First Tests of Altered Bacterium on Potato Plants OKd by EPA

The first open-air tests of genetically altered bacterium designed to prevent potato plants from freezing could start within a week, after approval Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Experimental use permits were issued to University of California, Berkeley, researcher Dr. Steven Lindow, an associate professor of plant pathology, who plans to spray the bacterium on potato seedlings to prevent frost damage.

Lindow and his colleagues have altered the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae , also known as ice minus. They have deleted the gene responsible for making a protein that promotes formation of ice crystals on plant surfaces.

Without the protein, researchers believe that they can protect some plants from frost damage at temperatures as low as 23 degrees Fahrenheit.

The natural bacteria cause an estimated $1 billion a year in agricultural losses.

Later Tuesday, a group of Tulelake residents failed to persuade Siskiyou County supervisors to issue a moratorium against the planned experiment.

County Planning Director Bob Sellman told the board in Yreka that it had no jurisdiction over the experiment, which will be on state-owned land.

Experiments had been stalled since September, 1983, because of litigation and protests from local residents.