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Genetic Engineering Of Maize : Essay

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Genetic Engineering of Maize:

Modern Genetic Engineering is the process of introducing an external gene from another organism, to affect the newly modified organism. This is called transgenesis. New genes are introduced into the organism, which will code to manipulate existing metabolic pathways, or introduce completely new variants. This will finally result in a phenotypical change in the organism. Examples of preferable traits that could be enhanced by genetic modification in Maize are thinner kernels, plant stem architecture, leaf size, and increase in corn yield.

For an organism to be able to express a foreign gene, the genome of each organism must be similar so the genes are compatible in both organisms. At this point, through the use of liposomes, plasmids vectors, viral vectors, pronuclear injection, protoplast fusion, and ballistic DNA injection as means of DNA insertion, it is not currently possible to insert a single specific gene, such as a Bt gene into a Maize plant. Other parts of unwanted DNA are also carried into the Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) which means the effect of the inserted gene can be greater than anticipated. These are called pleiotropic effects, which can be detrimental to the survival and performance of the plant. Antagonistic Pleiotropism is where conflicting genes affect the plant negatively, with some positive attributes, so this must be considered when genetically modifying a plant. For example, inserting a new gene which would

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