DNA Plant Technology

In 1991, DNA Plant Technology applied for and were granted permission to conduct a field test permit for their transgenic fish tomato product (tomato; antifreeze gene; staphylococcal Protein A) from the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.^[12] This product remains controversial^[13] in the history of biotechnology, because an antifreeze gene isolated from an arctic flounder was transgenically inserted into a tomato in an attempt to create a frost-tolerant tomato. Although this product was tested in a greenhouse, and may have been tested in the field, it was never commercialized.

In 1995, DNA Plant Technology unveiled a second generation of a different transgenic tomato and served it at a meeting of its shareholders.^[14] That same year, DNA Plant Technology sold its wholly owned subsidiary, Frost Technology Corporation, to Simplot.^[15]

Via its collaboration with the cigarette company, Brown & Williamson, DNA Plant Technology developed a genetically engineered cultivar of tobacco with a higher nicotine content, based on a high-nicotine strain already owned by Brown & Williamson called Y-1. Brown & Williamson and DNA Plant Technology were indicted by the US government for exporting the seeds to Brazil in violation of the Tobacco Seed Export law.^[16]

In the mid-1980s, DNAP attempted to use somaclonal variation with corn to produce buttery-tasting popcorn without the need to add butter.^[17]

While working for DNA Plant Technology, the scientists Richard A. Jorgensen and Carolyn Napoli made discoveries about post transcriptional gene silencing that went on to form the basis of a number of U.S. patents on gene regulation and crop manipulation. Key experiments in the control of plant transgene expression were performed by Jorgensen after he joined DNA Plant Technology corporation / Advanced Genetic Sciences, Inc., including the modification of flower color in ornamental plants. This research led to the discovery of gene silencing when an extra copy of a key gene yielded white rather than blue flowers.^[18]

In the 1990s, the FDA targeted DNA Plant Technology, charging that it had illegally smuggled Y1 Tobacco seeds out of the United States. The U.S. Justice Department charged DNA Plant Technology with one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to violate the Tobacco Seed Export law, prohibiting the export of tobacco seeds without a permit (a law which was repealed in 1991).^{[5] [19]} DNA Plant Technology pleaded guilty in 1998 and agreed to cooperate with further investigations of Brown & Williamson. However, the U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled in March 2000 that the FDA did not have the authority to regulate tobacco as a drug.^[20]