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Biotech Science

Rabies Antibodies From Tobacco Plants 47

Posted by timothy from the smokin' dept.
Makarand writes "The tobaccco plant has been genetically engineered to produce rabies antibodies. After the DNA coding for the human antibody against rabies was inserted into the plant, rabies antibodies were found in the plant extract. These antibodies were effective in binding to and neutralising the rabies virus in animal tests with no adverse or allergic reactions."
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Rabies Antibodies From Tobacco Plants More

Rabies Antibodies From Tobacco Plants

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  • No surprise (Score:4, Interesting)

    by crow ( 16139 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @04:56PM (#6145487) Homepage Journal
    That's not terribly surprising. I heard years ago that tobacco is one of the easiest plants to genetically alter. That's god news for the growers as their traditional customers become more scarce.

    • Re:No surprise (Score:5, Funny)

      by Muhammar ( 659468 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @06:10PM (#6145857)
      Yeah, recently they also produced transgenetic tobbaco with firefly genes which glows in the dark when sprayed with a chemical called "luciferin".

      http://www.gla.ac.uk/ibls/US/L1/l12002/plantwat/ bi oplant.htm

      We will have more of these nasty tobbaco hybrids soon - pack-hunting around, biting their victims and even infecting them with rabbies.

    • Re:No surprise (Score:3, Informative)

      by jericho4.0 ( 565125 )
      Tobacco has long been used for genetic fiddling because of the huge amount of work that went into it via the ciggarette companies, and our body of knowlrdge about the tobacco mosaic virus. I don't think there's anything about tobacco that makes it easir to work with, per se.

  • Hooray! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Feztaa ( 633745 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @05:02PM (#6145514) Homepage
    For once, tobacco is saving lives!
    • > For once, tobacco is saving lives!

      Yeah, but since it's a genetically-modified (GM) product, the EU "pure food" nuts will just ban the rabies-curing tobacco as "unsafe".

      (The lung-cancer-causing variety, by comparison, must be good for ya, 'cuz it's "natural" :)

    • For once, tobacco is saving lives!

      Ironically, so is the rabies virus.

      Rabies is a commonly used vector in gene therapy research. Since it targets brain tissue, it is a good way to introduce a therapeutic gene into mammalian neurons to treat diseases like ALS and spinal muscular atrophy.

  • But. (Score:1)

    by TheRoss ( 28211 )
    can you smoke it?

  • Get rabbies... (Score:5, Funny)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Sunday June 08, 2003 @05:20PM (#6145600) Homepage
    Get addicted!

    Cigarettes aren't selling well? Just wait untill people get rabies! Then give them our vaccine, and they'll get addicted to it! It's the perfect plan.

    He he he.

  • Adverse events (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Boglin ( 517490 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @05:21PM (#6145606) Journal
    "with no adverse or allergic reactions."
    A good friend of mine did some consulting work on a computer system for a certain multi-national pharmaceutical manufacturer. His tales of what went on there are some of the most depressingly humorous stories I have ever heard (with all the sides (patients, politicians, managers, the FDA, animal rights activists, doctors, researchers) commiting their fair share of the stupidity). What brought this to mind is when he told me about the FDA's requirement that they track all the adverse events caused by the medication, such as headache or dizzyness. The funny part is that Death is not considered an adverse reaction. Death is a natural occurance, and patients who die while testing your medication aren't worth keeping track of.
  • Bot... how long before smokable vitamins?

  • Think of the new anti-rabies programs... (Score:3, Funny)

    by therealmoose ( 558253 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @05:43PM (#6145718)
    Will we send the tobacco industries' finest to try to hook dogs and small animals on these cigarretes? Imagine - "Puff puff the Raccoon"?
  • I guess this means if a rabid dog bites you, then smoke 'em if you got 'em (and get lots more to smoke if you got none)

  • Zork the Rabid Dog (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This reminds me of an old college radio promo I remember hearing:

    "Somewhere in our town tonight roams Zork, the rabid dawg. We'll give $1000 to whoever can grab... the RIGHT.... rabid...dawg!"

