No, it has nothing to do with the latest movie from the Terminator series. At least not directly and not yet: there are no robots and artificial intelligence involved here. It involves genetics, yes, but the genetics of plants.
The Terminator Technology genetically engineers plants to produce sterile seeds at harvest. It was developed by the multinational seed/agrochemical industry and the US government to prevent farmers from re-planting harvested seed and force them to buy seed each season instead. Terminator is sometimes called Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURTs) - the broad term that refers to the use of an external chemical inducer to control the expression of a plant’s genetic traits.
Apomixis is a naturally occurring form of asexual reproduction in which plant embryos grow from egg cells without fertilisation by pollen. Genetic engineers have transferred the genes conferring apomixis from a wild grass species into maize. By using apomixis breeders could dramatically reduce the high cost of producing hybrid seed.
The combination of switchable promoters with apomixis enables the creation of seed that would produce viable plants that would grow and produce viable seed only when treated with chemicals. Rather than the annual cost of producing hybrid seed, the companies that hold the patents for these technologies would simply need to produce the seed once, and then extract the costs from farmers through the chemicals to switch on the traits, including the apomictic trait, each season.
How does the terminator technology work?
The technology in the patent could be applied in a number of ways, but in general, it involves three steps:
1. Scientists add terminator genes to a crop.
2. The seed company initiates the terminator process before selling the seeds by adding an inducer.
3. Farmers plant seeds, grow plants and harvest mature, but sterile seeds.
The technology's success depends on a cleverly controlled sequence of interactions among the spliced-in genes. The last engineered gene comes into play very late in seed development when a special switch under the control of the inducer turns on the gene causing it to produce toxin. The toxin kills the embryo that is part of each mature seed.
An outline of the Terminator technology
The terminator technology consists of three genes with their on/off switches. Before selling to farmers, a seed company treats the seeds with a chemical inducer – probably tetracycline – to initiate the terminator gene interactions. Although the patent covers a number of ways the genes might interact, below is a description of one way the technology could work.
Gene I: Repressor
Terminator Genes in the absence of the Inducer: A repressor gene produces a repressor protein.
Terminator Genes in the presence of the Inducer: The same repressor protein is produced.
Gene II: Recombinase
A recombinase gene is controlled by a promoter. Between the promoter and the recombinase gene, scientists place a DNA fragment which is a binding site for the repressor from Gene I.
Terminator Genes in the absence of the Inducer: In the absence of the inducer, the repressor binds to the binding site and the plant cannot produce the recombinase protein, an enzyme that snips out pieces of DNA.
Terminator Genes in the presence of the Inducer: The inducer interferes with the repressor attachment to the binding site – thus allowing Gene II to produce recombinase.
Gene III: Toxin
A gene for a toxin lethal to embryos (Toxin Gene) is controlled by a late promoter (LP), that is active only during the late stage of seed development when the embryo is developing. Between the late promoter and the toxin gene, scientists place a piece of DNA called a Blocker, which interferes with the ability of the promoter to turn on the gene.
Terminator Genes in the absence of the Inducer: Without the inducer, there is no recombinase to snip out the blocker.
With the blocker in place, no toxin is produced.
Thus, by withholding the inducer, seed companies can produce generations of viable seeds.
Terminator Genes in the presence of the Inducer: Recombinase from Gene II snips out the blocker and allows the late promoter to turn on production of the toxin gene late in the season.
LP – Bocker – Toxine gene
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| Blocker (cut out by recombinase)
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LP – Toxine gene
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Toxin is produced and kills the embryo before the matue seeds are harvested
Will Terminator stop genetic contamination?
The multinational seed industry is waging a public relations campaign to promote Terminator technology as a means to stop unwanted genetic contamination from genetically engineered (GE) plants (particularly for potential use in GE trees and plants modified to produce drugs and industrial chemicals).
Escaped genes from GE plants are causing contamination and pose threats to agricultural biodiversity and the livelihoods of farmers. For example, Saskatchewan organic canola farmers are suing Monsanto and Bayer for GE contamination (www.saskorganic.com/oapf).
Industry argues that engineered sterility would offer a built-in safety feature for GE plants because if genes from a Terminator crop cross-pollinate with related plants nearby, the seed produced from unwanted pollination will be sterile – it will not germinate. But Terminator technology is a complex system involving multiple inserted genes that all work together in a sequence. Scientists warn that Terminator will not be 100% effective. The likelihood of system failure means it could never be a reliable tool for “biocontainment”. If Terminator is used for “biocontainment” and fails, it would introduce new, dangerous biosafety risks.
What impact will Terminator seeds have on farmers?
Terminator is a major violation of the rights of farmers to save and reuse their own seeds. Through pollen movement in the first generation, Terminator genes could contaminate farmers’ crops - farmers might then unknowingly save and reuse seeds that are contaminated and will not germinate. This could also happen if imported grain contains Terminator genes. Farmers who depend on humanitarian food aid risk devastating crop loss if they unknowingly use food aid grain containing Terminator genes as seed. Terminator would ensure a corporate stranglehold on seeds and result in higher seed prices at a time when farmers are experiencing the worst income crisis in the history of modern agriculture. If the farmers were forced to buy Terminator seeds every year, the cost would be crippling.
Official data
On the 3rd of the March 1998 The US Department of Agriculture and cotton seed breeders Delta and Pine Land Company acquired US patent 5,723,765 for their „Technology Protection System” (TPS). This system for genetically engineering a suicide mechanism into seeds of the next generation was dubbed the „terminator” technology. On May 11th Monsanto announced its intention of buying Delta and Pine Land Co. for $1.76 billion. This was widely seen as a move to gain the terminator patent.
On September 15th 1998 Astra Zeneca received US patent 5,808,034 on it's own terminator type technology. This was branded the „verminator” as the genes were taken from brown rats. All five companies developing GE seeds have now applied for their own terminator style patents. In November of 1998 The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the world network of publicly funded plant breeding research centres announced that none of its centres would develop „any genetic system designed to prevent germination”.
In April 1999 Monsanto announced the postponement of the commercialisation of the terminator pending an independent review. Astra-Zeneca followed in May announcing it would not develop "technology which results in sterility in second generation seed". For the time being the tide seems to be turning against the terminator. If these companies are allowed to go ahead with commercialisation of this technology, the profit potential of the terminator trait dictate it would soon be included in all GE crops.
Delta & Pine Land (DPL), the world’s largest cotton seed company, jointly holds three US patents on Terminator technology with the US Department of Agriculture. In October 2005, DPL won new Terminator patents in both Europe and Canada. Also, the multinational seed and agrochemical company Syngenta is requesting a Canadian patent on its Terminator potatoes. But Indigenous potato farmers in the Andes of Peru have CBAN – Canadian Biotechnology Action Network asked Syngenta destroy this patent.
Global Moratorium Upheld!: The international moratorium at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity was upheld and strengthened in March 2006 thanks to pressure from Canadians and people across the world.
Canada still promotes Terminator: In 2005, the Canadian government tried to overturn the UN moratorium. A leaked memo revealed that the government was preparing to push language to allow fieldtesting and commercialization. However, in March 2006, public pressure forced the government to agree to strengthen the moratorium, but the government has still not taken a stand against Terminator.
Monsanto Bids to Buy Terminator: In August 2006, Monsanto announced it would buy Delta & Pine Land, the US seed company conducting greenhouse trials of Terminator. In 1999 Monsanto made a public commitment not to commercialize Terminator but “Monsanto does not rule out the potential development and use of one of these technologies in the future.”
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