Plant Genetic Systems (PGS), since 2002 part of Bayer CropScience, is a biotech company located in Ghent, Belgium. The focus of its activities is the genetic engineering of plants. The company is best known for its work in the development of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

-resistant

transgenic plant Genetically modified plants have been engineered for scientific research, to create new colours in plants, deliver vaccines, and to create enhanced crops. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of ''Agrobacterium'' for the ...

s. Its origin goes back to the work of Marc Van Montagu and Jeff Schell at the

University of Ghent Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when th ...

who were among the first to assemble a practical system for genetic engineering of plants. They developed a vector system for transferring foreign genes into the plant genome, by using the

Ti plasmid A tumour inducing (Ti) plasmid is a plasmid found in pathogenic species of ''Agrobacterium'', including ''A. tumefaciens, ''A. rhizogenes'', ''A. rubi'' and ''A. vitis''. Evolutionarily, the Ti plasmid is part of a family of plasmids carried b ...

of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. They also found a way to make plant cells resistant to the antibiotic

kanamycin Kanamycin A, often referred to simply as kanamycin, is an antibiotic used to treat severe bacterial infections and tuberculosis. It is not a first line treatment. It is used by mouth, injection into a vein, or injection into a muscle. Kanamy ...

by transferring a bacterial

neomycin Neomycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic that displays bactericidal activity against gram-negative aerobic bacilli and some anaerobic bacilli where resistance has not yet arisen. It is generally not effective against gram-positive bacilli and ...

phosphotransferase gene into the plant genome. PGS was the first company (in 1985) to develop genetically engineered (

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ch ...

) plants with insect tolerance by expressing genes encoding for insecticidal proteins from

Bacillus thuringiensis ''Bacillus thuringiensis'' (or Bt) is a gram-positive, soil-dwelling bacterium, the most commonly used biological pesticide worldwide. ''B. thuringiensis'' also occurs naturally in the gut of caterpillars of various types of moths and butter ...

(Bt).

History

The company was founded in 1982 by Marc Van Montagu and Jeff Schell who worked at the

, Belgium. In 1996 the company was acquired by ''AgrEvo''. In 2000, Aventis CropScience was formed through a merger of AgrEvo and Rhône-Poulenc Agro. In 2002, Bayer CropScience is formed through Bayer's acquisition of the plant biotech branch Aventis CropScience.

References

* Hofte H, de Greve H, Seurinck J, Jansens S, Mahillon J, Ampe C, Vandekerckhove J, Vanderbruggen H, van Montagu M, Zabeau M, et al., Structural and functional analysis of a cloned delta endotoxin of Bacillus thuringiensis berliner 1715, Eur. J. Biochem. 1986 December 1;161(2):273-80. * Leemans J, Ti to Tomato, Tomato to Market: A decade of plant biotechnology, Bio/Technology, vol. 11, March 1993. * Vaeck, M., A. Reynaerts, H. Hofte, S. Jansens, M. De Beuckeleer, C. Dean, M. Zabeau, M. Van Montagu & J. Leemans. 1987, Transgenic plants protected from insect attack, Nature 328: 33-37.

External links

Institute of Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries
Biological pest control Genetic engineering and agriculture Biotechnology companies of Belgium Ghent Biotechnology companies established in 1982 1982 establishments in Belgium Companies based in East Flanders {{Belgium-company-stub

History

See also

References

External links