Genetically Modified Organisms Essay

Humans have been altering the genetic makeup of plants for millennia, keeping seeds from the best crops and planting them in following years, breeding and crossbreeding varieties to make them taste sweeter, grow bigger, last longer. In this way we've transformed the wild tomato, Lycopersicon, from a fruit the size of a marble to today's giant, juicy beefsteaks. From a weedy plant called teosinte with an "ear" barely an inch long has come our foot-long (0.3-meter-long) ears of sweet white and yellow corn. In just the past few decades plant breeders have used traditional techniques to produce varieties of wheat and rice plants with higher grain yields. They have also created hundreds of new crop variants using irradiation and mutagenic

In this unit, the two periods of biology studied and learned more about GMO’s. We looked into things such as breeding and eugenics and how exactly it relates to the overall action of genetically modifying organisms. A genetically modified organism is the result of a gene from one organism, purposefully being changed to improve another organism. According to americanradioworks, organisms were being manipulated dating all the way back to prehistoric times to the 1900s. Farmers and naturalists began to notice “hybrid” plants, being produced through natural breeding. In 1900, European plant scientist began using Gregor Mendel's genetic theory to manipulate plants to produce a more desirable outcome. This means that Organisms have been getting genetically modified for years. Although the event of this action dates back for years, controversies are still shared in classrooms and homes, about whether GMOs are a necessary part of today’s life.

One of the greatest accomplishments since 1982 is the invention of GMOs. They were first approved by the FDA in 1982 for Humulin, insulin that has genetically engineered E. coli bacteria. The thinking behind GMOs was to develop crops that were resistant to pests and diseases in addition to improve nutritional content. GMOs have helped numerous people around the world. They have made farmer’s crops have better yields and a more successful growing season. GMOs are beneficial and should be promoted because they are more economical and they increase productivity in agriculture; however, the opposition believes GMOs potentially cause health issues.

The origin of GMOs started in 1982 by an experiment done by the United States Department of Agriculture, in which they changed the genes of a tomato plant. Commercial use of Genetically Engineered crops began in 1996 (Fernandez-Cornejo et al. pg 7). While developing Genetically Modified Organisms, scientists and researchers characterized the types of Genetically Engineered crop traits into

A specific example of genetic modification or the recombination of DNA is shown through the development of golden rice. The gene for the enzyme phytoene synthase is extracted from the daffodil plant. Phytoene synthase is needed for the synthesis of a colourless carotene. The gene for the enzyme carotene desaturase is extracted from the soil bacterium. Carotene desaturase is used to catalyse multiple steps in the synthesise of carotenoids. These steps require many enzymes in plants. The recombined plasmid is then inserted into agrobacterium, which is then mixed with rice and plant embryos. This example of genetic modification created

Farming is one of the oldest professions known to mankind. Since time immemorial, man has harvested crops and built civilizations around farms. Agriculture has been a building block for many of the world’s greatest civilizations and continues to be the backbone of many countries across the globe today. In earlier days, farms and agricultural practices were limited to a small size due to the lack of greater need however as the world’s population has continued to grow exponentially, farms have dramatically increased in size and agricultural production has increased owing to the use of newer scientific techniques and more refined catalysts for growth such as re-engineered fertilizers and richer soil. However, despite all this crops are still vulnerable to diseases that pose a great threat and jeopardize the output of a farm; along with this there exists a natural limit that can be achieved in terms of productivity due to constraints such as depletion of minerals in the soil and natural make-up of the plants. To overcome these obstacles, a new practice by the name of genetic modification is rapidly becoming popular and taking the world by storm. Genetically modified organisms are those whose natural genetic makeup has been

However, with GMOs nobody knows if what they are eating contains a DNA strand of something they are allergic too and it cannot be predicted if they do contain an allergen. People and industries supporting genetically modified organisms believe people should trust and have confidence in genetically modified foods because they are based on three decades of testing. It is considered to be a saver for the environment because it helps replace pesticides. The first ideas for GMOs were, creating medical plants, foods with more nutrition, tobacco plants that glow when they need to be watered, and something to keep strawberries from cold damage. Some examples of genetically modified products currently in development are second generation of genetically modified foods and modified medicines. A type of genetically modified organisms is BT, also known as, Bacillus Thuringiensis; which is meant for killing pesticides. Even with testing going on, we have no knowledge of any harmful or positive side

Genetically modified crops have been developed and harvested since 1996 on a wide scale in the world. Genetically modified crops are generally defined as the biotechnologically designed genes that are chosen and transferred from one organism to another, often unrelated, organism with the purpose to achieve certain results in harvest. According to Carton, Mochini, and Sheldon (2011), “[These] crops can survive under harsh conditions, costs are lowered, and yields are improved” (p. xxi). These crops are now widely grown worldwide. Naturally, corn is rooted in a 6000 year old history of South America (Wilkes,

