Feeding the World Through Biotechnology
Genetically Modified Crops
What Are Genetically Modified Crops?
A genetically modified crop is defined as a crop that contains genetic material that has been artifically altered to produce the desired trait. Most crops that are genetically engineered are inserted the genes that increase the resistance to herbicides, resistance to insects, increase in nutritional content, and ability to grow in non-ideal conditions such as an increase in salinity and lack of water. (1)
The Reality of the World
A great amount of children starve around the world. Most of these children live in underdeveloped countries that cannot afford to buy food. These children are usually malnourished and very sick. A soulution to this problem be to use G.M. Crops.
In the video to the right, it states that over 1 billion people go hungry everyday and with use of us putting food first we will able end this hunger. By using genetically modified crops, well will be producing more food at a lower cost therefore, potentially ending hunger.
8.5 Above shows a fact sheet of GMOs
What Are The Different Types of Genetically Modified Crops?
There are three different types of G.M. Crops which are:
Transgenic
A transgenic GMO crop is defined to be a crop that contains a gene or multiple genes that artificially inserted using recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology. The genes that were inserted into the host plant are now called transgenes and can come from different species. An example of a transgenic crop is Bt Corn.(2)
Cisgenic
Cisgenic crops are made using using the same technique, recombinant DNA technology but instead of instead of inserting genes that are from different species, genes that are found within the same or in close nature of the species is insterted into the host crop. The cisgenic modification is used on plants that have trouble crossbreeding.(3)
Subgenic
Unlike trangenic and cisgenic modifications, subgenic modifications uses splicing methods to cut the host gene and remove the unnecesary genes instead of inserting genes into the host plant. According to the USDA, even though this is a modification, subgenic crops are not considered to be genetically modified organisms.(4)
Recent Updates about GMO Crops: