Will Corn Help Cure AIDS?
Maize, commonly called corn in the US, is the third most important cereal in the world. It has a great number of advantages for molecular agriculture such as its capacity to express recombinant proteins in the seeds, its widespread cultivation and its genetic diversity, along with being anti-allergenic and non-toxic. Now scientists from the Universidad de Lleida (University of Lleida) have published a study (1) confirming that maize seeds are an effective and sure platform within molecular agriculture to alleviate diseases. Over the next few years AIDS could be one of the first diseases to benefit from these results, although regulations for this technology are being developed at the same time as research is being undertaken. In March, transgenic maize became the first plant to be developed commercially for medical use. The PNAS article (2) published the following findings: a maize seed with genes from the 2G12 antibody (already known for its capacity to neutralise infection from the virus) could produce antibodies against the transmission of HIV. Researchers from the Departamento de Producción Vegetal y Ciencia read more
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