http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/03/23/23greenwire-engineered-oranges-needed-to-resist-disease---73139.html

Engineered Oranges Needed to Resist Disease -- NAS

By PAUL VOOSEN of Greenwire
Published: March 23, 2010

If the Florida orange industry wants to resist a sweeping tide of disease that has ravaged its trees for the past five years, it will likely have no choice but to genetically engineer its crops, according to a report released today by the National Academy of Sciences.

Since its discovery in 2005, citrus greening disease -- also known from its Asian origins as huanglongbing -- has spread to nearly every orange-growing county in Florida, carried by an invasive relative of the aphid, the Asian citrus psyllid. The bacterial disease has already cut the state's orange juice production by several percentage points, leaving swaths of the $9.3 billion industry to sprout misshapen, sour fruit unsuitable even for juicing. Once a tree is infected, there is no cure.

Researchers and farmers have scrambled to halt the disease, culling the insects and infected trees, but they have so far fallen short in finding citrus varieties that resist the disease. This lack of a breeding option means that for a long-term solution, the industry has few options, the academy concluded.

"Conventional plant breeding is unlikely to deliver resistant varieties," given the little resistance currently found, the report says. "This situation renders genetic engineering ... as more viable for developing citrus with resistance."

Though there are non-citrus plants that demonstrate resistance to greening, due to expense or incompatibility, the genes required for creating the modified trees would likely stem from "animal, plant, microbial or bacteriophage origin" or from components of venom or bacterial spore proteins, the report says.

Introducing genetically modified citrus trees would face substantial hurdles. While engineered crops using bacteria genes have been widely accepted in corn, soy and other cash crops, few minor crops have been deregulated for commercial use, with Hawaii's papayas, engineered to resist the ringspot virus, being the notable example.

Groups opposed to modified food would certainly oppose the use of foreign genes in the country's oranges and, subsequently, orange juice. The United States, unlike Europe, requires no labeling of food carrying transgenic material.

"Several well-known activist organizations have taken a stance against genetically modified foods in general and would likely attempt to raise opposition in the general public to juice from transgenic oranges," the report says.

Field tests of trees engineered to resist greening are already under way, with a small grove planted by Southern Gardens, one of Florida's largest citrus producers. The company, a division of U.S. Sugar, developed the trees in collaboration with Texas A&M University. The trials are still too early to provide tangible results, the company said (Greenwire, July 28, 2009).

One of the largest challenges in introducing modified citrus varieties will be the hybrid planting system employed by farmers, which typically sees different varieties grafted onto common rootstocks. While scientists should target these rootstocks in developing resistance strategies, USDA has never tackled the complicated approval process such hybrids would entail, the report says.

Unless early test groves provide an unlikely breakthrough, it will take 10 to 15 years to develop resistant citrus, the report predicts. Until then, orange farmers must continue their vigilant efforts to control the psyllid population and destroy infected trees. Wariness should be employed in increasing insecticide use, the report adds, lest the psyllids develop resistance.

Click here to read the report.

I wouldn't eat a genetically engineered orange or any other type of genetically engineered food. I tried those genetically engineered seedless watermelons once, they tasted disgusting. Leave nature be I say.

you already consume engineered food, even if you don't realize it..

jrb is correct. There are no such thing as genetically engineered seedless watermelons. In my opinion, seedless water Mellon's taste just as good as seeded watermelons, without the hassle of all the seeds. Everyone that I know, much prefers seedless watermelons, over Mellon's with seeds. Everything about growing seedless watermelons is accomplished by mother nature herself. One seeded Melon must be grown for every 5 to 8 seedless variety to accomplish pollination.

Personally, I think GMO is the wave of the future, and it is OK by me. Most all of the wheat grown in Colorado is modified wheat. If a person has eaten corn, they almost assuredly have eaten a genetic modified food, plus corn, or its many byproducts, is in most everything. - Millet (1,021-)

jrb, Millet, what you say about seedless watermelon production is absolutely correct but the tetraploid melon is not natural in nature, they are artificially made. Diploid watermelon seeds are treated with colchicine to double their chromosome set count from 2 to 4 to make the tetraploid watermelon. Whilst not genetic engineering in the modern sense this is still genetic tampering at the basic level. This is why I consider them GMO. Here's a link about this:

http://web.extension.illinois.edu/macon/palette/050828.html

I could have gotten a bad one, it was ages ago so I can't remember if it was under, over or just right in terms of ripeness. But I do remember it tasted very odd unlike any other watermelon I've ever had.

turtleman and Millet you're right GMO food is everywhere, I try to avoid it as best as I can after having read up about it. GMO food has to be clearly labelled here in the UK.

Watermelons are a major crop in my area so far as truck farming goes. And they are a favorite fruit of mine so we eat a lot of them every year. I much prefer the seeded melons on the basis of flavor. I eat a lot of seedless types because once the season peak has passed they are all that is available but given a choice between either and grown and picked properly then I'll take a seeded melon.

.....Alan.

Lemandarangequatelo, thanks for the link. The author, Jennifer Schultz Nelson is one of those rare individuals that has the ability to explain complex matters, in plain simple everyday English. I make the comment, colchicine is a natural plant produced derivative, natural in every way. God gave mankind intelligence so we can better our existence, and in my humble opinion, a seedless product is much better than the same product full of seeds. Few food products contain less seeds than watermelons. When I was a kid we use to eat the heart out of the middle of watermelons and throw the rest away. As far as citrus, it is the same, as most everyone much prefers seedless oranges, over seeded oranges. Now if the watermelon industry was smarter, they would adopt the same practice as the citrus industry. By law, any orange that has six (6) seeds or less is a "seedless" orange. The watermelon industry should follow suit, and create their own new law, proclaiming that all seeded watermelons are now seedless. That should solve the problem. Take care. - Millet (1,020-)

Millet you're welcome, that was the best link I could find on the subject. I didn't know that law regarding seedless oranges, I naturally assumed seedless meant seedless. I liked your suggestion to apply the same law to watermelons, I wonder how people would react lol.