Genetically Modified is kind of a catch all phrase for a bunch of different work. Historically, there was selective breeding that used a strong selection model (killing off anything that didn't go the direction you wanted like sweeter or more cold tolerant) and breeding the few remaining individuals to try and maximize a particular trait in that strain.
Then there is the sort of genetic modification that Monsanto did with Roundup. Roundup works by blocking a necessary plant enzyme (I don't remember what it is called) and Monsanto found a variation in the gene that produces this enzyme that would not be blocked by Roundup. This variation is really pretty rare, so what they did was to take it, synthesize it and then splice it into the genome of plants you do want to grow, like say, corn. This is a direct manipulation of the genome for that plant but it isn't that it used a sequence that was entirely made up or anything. There is resistance to Roundup building out in the wild, actually, because while the trait is quite rare, the selective pressure put in place by the use of Roundup has made the trait flourish wherever it can be acquired. There is also the next step in GM, which is transgenic organisms. The most well known of these are seeds which have had Bt (baccilus thurugensis) genes spliced into their genetic sequence. Bt produces, naturally, a pesticide that is pretty effective against a number of common pests. Scientists isolated the genes that code for production of the compound and were able to incorporate them into plants, thus enabling the plants to produce the compound themselves. Genetic Modification, then, really represents a spectrum of techniques but all have underlying them the decision to directly manipulate the genetic code instead of letting chance (through breeding) do the manipulation. This can end up mimicking things that might happen in the wild anyway (in the case of Roundup resistance) but much faster and more directly or produce results that almost certainly would never come up in the wild, like Bt in corn. Hope that helps, Judah On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 11:11 AM, Medic <[email protected]> wrote: > > Well I think GM is completely different as you can modify genes to get > combinations that you couldn't really get from breeding. > I think I'll just wait until Judah drops some science on us and make me feel > intellectually inadequate through no fault of his own. > > /me waits > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:320576 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
