First transgenic plant (tobacco with an Agrobacterium vector)
Primera planta transgénica (tabaco con vector de Agrobacterium)
- Date
- 1983 · confidence high
- Place
- Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Credited to
- Luis Herrera-Estrella, Marc Van Montagu and Jeff Schell (Ghent); in parallel, Monsanto and Mary-Dell Chilton's team
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
In 1983 several groups, including Ghent's with the Mexican Herrera-Estrella, expressed chimaeric antibiotic-resistance genes in tobacco cells using a disarmed Agrobacterium Ti plasmid. Fertile plants that passed on the gene were obtained, and plant genetic engineering began.
Three groups published almost simultaneously in 1983 (Ghent and Cologne with Schell and Van Montagu; Monsanto with Fraley, Horsch and Rogers; Washington University with Chilton). The 2013 Wolf and World Food Prizes (Chilton, Van Montagu, Fraley) reflect the split. Herrera-Estrella's role as first author is generally acknowledged.
What it led to
- herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant transgenic crops
- founding of companies such as Plant Genetic Systems (Ghent)
- basic plant genetics research with Arabidopsis and tobacco