The State : Gene Change Curbs Frost

Potato seedlings treated with a genetically modified bacteria designed to protect plants from frost damage suffered one-third as much damage as unprotected plants, a researcher reported. Two years of small-scale field tests proved the procedure to be safe and effective, according to Steven Lindow, associate professor of plant pathology at the UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources. Lindow reported his findings at the annual meeting of the American Phytopathological Society in San Diego. Similar research by other scientists has shown that genetically modified bacteria can protect strawberry plants from frost. The minor modification was designed to counter the effect of common bacteria that trigger frost to form on plants at temperatures just below freezing. Lindow and an associate genetically modified a strain of the bacteria so that it lacked the frost-promoting gene but was otherwise unchanged.