It’s a term that evokes a shiver of excitement – or equally of caution. Genetic modification in the early days caused much concern, and yet today most of the food we consume has been modified for improvement, strength and flavour. GM foods are an established map of cross breeding between various plants of similar or directly related genetic structure. And the result has been larger and more resilient crops worldwide.
In essence, people have been altering the genomes of plants and animals for many years using traditional breeding techniques. Any selective process whereby organisms have been chosen to exhibit specific traits through to subsequent generations, has generally been limited to naturally occurring variations.
However, advances in the field of genetic engineering allow today’s genetic engineers to transfer genes between entirely different species. Today, we can incorporate new genes from one species into a completely unrelated species, improving agricultural performance, or facilitating the production of valuable pharmaceutical substances.
A future filled with crazy science – or maybe not so crazy
A future filled with crazy science – or maybe not so crazy
- Today, genetic engineers can extrapolate any gene from any organism and craft it into another, thus creating a new entity with all the genetic traits scientists consider most optimal. So, you can take strength from one plant, and sweetness from another, to produce a food that is hardy and tasty all in one.
- Genetic engineering has many positive uses – one of which has developed most pertinently in agriculture, involving the successful management of such stubborn bugbears as weeds, insects and disease.
- Genetic engineering has also been put to excellent use in food production, producing genetically modified crops designed to be resistant to herbicides and pesticides, or enhanced to produce greater yields of nutritional value. Crop plants, farm animals, and soil bacteria are some of the more significant organisms that have been subject to genetic engineering.
- Altering the genetic material of organisms holds reservation for some concerned people. Modifying genes has become a science to correct genetic defects and thus prevent or cure genetic diseases passed from one generation to another. But genetic engineering could potentially end up modifying an organism beyond what is normal – which gives people pause. Should we be tinkering with human genes to make people able to outperform great natural athletes or to produce children more brilliant than Einstein?
- Sometimes this type of genetic engineering is divided into two aspects: gene therapy and genetic engineering – the former referring to improving human capacity from poor to normal, and the latter referring to efforts to enhance human capabilities beyond normalcy.
- There is genetic engineering work underway to ensure that modifications to any entity can be carried through to the next generations. Most of the cells in our bodies make up organs like skin, liver, heart, lungs, etc. Changing the genetic material in these cells is not passed along to a person’s offspring. However, reproductive cells such as sperm cells, egg cells, and cells from very early embryos, are a different matter. Any changes in the genetic make-up of reproductive cells would be passed along to an entity’s offspring.
- Could we apply genetic engineering to humans? Could we enhance certain characteristics and attributes and make life better in truly significant ways? We value intelligence, beauty, strength, endurance, and we could probably improve people by highlighting such features. But there may be unforeseen and possibly dangerous consequences. We just don’t know what may arise if experiments go awry.
Benefits of genetic engineering
- more nutritious and tastier food
- disease, pesticide and drought-resistant plants
- production of food with reduced costs and longer shelf life
- faster growing plants and animals
Perhaps one of the more intriguing possibilities would be the creation of medicinal foods that could be used as vaccines. Consider a fruit that can kill pneumonia in children? Imagine inserting the gene of a Cecropia moth into an apple? The gene from the moth would be the gene that makes the moth immune to the fire blight bacterium. So the result would be a perfect apple which would also be immune to this bacterium. Which simply means better crops and therefore more food. Engineering the genes of life as we know it, is possibly one of the most exciting new career options awaiting investigation in the overlapping spheres of science and bio-engineering.
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