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ormone genes from a rat in 1982 and the creation of the first transgenic domestic gene therapy trials on humans in 1991. Of course these implementations created a quite new path of thinking through which scientists created genetically modified food -mainly crops- to increase their nutrient content and value.
Genetically modified foods are foods derived from organisms whose genetic material (DNA) has been modified in a way that does not occur naturally (artificially) e.g. through the introduction of a gene from a different organism. Currently available GM foods stem mostly from plants, but in the future foods derived from GM microorganisms or GM animals are likely to be introduced on the market. Most existing genetically modified crops have been developed to improve yield, through the introduction of resistance to plant diseases or of increased tolerance of herbicides , this is because farmers wanted a method of killing weeds and harmful plants within their crops without the fear of harming their own crops. In the future, genetic modification could be aimed at altering the nutrient content of food, reducing its allergenic potential, or improving the efficiency of food production systems.
The very first Genetically Modified plant was produced in 1983 which was antibiotic-resistant tobacco plant. Another was "Flavr Savr"’s transgenic tomatoes, which were genetically modified for delayed ripening after picking. Many more crops were genetically modified to become antibiotic resistant and herbicide resistant such as, Bacillu Thuringiensis (Bt) corn/maize, (Bt) Potatoes, cotton resistant to the herbicide Bromoxynil, Soy Beans resistant to herbicide Glyphosate. In 2000 , with the Production of "Golden Rice" , scientists were able to Modify Crops increasing their nutrient content and value for the first time. As of 2011, the U.S. leads a list of multiple countries in the production of GM crops, and 25 GM crops had received regulatory approval to be grown commercially. As of 2013, roughly 85% of corn, 91% of soybeans, and 88% of cotton produced in the United States are genetically modified.
Genetic modification is alternating the Genome of the wanted organism by inserting a specific gene that codes for a wanted characteristic , Most of which are : High Yielding , disease resistance , vigorous growth under the prevailing conditions , growing the plant to the same height which makes their harvest easier . This can be Naturally done through inbreeding , which is selecting -for example- a plant that has vigorous growth and breeding it with another that has a high yield for many generations , this will give a plant with both of those characteristics. (Artificial Selection)
Another way is through Genetic Manipulation, as what has been done to Produce "Golden Rice" that has been genetically modified to contain Vitamin A which is only found in the Aleuronic layer of the grains and is removed during polishing of the grains. Vitamin A deficiency can cause increased risk of infection, night blindness and sometimes Total blindness, therefore scientists extracted genes responsible for the production of Vitamin A from daffodils and the bacterium Erwinia Uredovora , and inserted those genes into plasmids (DNA) of the bacteria called Agrobacterium Tumefaciens . These bacteria naturally infect plants, so they could introduce their genetically modified plasmids into rice cells allowing them to produce Vitamin A. When they are both mixed together – the GM bacterium and the rice embryos- in petri dishes, some embryos would get infected by the bacteria carrying the Vitamin A genes and this is how the process goes. Sounds like magic, doesn’t it?
By : Aya AbdelSalam EL Osh