41 
IX. PROPOSAL FROM ADVANCED GENETIC SCIENCES, INC. (OPEN SESSION) 
Mr. Mitchell said this agenda item (tab 1155, 1156/V, 1168, 1169) deals 
with generic issues in the Advanced Genetic Sciences Inc. (AGS), proposal. 
He said a closed session immediately following the open session would review 
proprietary information sukmitted as part of the proposal. Dr. Talbot said 
a vote on the proposal would be taken during the closed session. 
Dr. Vidaver said the AGS proposal to field test deletion mutants of Pseudom- 
onas syringae was originally to be discussed at the February 6, 1984, RAC 
meeting. A court order, however, prevented discussion of this proposal. 
[See IX. Announcement Concerning Appellate Court Ruling and Other Announce- 
ments of the minutes of the February 6, 1984, meeting.] Dr. Vidaver said 
the Plant Working Group subsequently transmitted to AGS through the Office 
of Recombinant DNA Activities its perception that the proposal was deficient. 
Dr. Vidaver said AGS has now sulmitted a vastly improved proposal. 
Dr. Vidaver said the AGS proposal is virtually identical in concept and scope 
to a proposal submitted by Drs. Steven iAndow and Nickolas Panopoulos of the 
University of California, Berkeley, which was approved at the April 11, 1983, 
RAC meeting. Both proposals seek to ameliorate frost damage to plants 
caused by ice nucleating bacteria. The principal differences between the 
proposals are the nodified bacterial strain and the test crop. 
Dr. Vidaver offered seme background information on ice nucleating (INA + ) 
bacteria. She said a few bacteria can act as catalysts for the transition 
of water to ice, i.e., they act as ice nuclei. Plants harboring such 
bacteria will freeze at a higher temperature, a relatively warm -2 to -8 
degrees centigrade, than plants that do not harbor such bacteria. Several 
scientists have hypothesized that INA - bacteria, i.e., those lacking the 
property to ice nucleate, will compete with INA + bacteria for attachment 
sites on plants and thus prevent frost injury to the plant. Both growth 
chajnber and field data obtained using non-genet.ical ly engineered INA - 
bacteria tend to support this hypothesis. 
Dr. Vidaver said the majority of ice nucleation active bacteria (INA + ) are 
identified as Pseudomonas syringae , a highly variable bacterial species. 
She emphasized the significance of the variability of Pseudomonas syringae ♦ 
She said INA - Pseudomonas syringae exist in nature in numbers ranging from 
10 to 80 j>ercent of the total Pseudomonas syringae population on a given 
plant. Dr. Vidaver emphasized that an equilibrium exists in nature between 
INA + and INA - Pseudomonas syringae . Dr. Vidaver said the relative ratio 
between INA + and INA - on plants is variable depending on a number of factors, 
which include: the particular plant, the x^lant part sampled, humidity, 
location, temperature , and time of year. Ml of these factors are known 
to influence the distribution of INA + and INA - Pseudomonas syringes . 
In comparing the AGS proposal to current agricultural practices, Dr. Vidaver 
said large numbers of microorganisms are currently being released into the 
environment. She cited two example: (1) the soybean nodulating bacterium 
responsible for nitrogen fixation is spread as a seed inoculant all over 
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