The resistant corn is created when the elusive gene known as cfp is transferred into a living cell. Cfp could be described as the genetic blueprint for a protein that can shield a cell's surface from the cercosporin toxin. It is the agent responsible for protecting Cercospora from its own destructive poison. Without the gene, cells of Cercospora would be destroyed by the very toxin they create. In effect, this action would transfer the Cercospora s natural resistance to its own toxin to the corn, and thus create corn plants that gray leaf spot can not destroy.
Corn is a very complex organism that, until recently, has been incredibly difficult to alter.
Researchers at Pioneer employed a new tool designed specifically for use in genetic research, the gene gun, to complete the transfer of cfp into corn. A typical gene gun weighs from three to four pounds and resembles a hot glue gun. It bombards targeted tissues with millions of individual particles of gold. Each particle is coated with a small amount of genetic material, which was, in this case, cfp. As the gun's trigger is pulled, a swift pulse of pressurized helium drives the gene-coated particles toward the corn tissue.