Ready''
corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
in 1998. Current ''Roundup Ready'' crops include
soy
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...
,
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
(corn),
canola
Close-up of canola blooms
Canola flower
Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, i ...
,
sugar beets
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double s ...
,
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
, and
alfalfa
Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...
, with
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
still under development. Additional information on ''Roundup Ready'' crops is available on the
GM Crops List. As of 2005, 87% of U.S. soybean fields were planted with glyphosate resistant varieties.
While the use of Roundup Ready crops has increased the usage of herbicides measured in pounds applied per acre,
[Charles Benbrook]
Evidence of the Magnitude and Consequences of the Roundup Ready Soybean Yield Drag from University-Based Varietal Trials in 1998
Ag BioTech InfoNet Technical Paper Number 1 it has also changed the herbicide use profile away from
atrazine
Atrazine is a chlorinated herbicide of the triazine class. It is used to prevent pre-emergence broadleaf weeds in crops such as maize (corn), soybean and sugarcane and on turf, such as golf courses and residential lawns. Atrazine's primary manufa ...
, metribuzin, and
alachlor
Alachlor is an herbicide from the chloroacetanilide family. It is an odorless, white solid. The greatest use of alachlor is for control of annual grasses and broadleaf weeds in crops. Use of alachlor is illegal in the European Union and no pro ...
which are more likely to be present in run off water.
An injunction in the case of ''Center for Food Safety v. USDA'' in September, 2010 prevented farmers from planting Roundup Ready sugar beets across the United States until a remedial
environmental impact report could be filed, prompting some fear of a sugar shortage. The USDA completed an environmental impact study of Roundup Ready sugar beets in 2012 and concluded that they are safe, at which time they were deregulated.
In 2016, Monsanto introduced ''Roundup Ready Xtend'' soybeans, modified to tolerate both
dicamba
Dicamba (3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid) is a broad-spectrum herbicide first registered in 1967. Brand names for formulations of this herbicide include Dianat, Banvel, Diablo, Oracle and Vanquish. This chemical compound is a chlorinated de ...
and glyphosate. Xtend soybeans were planted on 1 million acres in 2016, and by 2020 were projected to be planted on 50 million acres.
Patents
The US patent for ''Roundup Ready'' soybeans expired in 2014. The US patent for ''Roundup Ready'' canola expired on 26 April 2022.
The
2020 film ''Percy'' is based on Canadian farmer
Percy Schmeiser
Percy Schmeiser (5 January 193113 October 2020) was a Canadian businessman, farmer, and politician. In 1954, he took over the operations of the family owned farm, gas station, and farm equipment dealership. He renamed the farm equipment dealersh ...
's legal battle against
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...
over the ''Roundup Ready'' canola patent.
Genetic engineering
Some
microorganisms
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
have a version of
5-''enol''pyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS: EC 2.5.1.19, 3-phosphoshikimate 1-carboxyvinyltransferase; 5-''enol''pyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate
synthetase
In biochemistry, a ligase is an enzyme that can catalyze the joining (Ligation (molecular biology), ligation) of two large molecules by forming a new chemical bond. This is typically via hydrolysis of a small pendant chemical group on one of the ...
; phospho''enol''pyruvate:3-phosphoshikimate 5-''O''-(1-carboxyvinyl)-
transferase
A transferase is any one of a class of enzymes that catalyse the transfer of specific functional groups (e.g. a methyl or glycosyl group) from one molecule (called the donor) to another (called the acceptor). They are involved in hundreds of di ...
) that is resistant to glyphosate
inhibition
Inhibitor or inhibition may refer to:
In biology
* Enzyme inhibitor, a substance that binds to an enzyme and decreases the enzyme's activity
* Reuptake inhibitor, a substance that increases neurotransmission by blocking the reuptake of a neurotra ...
. The version used in
genetically modified crops
Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of ''Agrobacterium'' for the delivery of ...
was
isolate
Isolate may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Isolate'' (film), a 2013 Australian film
* ''Isolate'' (Circus Maximus album), 2007
* ''Isolate'' (Gary Numan album), 1992
Language
* Isolating language, with near-unity morpheme/word ...
d from ''
Agrobacterium
''Agrobacterium'' is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria established by H. J. Conn that uses horizontal gene transfer to cause tumors in plants. '' Agrobacterium tumefaciens'' is the most commonly studied species in this genus. ''Agrobacterium'' i ...
'' strain CP4 (CP4 EPSPS) that was
resistant to glyphosate.
