[Genetically modified tobacco--chance or threat for smokers?]

Tobacco (Nicotiana sp.) is of the most often used model plants for research in the field of physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetic engineering. Tobacco was also the first plant subject to genetic transformation--in 1983 the plant was introduced with the kanamycin resistance gene. The internet database PubMed includes roughly 3,500 records concerning transgenic tobacco, out of which nearly 200 works were published this year. Advancement of state-of-the-art techniques of genetic engineering offers new, as yet unprecedented opportunities to take advantage of tobacco. Apparently tobacco is not only a source of carcinogenic tobacco smoke, but also a plant which due to genetic modifications may be used in a positive way in medicine and biological sciences. The aim of the article is to summarize the role of genetically modified Nicotiana genus plants in modern medicine and environmental protection. The publication describes the usage of transgenic plants in the tobacco industry and evaluates possible effects of such applications. Moreover, potential possibilities of deployment of genetically modified tobacco for production of anti-virus and antibacterial vaccinations, interferon, antibodies, etc. have been characterized.