I love GMOs.
Do I love them because I chose to spend four years of
college studying them? No. Do I love
them because genetics was the most incredible, eye opening, and inspiring class
I ever took? Please. Do I love them because they have and continue to revolutionize
the agricultural industry into a reliable and higher quality food source for a
growing global population and help eliminate the overuse of pesticides,
introduce more nutritious food, and help alleviate nutritionally
caused/exacerbated diseases in third world countries? Don't be silly. I love
GMOs because, thanks to the work of some very dedicated scientists in Russia,
using the same technologies, we can now definitively and intimately know what
the fox says.
Firstly, let’s get into a little terminology, what is a GMO?
GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. These can be plants, animals,
bacteria, viruses; basically, anything with a genome has the potential to be a
GMO. What is universally recognized as a
GMO is a product which has been specifically modified in a laboratory by a
scientist in order to cause the organism to act in a certain way or exhibit
certain traits. These techniques are a faster and more targeted means of
accomplishing what humans have been doing for centuries, breeding.
Breeding is a system employed long before Gregor Mendel got
tired of regular monastery tasks and started writing down his observations on
pea plants. Since we first began to domesticate animals and plants, we have
selected the best individuals and varieties and used them to breed better and
better stock. This process has led to the propagation of not only larger, more
delicious, and better growing crops, but also to man’s best friend, the dog.
It is from the mystery of domestication, that Russian researcher
Dr. Lyudmila Trut, draws her project. National Geographic Magazine’s article,
“Taming the Wild”, by Evan Ratliff explored Trut’s project on the domestication
of the Silver Fox. Since 1958, when Trut first began working on this project
under Dr. Dmitry Belyaev as a graduate assistant, Trut has been working to
explore the domestication of the fox and the genetic changes between domestic
and wild animals, but also the phenotypic or physical and behavior
presentations which differ between the creatures.
At the inception of the project, 130 foxes were gathered
from fur farms in Siberia. They began breeding the animals, selecting the most
gregarious from each generation in order to re-create the evolution of wolves
into dogs, a transformation which began some 15,000 years ago. In just nine
generations, the project had yielded foxes which not only tolerated, but craved
human attention. Foxes which wagged their tails and whined in anticipation of
human contact and exhibited floppier ears, curlier tails, and some piebald or
spotted coloring, all considered hallmark phenotypic traits of domestication.
In order to verify these breeding results the tame foxes were compared to their
wild relatives, and to another group of foxes which were bred for aggression.
These same results were also found in breeding studies involving rats and mink,
indicating that the resulting domestication of these animals was indeed driven
by genes.
Once it became clear that scientists were able to breed tame
foxes, they began delving into the DNA sequence and the genomes of these
animals to try to identify the gene or set of genes which distinguished
domesticated animals from their wild relatives. While the hunt for the suite of
fox domestication genes is still afoot, though struggling due to a lull in
funding, more luck has been had in studies with chickens and dogs. Dr. Leif
Andersson of Uppsala University was able to identify in domesticated chickens a
mutation known as TSHR which is present only in his domestic population
implying the gene plays a role in chicken domestication. UCLA biologist, Robert
Wayne and his colleagues have also identified a small DNA sequence near a gene
known as WBSCR17 which appears to be greatly divergent between domesticated dog
and the Gray Wolf. In humans, this same gene is responsible in part for a rare
genetic disease called Williams-Beuren Syndrome which results in elfin features
and “exceptional Gregariousness” or an over-friendliness to strangers and an
inability to recognize potential danger in unknown persons.
While these advances have provided significant insight to
domestication, they have also been made possible by new genetic techniques and
technologies. These same technologies which could ultimately be used to
manipulate these “domesticity genes”, are the technologies used in modern GM
crop development.
These same GM technologies, which allow scientist to map and
view an entire genome, in addition to techniques which allow for transgenic
manipulation, or the insertion of novel genes into a genome, have already
proven hugely important in the Hawaiian papaya industry. In the late 1980s, the
papaya crop was being decimated by PRSV (Papaya Ring Spot Virus). With 95% of Hawaii’s crop and the industry itself
in jeopardy, Dr. Dennis Gonsalves and his team turned to transgenic techniques
in an attempt to save the papaya. The scientists used a “gene gun” to shoot
gold particles coated in a PRSV gene into young “SunUp” papaya plants,
integrating the new gene into their existing genome. Thus the “Rainbow” Papaya which
is resistant to PRSV, was born.
Rainbow is able to resist PSRV because in effect it has a
built in vaccine provided by the inserted genes from the virus itself. By using
the virus own processes, the plant creates a protein which allows the plant to
fight off a viral infection. This “immunity” has allowed the papaya crop to be
rejuvenated in Hawaii, saving one of the state’s major industries form the
brink of extinction. With the help of genomic mapping, the scientists working
on Rainbow were able to show these exact differences in the Rainbow genome from
those of the previous species. This knowledge was instrumental as the plants
were studied and eventually approved by the EPA, FDA, and APHIS for production
in the 1998.
GM Crop development is driven by a desire to produce a
higher quality crop which could provide for a growing population. Much like the
study with the foxes sought to re-create the evolutionary domestication of fox
in a smaller time scale, modern GM development also seeks to create improved
varieties quicker. By selecting traits such as drought resistance, enhanced
nutritional value, and disease resistance, scientists can stay ahead of disease
and weather trends to ensure that a needed crop is being produced on a scale
which can support a growing global population.
Years of research conducted by multiple companies, colleges,
and government agencies have placed agriculture in a position to map and
compare genomes and identify genes which carry different desirable traits.
Modern molecular technology has opened opportunities to ensure that a crop has assured
traits, making production more efficient.
While the mystery of the gene suite in Silver Fox which
allows for domestication may still be unknown, the genes manipulated in GM crop
production are not. So today, we will continue to enjoy the ability to plant
food which will support our needs and revitalize industries with vulnerable
crops, such as the papaya, and we look forward to a day when we can all enjoy
man’s new best friend, the fox, chasing around our ankles with a tennis balls
in their mouths, barking and yelping and telling us, just like our canine
friends now, exactly what the fox says.
Works Cited/Additional Readings
