Genetic Engineering Applications
Genetic engineering applications
Genetic engineering applicationsAgriculture and food
The role of genetic engineering in 'feeding the world' has been a controversial issue since the mid 90s when transgenic crops started to be commercially gown. For some, genetic engineering in agriculture is seen as the most reasonable new technology that will help to solve the food demand of the rapidly increasing world population.
What has genetic engineering to offer to the agriculture?
Since the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago, people have used the naturally occurring processes of genetics to gradually shape wild plants into tastier, more nutritious, more attractive food. Traditional breeding is done by selective breeding over long periods of time during and only related species can be used for the exchange of genes.
Genetic engineering offers new possibilities that can't be achieved with traditional genetics, for example extracting a unique genetic characteristic of an animal and inserting this into plants. Like the case of the tomato that was genetically enhanced by adding to it the anti-freeze gene of the Arctic flounder fish. This supposedly made the vegetable more resistant to low temperatures. Another advantage of genetic engineering is the ability to switch individual genes on or off, something that can't be accomplished with traditional breeding. With genetic engineering results can be obtained precise and in a relatively much shorter period of time.
Transgenic plants
There are several applications of gene manipulation in plants. Most of them targeted to agricultural purposes like enhancing resistance, faster growth and improved nutrients in crops. Herbicide tolerance and insect resistance are the most common features introduced into transgenic crops.
Insect resistance
One important problem to face when growing crops is big damage insects can cause. It has been estimated that losses resulting from European corn borer (ECB) damage and control costs exceeded $1 billion USD in a few years. To fight this problem, plants are modified with special genes from other organisms to make them resistant to certain pest species. Bt corn is a popular and controversial example. This type of corn has been modified with the gene of the Bt (Bacillus thuringensis), a common soil bacterium, to produce its own insecticide. The center of the problem with Bt corn is that on one side crop losses and the use of chemical insecticides are significantly reduced, but on the other it is feared that the widespread of the modified corn may lead to an emergence of Bt-resistant insects. Another potential problem is the harm to non-target species.
Herbicide tolerance
The efforts to improve current weed control compounds are faced with several dilemmas one being the increased cost of regulatory approval; another the fact that new herbicides affect also crops instead of just the weeds; but also biodegradability problems and unwanted effects on non-target species like birds and mammals. The transgenic solution consists in providing herbicide resistance to crops. The programming of selected herbicide genes, allows the crops to be resistant to more than one specific herbicide. This will let farmers select the appropriate herbicide, and having to use less of it.
Disease resistance
Viral diseases cannot be treated effectively once they occur. The main defense for these pathogens is to prevent their establishment. Selected breeding of resistant plants is expensive, time-consuming and labor-intensive. The isolation of genes involved in disease resistance mechanisms help plants to be more resistant.
Enhanced nutrition
Besides crop protection there are other applications like the improvement of nutritional value. One case of improved vitamin content in genetic enhanced food is the so called "golden rice", an initiative by the Rockefeller Foundation. Rice modified to increase the level of provitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency is a serious health problem in many developing countries, where the primary diet is based on rice. Rice provides 40%-70% of the total calories consumed in many Asian countries. But there is controversy to golden rice. It is argued that Beta-carotene in the rice, the precursor of Vitamin A, is useless if it's not consumed with fats and oils, making the effectiveness of golden rice dependant on what else the person eats. Greenpeace found that there was so little beta carotene in golden rice that people would need to consume 12 times their average portion to get the vitamin benefit.
Other applications
Other genetic engineering applications of plants are the production of nonfood substances for industrial and medical uses. Plants are being modified to produce vaccines to protect livestock from diseases. Some companies are creating transgenic plants with bacterial and viral genes as edible vaccines for cattle and pigs.
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