Weil Jacques-Henry
Institut de Biologie Moleculaire des Plantes, Strasbourg, France.
IUBMB Life. 2005 Apr-May;57(4-5):311-4. doi: 10.1080/15216540500092252.
So far, plants have been genetically modified essentially to achieve resistance to herbicides, or to pathogens (mainly insects, or viruses), but resistance to abiotic stresses (such as cold, heat, drought, or salt) is also being studied. Genetically modified (GM) plants with improved nutritional qualities have more recently been developed, such as plants containing higher proportions of unsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6) in their oil (to prevent cardio-vascular diseases), or containing beta-carotene as in the golden rice (to prevent vitamin A deficiency). Possible risks for human health (such as the production of allergenic proteins), or for the environment (such as the appearance of superweeds as a result from gene flow), should be carefully studied, and a science-based assessment of benefits vs. risks should be made on a case by case basis, both for GM plants and for plants obtained by conventional breeding methods.
到目前为止，植物基因改造主要是为了实现抗除草剂或抗病原体（主要是昆虫或病毒），但对非生物胁迫（如寒冷、高温、干旱或盐分）的抗性也在研究之中。最近还培育出了营养品质得到改善的转基因植物，例如油中含有更高比例不饱和脂肪酸（ω-3和ω-6）的植物（以预防心血管疾病），或像黄金大米那样含有β-胡萝卜素的植物（以预防维生素A缺乏症）。对人类健康可能存在的风险（如产生致敏蛋白）或对环境可能存在的风险（如因基因流动而出现超级杂草）都应仔细研究，并且应针对转基因植物和通过传统育种方法获得的植物，逐案进行基于科学的利弊评估。