This all began when two scientists called “Joshua Lederberg and Edward L. Tatum conducted an experiment and discovered that DNA can be transferred from one species to another in 1946”. The discovery had led to the development of “special rice that can prevent blindness, herbicide resistant crops, disease- resistant vegetables, and livestock growth hormones which improved farming efficiency”. Food companies in the media argue that the GMO revolution is the solution to our modern agriculture problems. “In 1998 Dr. Arpad Pusztai from the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen discovered a shocking truth about species manipulation while conducting a GMO experiment on rats”. Pusztai found that when his rats consumed genetically modified potatoes, they developed “cancerous cells in the intestines and brain”. When the research was introduced to the public, Pusztai was attacked with criticism from the food industry and academics who stated: “that his experiment was flawed”. Afterward, his career was publicly ruined and GMO began to blossom into the “$16 billion seed industry” that it is

For many years scientists have used genetic engineering to change the genetic make up of cells and because they have been genetically modified they are often referred to as genetically engineered organisms (GEO). To improve milk production in cows, they are injected with a rBGH (Recombinant bovine growth hormone) which is a synthetic man-made hormone to increase the yield of milk by increasing levels of another hormone known as insulin-like growth factor

Most cattle today are being fed genetically modified corn, thanks to the Monsanto Corporation. Monsanto Corporation has been feeding the world with its genetically engineered food crops for many years. In 2001, Monsanto's genetically modified crops accounted for 91% of the total area of genitcally modified crops planted worldwide. This resulted in Monsanto suing good farmers for 'copyright infringement.' Monsanto's crops would spread to neighborhood crops, and contaminate their vegetables

In the 1970s, Stanley and Boyer became the first to genetically engineer an organism by inserting a vector for antibiotic resistance into a bacterium. Similar processes became known as genetic engineering, a branch of biotechnology. In 1982, within a decade later, the United States Food and

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, have been in our food for nearly 20 years. These modified organisms have helped the United State’s agriculture industry explode. GMOs were first patented in 1980 initially for a bacteria that would help contain oil spills. (Monsanto.com) This patent was actually the first patent on a living organism, that went the whole way to the Supreme Court, which ended in a five to four in favor of the patent. In 1996 the first GMO crop, being Round Up ready soybeans, were introduced to the public for purchase for the first time. (Monsanto.com) These crops were genetically modified to be resistant to a certain herbicide called Round Up. This herbicide was used to help control weeds that grew in fields. Many farmers use these types of genetically modified seeds along with no till farming to help prevent soil erosion, as well as to help keep moisture into the ground.

Biotechnology is defined as the application of technologies involving the use of living organisms for the development of products that benefit humans (Brooker, 2015). Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) also referred to as transgenic, are organisms that have received genetic material through recombinant DNA technology ( Brooker, 2015). The many benefits from transgenic organisms cannot be overemphasizes. Recombinant bacteria that make human insulin, livestock that produce human proteins in their milk, biological control of plant diseases, bioremediation Cleanup of environmental pollutants such as petroleum hydrocarbons and synthetics that are difficult to degrade are some of the examples. Biotechnology has also been useful in agriculture and has produced many transgenic plants that have traits that are useful to humans; such includes herbicide and pesticide resistance plants (Brooker, 2015).Nevertheless, many countries have laws and regulations that govern biotechnology. Such regulations impede the progress of science research especially, on commercialization of recombinant strains. In spite of such vigorous regulations, in 1982, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of the first genetically engineered human insulin (Brooker, 2015).

The coding region of the gene is usually fused to a promoter, most commonly used is the 35S promoter from cauliflower mosaic virus (CMV), in order to promote higher expression levels. (Snow et. al, 1997) The popular method for genetic engineering of crop plants is natural gene transfer via an Agrobacterium tumefaciens vector, a bacterium normally found in soils. The transfer-DNA (T-DNA) vector is made by inserting the desired gene fragment in between specific 25bp repeat domains in the bacterium. The vector is then inserted into the Agrobacterium and "the virulence gene products of Agrobacterium actively recognize, excise, transport, and integrate the T-DNA region into the host plant genomes." (Conner et. al, 1999) The amount of DNA transferred is only about 10kb and the nature of the gene is usually well understood. The expression of the gene introduced can also be controlled by adding additional sequences that might allow the gene to be constitutively expressed, expressed only in certain cell types, or expressed as a result of different environmental changes. This method of gene transfer, however, will only work for the natural host range of the bacterium and therefore other methods are used for additional crop plants. Such methods are uptake of naked DNA by electroporation or particle gun bombardment. The use of genetic markers, as mentioned previously, allows for the preferential growth of cultures that contain the new genetic