Biotechnology education at Purdue University and beyond

1. Biotechnology education at Purdue University and beyond Peter Goldsbrough Dept. of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University January 2006

2. Outline • Survey of major ag biotech products • Adoption of biotech products • Products that have failed • Obstacles to the deployment of ag biotech products • Some examples of biotechnology educational programs

3. Timeline 1973 First recombinant DNA molecules 1978 First plant genes cloned 1983 Transgenic plants produced 1994 Flavr Savr tomato marketed 1996 Roundup Ready soybeans planted commercially 1998 First UK supermarket bans GM foods 2002 Approval to grow Bt cotton in India

4. What are the products of agricultural biotechnology? • Herbicide resistance • soybeans, cotton, canola, corn • Insect resistance • cotton, corn • Virus resistance • papaya, squash • Others (most not yet commercialized) • nutritional content, shelf life, flower color, pharma crops ….

5. Impact of Roundup Ready beans • Improved weed control • Reduced cost of weed control • for all growers • impact on other herbicide manufacturers • Increased use of no-till planting • reduced soil erosion

6. Why do growers love Roundup Ready soybeans? • Reduced production costs • Greater flexibility for weed control • Increased yield?

7. Bt cotton • Produces a Cry toxin protein from Bacillus thuringiensis • Used to control a number of insect pests • cotton bollworm, budworm • Introduced in 1996, now planted on 76% of US cotton acreage

8. Global adoption of Bt cotton • Bt cotton has been planted in many countries, 21% of global acreage • US, India, China, Australia, South Africa • Contributed to a dramatic reduction in insecticide use (more than 50% in some areas) • Limited food safety concerns • Bollgard II recently introduced • expresses two different Cry proteins

9. Virus resistance • Papaya ringspot virus decimated the papaya industry in Hawaii in the 1990s • Dennis Gonsalves et al. developed transgenic papaya expressing PRSV coat protein, resistant to the virus

10. Virus resistance • Transgenic papaya grown in Hawaii for several years • Restored the papaya industry • Increased exports of non-transgenic papaya

11. Adoption of GM crops • Steady increase in global plantings of GM crops • High market penetration in the US

12. GM crops on the rise?

13. GM crops on the rise? • GM crops are planted on only 5% of the world's farmland • account for >50% of only one crop, soybeans • Lots of opportunity for growth!

14. Some GM product “failures” • Flavr Savr tomato • Bt potato • High methionine soybean • Roundup Ready wheat • Weevil resistant pea

15. What are the obstacles to the greater use of GM crops? • Scientific discovery • Cost of development • Economic benefits • Intellectual property constraints • Regulatory issues • Consumer acceptance • What role for biotechnology education?

16. Consumer acceptance? • Not an issue in the US • A major concern elsewhere, especially in Europe

17. Agricultural biotechnology education at Purdue • Purdue students • HORT 350 Biotechnology in Agriculture • High school teachers • Summer class on biotechnology • School-age children • Apple genomics • The general public

18. HORT 350 Biotechnology in Agriculture • Semester course for junior and senior undergraduate students • The science of biotechnology and transgenic organisms • Applications of biotechnology, primarily in agriculture • Regulations and controversies surrounding ag biotechnology

19. Biotechnology education for teachers • HORT 350 converted to a distance education course for teachers • Taught by Dr. Kathryn Orvis • Encourages incorporation of genetics and biotechnology into the school curriculum • Teachers develop and share lesson plans on biotechnology

20. Biotechnology education for children • Apple genomics research program supported by the National Science Foundation • At Purdue, we are developing web-based educational material to explain the science of genomics • Targeted at school-age children • Uses apple as the model

21. Apple genomics education Use animations to explain topics • DNA cloning • DNA sequencing • Gene expression • Microarrays

22. From Lego blocks to nucleotides • Lego building blocks are used to represent nucleotides in DNA • Connectors on blocks represent the hydoxyl and phosphate groups • These join together to make a stack of blocks • or a DNA molecule

23. DNA sequencing with Lego blocks • Connectors on Lego blocks represent chemical groups • Different colors of blocks represent bases • Blocks without connectors represent dideoxy nucleotides used for sequencing

24. DNA sequencing with Legos • See the animation, “Modeling DNA Sequencing with Lego Blocks under Apple Molecular Biology – Cloning, on this website.

25. Other animations Two additional animations, showing biotechnology processes are on this webpage, under the For Educators” section: • The gene gun • Agrobacterium

26. The role of education • Education will not solve all the problems with public concern regarding GM crops • However, if the public is better informed about the science and the issues, the prospects for more widespread adoption of this technology are enhanced