- Plant Genetic Systems
Plant Genetic Systems (PGS), since
2002 part ofBayer CropScience , is a biotech company located inGhent ,Belgium . The focus of its activities is the genetic engineering of plants. The company is best known for its work in the development ofinsect -resistanttransgenic plant s.Its origin goes back to the work of
Marc Van Montagu andJeff Schell at theUniversity of Ghent who were among the first to assemble a practical system for genetic engineering of plants. They developed a vector system for transferring foreign genes into the plant genome, by using theTi plasmid ofAgrobacterium tumefaciens . They also found a way to make plant cells resistant to the antibiotickanamycin by transferring a bacterialneomycin phosphotransferase gene into the plant genome. PGS was the first company (in1985 ) to develop genetically engineered (tobacco ) plants with insect tolerance by expressing genes encoding for insecticidal proteins fromBacillus thuringiensis (Bt).History
The company was founded in
1982 byMarc Van Montagu andJeff Schell who worked at theUniversity of Ghent , Belgium. In1996 the company was acquired by "AgrEvo". In2000 , Aventis CropScience was formed through a merger of AgrEvo and Rhône-Poulenc Agro. In2002 ,Bayer CropScience is formed through Bayer's acquisition of Aventis CropScience.References
* Hofte H, de Greve H, Seurinck J, Jansens S, Mahillon J, Ampe C, Vandekerckhove J, Vanderbruggen H, van Montagu M, Zabeau M, et al., Structural and functional analysis of a cloned delta endotoxin of Bacillus thuringiensis berliner 1715, Eur J Biochem. 1986 Dec 1;161(2):273-80.
* Leemans J, Ti to Tomato, Tomato to Market: A decade of plant biotechnology, Bio/Technology, vol. 11, March 1993.
* Vaeck, M., A. Reynaerts, H. Hofte, S. Jansens, M. De Beuckeleer, C. Dean, M. Zabeau, M. Van Montagu & J. Leemans. 1987, Transgenic plants protected from insect attack, Nature 328: 33-37.ee also
*
CropDesign
*Flanders Interuniversity Institute of Biotechnology (VIB)
*FlandersBio
*Marc Zabeau External links
* [http://www.bayercropscience.com/ Bayer CropScience]
* [http://www.ipbo.rug.ac.be/aboutus/mvm.html Marc Van Montagu]
* [http://www.ipbo.rug.ac.be/ Institute of Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries]
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