GENETIC ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE
The Restoration of Food
3-D Printing
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DID YOU KNOW?
The United States loses $120 billion dollars each year due to insects feasting on agriculture. [H.1]
transgenics and rnai
interference
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BT Corn
BT crops are examples of a genetically modified organism, edited to fend off pests and to improve the quality of the crop. To edit the the organism, the desired gene is selected and extracted from the donor organism, bacillus thuringiensis and european corn borer in this case. Additionally, 81% of corn in the United States is represented by using this method.
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The deadly protein is called BT delta endotoxin, a weapon efficient for removing Lepidoptera larvae. Although harmful to caterpillars, this protein is deemed safe for humans. Throughout the plant, concentration levels range, meaning an organism might digest parts with a higher or lower dose. Read what happens after the initial bite is consumed
Ribonucleic acid interference is one of the four methods used to genetically modify crops, others including traditional breeding, mutagens, and transgenic.
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Transgenics involves inserting a transgene into an organism, allowing it to inherit new desired characteristics. This can be administered by plasmid vectors, enzymes, viral vectors, and more. An example would be BT crops.
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Watch to get informed about the general idea of BT crops.
IN The news
"The relationship between temperature, Bt-corn usage, and the corn earworm’s development of resistance to Bt corn, is correlative, and the specific mechanics of the interactions are complex...higher temperatures, when coupled with high usage of Bt corn, may: degrade Bt proteins in crops.."
"Insect pests that are rapidly adapting to genetically engineered crops threaten agriculture worldwide. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals the success of a surprising strategy for countering this problem: Hybridizing genetically engineered cotton with conventional cotton reduced resistance in the pink bollworm, a voracious global pest..."
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