|
MUTABILITY: The
ability of Fusarium AND Pleospora to MUTATE
One of the persistent fears
of critics of the proposed use of mycoherbicides is that they can
mutate or transform themselves and attack living organisms that they
were not specifically intended to attack. The genus Fusarium is
notorious for its
mutability (its ability to mutate). Even the strain developed by
ARS for use
against coca (EN-4) must be kept alive on a specialized diet so that
mutations will be kept to a minimum. Indeed, the isolate EN-4 as
identified by Dr. David Sands is actually a group of mutating strains,
as his published literature shows.
When, in early
Spring of 1999, Florida's new drug czar, Jim McDonough, fresh from a
stint in McCaffrey's ONDCP office introduced the concept of using
Fusarium to kill Florida's outdoor Cannabis crop, the response
from David Struhs, Head of Florida's Department of Environmental
Protection was strong. Struh's
sent a letter off to McDonough emphasizing Fusarium's ability to
mutate, emphasizing the dangers to Florida's environment. The plan
was scrapped.
Definition of "mutate":
1. Change; transformation; instance of such change.
2. Permanent variation in genetic structure with offspring differing
from parents in a characteristic; differentiated from gradual
variation through many generations.
3. A change in a gene potentially capable of being transmitted to
offspring.
Mutation in Fusarium
In controlled environments in Petri Dishes
- "...the extreme variability of Fusarium species in culture
and the fact that they mutate and degenerate rapidly, particularly
under conditions of repeated subculturing on common laboratory
media.Toxigenic Fusarium
Species by Marasas et alia, Penn State U, 1984
- Fusarium mutation in Petri Dishes Sands' literature:
- EN-4 strain mutation
|
