One of the major objections to genetic engineering is that a DNA segment is transferred to the crop, and lands in a somewhat random location.  That’s because genetic engineering largely uses Agrobacterium to perform the genetic exchange.  But Agrobacterium came from nature, and there is significant evidence that DNA transfer events have been happening for thousands to millions of years.  Dr. Leon Otten has been studying Agrobacterium for decades, and now is identifying recent evidence that the bacterium has littered the plant world with random DNA insertion events. It is likely that these events had important roles in plant evolution, potentially around agronomically important traits. We discuss this natural phenomenon and how it may change the dialog on genetic engineering and regulation.

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The Talking Biotech podcast is distinct from Dr. Kevin Folta's teaching and research roles at the University of Florida. The views expressed on the show are those of Dr. Folta and his guests, and do not reflect the opinions of the university or Colabra.