From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Wed Jul 24 2002 - 18:47:54 MDT
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
Just turning on
beta-carotene production won't work, because it is already turned on.
### Genes are not "just turned on" - their level of expression is a
continuously variable quantity, dependent on many factors, one of them being
gene dosage. This is the basis of many diseases, where having one gene
mutated is only half as bad as having two. Robert's suggestion to increase
the copy number of the genes involved in beta-carotene synthesis is a
quick-and-dirty method, but it does have a chance of success. The only way
of finding out is not armchair genetics but experimentation. I would not be
surprised if the professionals involved in this project were working on it
right now.
Rafal
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