BACKYARD FACTORIES 

YOUR BACKYARD COULD BECOME A "HIGH TECH" PROTEIN FACTORY! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? REVOLUTIONARY BREAKTHROUGHS IN GENETIC ENGINEERING ARE BOGGLING MINDS EVERYWHERE. COMMON BARLEY PLANTS MAY BE THE NEW "FACTORIES" OF THE FUTURE PRODUCING MEDICAL COMPOUNDS AT A MINUTE FRACTION OF TODAY'S COSTS. INTERFERON, INSULIN AND TISSUE PLASMINOGEN ACTIVATORS ARE ALL BELIEVED TO BE SUITABLE FOR THIS NEW TECHNIQUE.

PRIOR TO THESE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS, PROTEIN MOLECULES, WERE SO COMPLEX AND EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO CREATE USING STANDARD CHEMICAL TECHNIQUES OF SYNTHESIS. YET PROTEINS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR FOOD DIGESTION, KEEP SKIN ELASTICITY, SMOOTH OPERATION OF THINKING PROCESSES AND SERVE A WIDE RANGE OF OTHER FUNCTIONS. NOW TO PRODUCE THESE CHEAPLY SOMEONE HAS THOUGHT OF 'THE BETTER WAY'.

POUNDS OF ANIMAL TISSUE MUST BE PROCESSED TO GATHER A SINGLE GRAM OF INTERFERON. THIS LENGTHY PROCESS IS VERY, VERY COSTLY. NOW THE BREAKTHROUGH!

ORDINARY BARLEY SEEDS ARE TURNED INTO SUPERSEEDS THAT WILL MANU- FACTURE THESE VALUABLE PHARMACEUTICAL PROTEINS BY THE POUND! RESEARCHERS REMOVE FROM THE SEED THE GENES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENZYME ALPHA-AMYLASE. PROPERLY TRIGGERED BARLEY NORMALLY CAN PRODUCE LARGE QUANTITIES OF THIS SUBSTANCE. BUT NOW SCIENTISTS SUBSTITUTE GENES THAT CODE FOR A DESIRED PROTEIN. SUCH "FIXED" SEEDS ARE THEN GROWN INTO SEEDLINGS AND PLANTS JUST LIKE ORDINARY BARLEY. BUT AT HARVEST TIME THESE SUPERSEEDS ARE REMOVED AND GERMINATED. BUT THEY DO NOT GROW LIKE THEIR FOREBEARERS, INSTEAD THEY PRODUCE HUGE QUANTITIES OF THE DESIRED PROTEIN! ONE ACRE OF BARLEY COULD PRODUCE IN JUST THREE DAYS ENOUGH SEEDS TO PRODUCE 20 POUNDS OF PROTEIN. THE COMPLETE PROCESS HASN'T YET BEEN PERFECTED BUT THAT IS JUST A MATTER OF TIME, PERHAPS FOUR YEARS. IT COULD BE A MAJOR MEDICAL ADVANCE PERHAPS EQUAL TO THE DISCOVERY BY SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING OF PENICILLIN IN 1928. MORE INFORMATION: PROFESSOR JOHN ROGERS, FACULTY OF MEDICINE & BIOLOGY, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63110.

PHONE: (314) 362-7400

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