Now, a range of naturally occurring insecticidal proteins have been identified in bacteria and plants. The genes which encode them have been transferred to a range of crop plants. Insects are rapidly killed when they start eating plants protected with the Bt gene. It is likely this method will be introduced into Europe soon. The main aim is to produce crops with durable resistance to major insect pests and, ultimately, to fungal and viral pests using naturally occurring plant resistance genes.
Plants can also act as bio-refineries.
Transgenic plants can synthesise pharmaceutical proteins, enzymes for animal feed and industrial bulk enzymes. The first non-food products likely to be produced by genetic engineering are industrial oils, fatty acids and biodegradable plastics. US biotech firms have introduced a single gene from the California bay tree into oil seed rape plants. In effect, the transgenic plants convert more of their carbon into lauric acid, which is used to make soap. Chris Sommerville, from the Carnegie Institute in Stanford, California, has introduced two genes from a bacterium into plants from which yields of PHB, a biodegradable plastic like polyethylene, can be obtained.