sources of GMO

GM food ingredients from various sources:

For herbicide tolerant crops: Glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup, is a broad-spectrum herbicide that controls weeds by inhibiting the enzyme 5-enolpy-ruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthetase (EPSPS) that catalyzes the synthesis of amino acids essential for the survival of plants. EPSPS is found in all plants, fungi, and bacteria but is absent in animals. Glyphosphate binds with EPSPS and inhibits its activity to produce aromatic amino acids, which leads to cell death. All currently commercialized glyphosate crops including corn, cotton, canola, and soybean, contain a tolerant EPSPS gene obtain from one or two sources.

For insect-resistant crops: The common soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) has been commercially used for more than 50 years as am insecticide spray. The insecticidal activity of commercially used BT comes from endotoxin included in crystals formed during sporulation. BT toxins were engineered into major crops. Tobacco, tomato, corn, potato, and cotton had been transformed to express BT toxins. None of the presently registered BT proteins have been demonstrated to be toxic to humans, nor have they been implicated to be allergens. Furthermore, they do not contain sequences resembling relevant allergen epitopes.

For virus-resistant crops: A plant with a coat protein (CP) gene from a virus could confer resistance to that virus when it attempted to infect the plant. A large number of virus-resistant transgenic plants have been developed using “pathogen-derived resistance” techniques. Squash and papaya have been engineered to resist infection by some common viruses, and are approved for sale in the US.