Ice-minus bacteria

The ice nucleating nature of P. syringae incites frost development, freezing the buds of the plant and destroying the occurring crop.

The introduction of an ice-minus strain of P. syringae to the surface of plants would reduce the amount of ice nucleate present, rendering higher crop yields.

The following steps are often used to isolate and generate ice-minus strains of P. syringae: In the United States alone, it has been estimated that frost accounts for approximately $1 billion in crop damage each year.

Should the ice-minus strain win out, the ice nucleate provided by P. syringae would no longer be present, lowering the level of frost development on plant surfaces at normal water freezing temperature – 0 °C (32 °F).

Even if the ice-minus strain does not win out, the amount of ice nucleate present from ice-plus P. syringae would be reduced due to competition.

This phenomenon would baffle scientists until graduate student Stephen Lindow of the University of Wisconsin–Madison with D.C. Arny and C. Upper found a bacterium in the dried leaf powder in the early 1970s.

"[5] Rifkin's successful legal challenge forced the Reagan Administration to more quickly develop an overarching regulatory policy to guide federal decision-making about agricultural biotechnology.

In 1986, the Office of Science and Technology Policy issued the Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology, which continues to govern US regulatory decisions.