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1.2 Gmo Research Paper

Satisfactory Essays

10SCIE Biology 1.2 Assessment

Biological Idea 1

Genetically modified foods are altered so that there are genes within them which are not normally found in their organic counterpart. These crops have benefits such as reducing the need to use pesticides which differ from normal organic crops which highly depend on them. For example, a GMO's called BT-Corn has built in bacteria called Bacillus Thuringeinsis (BT) which produces a crystal protein that acts as a pesticide within the crop's cells. The protein is selective and is toxic to harmful pests but to many beneficial species such as bees and butterflies, are harmless. When the protein is produced, as soon as a pest ingests a sector of the plant containing it, the pest will die within hours. …show more content…

We can modified certain genes by using a genetic engineering method 'exon skipping'. This is where a desired gene is inserted into the organism's DNA to skip over specific sectors which are ignored during protein production. A special strand of DNA 'antisense oligonucleotide' is the mechanism which allows some sectors of the protein producing DNA to be ignored by binding to messenger RNA which alter the way some proteins are produced. The production of different proteins in a particular GMO can solve many allergy problems. An allergic reaction is when lymphocytes overreact when recognising an allergen, such as the proteins in egg, where it rapidly produces antibodies. When too many antibodies are produced, enzymes are created to fight the infection. This begins to cause many symptoms such as minor itchiness and runny noses to more serious cases of vomiting or the worst case, anaphylactic shock. When genetic engineering can alter the genes that produce a certain allergen, people who are allergic to egg could eat it if that particular allergen is replaced, meaning they can eat egg without a problem. Genetic engineering allows people with allergies to eat foods that they are normally allergic to because the newly produced proteins do not trigger the lymphocytes to

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