    This is so obscure and old that it is not even found on Google.

  • And corn, and other edibles (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Katravax ( 21568 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @06:14PM (#6145879)
    Sure, everyone jokes about smoking and tobacco on this story, but they're using corn and other edible crops as well. I don't give a damn how careful they are with the crops, they will not be able to remove all chance that the altered plants will propagate outside the "controlled" crop areas.

    What kind of effects will that have on food crops? What does it do to a human body to eat too much of the given drugs being grown in plants? The companies growing it don't even know. They whine because it's so much cheaper to do this way than with the traditional lab methods, and that it would cost too much to stop doing it. I don't care how much it costs them -- I don't want the chance of this stuff jumping into the food supply. I'd rather get sick of whatever they're trying to cure.

    I know there will be replies calling me a biology luddite, but I'm not. I don't want this stuff in our food. It's too much like pissing near the well.

    • Re:And corn, and other edibles (Score:4, Funny)

      by avalys ( 221114 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @06:28PM (#6145953)
      >I'd rather get sick of whatever they're trying to cure.

      We'll miss you - rabies is fatal.
      • I knew someone would miss the point. Tobacco is not a food plant. But let's say it was. Which is worse -- the occasional person dying from rabies, or entire groups of people eating rabies vaccine? They're growing cow antibiotics in corn. Do you want to eat that? What will it do to your body?
        • I'm taking antibiotics right now for bronchitis. Wouldn't you know it, I'm starting to grow a third eye on my left palm.

        • Which is worse -- the occasional person dying from rabies, or entire groups of people eating rabies vaccine? They're growing cow antibiotics in corn. Do you want to eat that? What will it do to your body?

          What's needed is a safety mechanism. I have seen research that rendered yeast (IIRC) dependant on an amino acid that does not occur naturally (yet is easily synthesized). A good measure would be to make the same modification to the plant's genetics so that won't grow at all outside of it's controlled cu

      • Not just fatal, it is the only disease on Earth that is 100% fatal. The Ebola virus (specifically, Ebola Zaire) is the second most lethal, after it.

  • So this is how they save themselves... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Stonan ( 202408 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @06:22PM (#6145924) Homepage
    Let's face it, the tobacco industry is being slowly hunted down and exterminated. What better way to survive than to alter the product but keep the raw material.

    The industry keeps it's plantations and probably won't have to change the harvesting methods. Processing might need some modification. Major changes for the factories/machines that produce the actual finished product. If it's possible to grow a tobacco plant with multiple genetic changes that don't interfere with each other's development, it could be the 2nd golden era for the tobacco industry.

  • Obligatory Simpsons link (Score:4, Funny)

    by ArmorFiend ( 151674 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @06:29PM (#6145959) Homepage Journal
    Tobbacco's so hard to work into a salad. Maybe they should make some anti-rabies Tomacco instead? [thesimpsons.com]

  • So.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mbstone ( 457308 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @06:38PM (#6145996)
    Does this mean tobacco chewers won't just spit, now they'll foam at the mouth, too?

  • It's true! (Score:3, Funny)

    by breon.halling ( 235909 ) on Sunday June 08, 2003 @07:03PM (#6146114)

    I've been smoking for years and I've never once had rabies!

  • Smoke? (Score:2, Informative)

    by thomasmd ( 677167 )
    I hate to state the obvious and spoil all the hilarious comments here (which are undoubtedly meant to ridiculous), but cigarettes from the altered tobacco plants will of course NOT be smoked if you are bitten by a rabid dog. The leaves from the plants will be mushed up and the antibodies will be extracted, yielding a fluid for injection.

    This won't do anything for the cigarette industry, but this (and other work in tobacco) could very well help tobacco farmers. Tobacco is used not only because it is easy to

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