Thanavala explains that ideally the genetically engineered foods would be grown locally, making transportation issues obsolete. Musa is a genus in the Musaceae family, monocots that tend to be tropical. Several species of bananas produce an abundance of seeds. Those with pendent inflorescences are bat-pollinated, so their flowers are open and functional only at night. In the cultivated Musa sp., the fruit, a true berry, develops without fertilization or seed production and is therefore referred to as parthenocarpic.
Edible vaccine has applications for livestock as well.
Instead of giving animals large doses of antibiotics, a controversial issue in itself, feeding them an edible vaccine could provide the necessary disease protection. Many researchers have placed their hopes on edible vaccines as potential eradicators of infectious diseases around the world. Dr. Charles J. Arntzen, president of Boyce Thompson Institute, hopes this research will eventually lead to an edible HIV vaccine. Edible vaccines will be an attractive prospect not only to Third World Nations, but also to industrialized countries. The plant book.