Scientists in the United Kingdom reported genetically modified wheat designed to repel pests did not do what it was supposed to do.
According to Reuters, the wheat was not successful in field tests despite the opposite result in the laboratory. The wheat was equipped with an odor designed to repel pests called aphids.
"As scientists we are trained to treat our experimental data objectively and dispassionately but I was definitely disappointed," Huw Jones, a senior molecular biologist at Rothamsted Research, told BBC News. "We had hoped that this technique would offer a way to reduce the use of insecticides in pest control in arable farming. As so often happens, this experiment shows that the real world environment is much more complicated than the laboratory."
A senior chemical ecologist at Rothamsted Research and the first author on the new research, Toby Bruce said scientific hypotheses are "rarely" confirmed at first.
"Often it is the negative results and unexpected surprises that end up making big advances - penicillin was discovered by accident, for example," he told BBC News. "If we knew the answers to every question before we started, there would be no need for science and there would be no innovation.
"This trial has ended up yielding more questions than answers, but that means we have more work to do to understand the insect-plant interaction and to better mimic what happens in nature."
