Shooting genes

SCIENTISTS have overcome the resistance offered by three species of Indian pulses to conventional genetic engineering techniques, literally at the point of a gun.

S C Bhargava of the S K N College of Agriculture in Jobner in Rajasthan and A C Smigocki of the US Department of Agriculture report that they used a particle gun to fire two marker genes into moth bean, green gram and black gram (Current Science, Vol 66, No 6). These genes were coated on gold particles and bombarded with a helium-driven gene gun into the ungerminated embryos of the three species. The bombarded embryos successfully developed into adult plants.