[Molecular basis for the herbicide resistance of Roundup Ready crops, T. Funke et al., PNAS 2006 103:13010-1301]
/ref> The CP4 EPSPS gene was cloned
Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, c ...
and inserted into soybeans. The CP4 EPSPS gene was engineered for plant expression
Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...
by fusing the 5' end of the gene to a chloroplast
A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it in ...
transit peptide
A signal peptide (sometimes referred to as signal sequence, targeting signal, localization signal, localization sequence, transit peptide, leader sequence or leader peptide) is a short peptide (usually 16-30 amino acids long) present at the N-ter ...
derived from the petunia
''Petunia'' is genus of 20 species of flowering plants of South American origin. The popular flower of the same name derived its epithet from the French, which took the word ''petun'', meaning "tobacco," from a Tupi–Guarani language. A tende ...
EPSPS. This transit peptide was used because it had shown previously an ability to deliver bacterial EPSPS to the chloroplasts of other plants. The plasmid
A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria; how ...
used to move the gene into soybeans was PV-GMGTO4. It contained three bacterial genes, two CP4 EPSPS genes, and a gene encoding
In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...
beta-glucuronidase (GUS) from ''Escherichia coli
''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...
'' as a marker. The DNA was injected into the soybeans using the particle-acceleration method or "gene gun
In genetic engineering, a gene gun or biolistic particle delivery system is a device used to deliver exogenous DNA (transgenes), RNA, or protein to cells. By coating particles of a heavy metal with a gene of interest and firing these micro-proje ...
". Soybean cultivar A54O3 was used for the transformation
Transformation may refer to:
Science and mathematics
In biology and medicine
* Metamorphosis, the biological process of changing physical form after birth or hatching
* Malignant transformation, the process of cells becoming cancerous
* Trans ...
. The expression
Expression may refer to:
Linguistics
* Expression (linguistics), a word, phrase, or sentence
* Fixed expression, a form of words with a specific meaning
* Idiom, a type of fixed expression
* Metaphorical expression, a particular word, phrase, o ...
of the GUS gene was used as the initial evidence of transformation. GUS expression was detected by a staining method in which the GUS enzyme converts a substrate into a blue precipitate
In an aqueous solution, precipitation is the process of transforming a dissolved substance into an insoluble solid from a super-saturated solution. The solid formed is called the precipitate. In case of an inorganic chemical reaction leading ...
. Those plants that showed GUS expression were then taken and sprayed with glyphosate and their tolerance was tested over many generations.
Productivity claims
Under special conditions meant to reveal only genetic yield factors, RR lines actually have worse yields. In 1999, a review of Roundup Ready soybean crops found that, compared to the top conventional varieties, they had a 6.7% lower yield. This so called "yield drag" follows the same pattern observed when other traits are introduced into soybeans by conventional breeding. Monsanto claims later patented varieties yield 7-11% higher than their poorly performing initial varieties, closer to those of conventional farming, although the company refrains from citing actual yields. Monsanto's 2006 application to USDA states that RR2 (mon89788) yields 1.6 bu less than A3244, the conventional variety that the trait is inserted into.
Many genetically engineered crops
Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of ''Agrobacterium'' for the delivery of ...
have similar yield alterations due to one or both of the common causes for this. Roundup Ready crops have both: Yield drag due to the modification itself interfering with yield production; and yield lag
Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of '' Agrobacterium'' for the delivery of ...
due to the delay in breeding the best new yield genetics into the RR lines.
Because this kind of testing is done under artificial conditions, these results do not hold for actual field conditions with weed pressure. Under realistic field use the weed control
Weed control is a type of pest control, which attempts to stop or reduce growth of weeds, especially noxious weeds, with the aim of reducing their competition with desired flora and fauna including domesticated plants and livestock, and in natur ...
advantages are more significant.
References
{{Reflist
See also
* Roundup Ready soybeans
A genetically modified soybean is a soybean (''Glycine max'') that has had DNA introduced into it using genetic engineering techniques. In 1996, the first genetically modified soybean was introduced to the U.S. by Monsanto. In 2014, 90.7 milli ...
* LibertyLink LibertyLink is a BASF-owned brand of genes for use in agriculture providing tolerance to Liberty herbicide and glufosinate (a.k.a. Liberty or Basta). The genes were developed by Bayer CropScience, before being sold to BASF Ag in late 2017. LibertyL ...
Monsanto
Seeds
Genetically modified organisms in agriculture