GMO

• Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)


  Organism whose genetic makeup has undergone a deliberate change
• GMOs


  • Creatures whose DNA has been altered to change certain traits
  • Alter an organism's traits by altering its genome, which is its genetic makeup and is contained within the chromosomes' nucleic acids
• Organisms that can be genetically modified

  • Microorganisms (bacteria and yeast)
  • Insects
  • Plants
  • Fish
  • Humans
• In vitro genetic engineering techniques

  • Desired DNA (foreign DNA) is introduced and incorporated into transgenic organisms to create GMOs
  • The source of donor DNA is not the GMOs themselves
• Genome editing


  • A technique for making precise alterations to an organism's or cell's DNA
  • A specific region of DNA is cut by an enzyme, and when the cell repairs the damage, the sequence is altered or "edited"
• Transgenics


  • Auto-transgenic: donor and recipient of the same species
  • Allo-transgenic: donor and recipient of different species
• Uses and applications of GMOs

  • Agriculture
  • Aquaculture
  • Food industry
  • Biomedical research
• Agricultural uses of GMOs

  • Increased crop yields
  • Lower costs for food or drug production
  • Less need for pesticides
  • Improved nutrient composition and food quality
  • Pest and disease resistance
  • Greater food security
  • Medical benefits for the world's expanding population
• Aquaculture uses of GMOs

  • Production of fish with greater disease resistance
  • Increased temperature tolerance
  • Faster growth rates
• Food industry uses of GMOs


  • Constantly expanding its use of food enzymes (FE)
  • Primarily produced by microbial fermentation, which employs strains that are both wild-type (WT) and genetically modified (GM)
  • By improving the fermentation procedure, either by employing genetically modified microorganism (GMM) strains or by creating recombinant enzymes, the yield of FE can be enhanced
• Biomedical research uses of GMOs

  • GMOs becoming more and more crucial in the search for and creation of novel therapeutics
  • Over 10,000 diseases are caused by a single defective gene, and most diseases, from cancer to dementia, are somewhat influenced by our genetic make-up
  • Scientists and researchers can better understand how human and animal genes function as well as the function of genes in particular diseases
  • Development of new and more effective techniques for producing antibodies to cure disease, generating and producing medications, and creating vaccinations to prevent disease (such as an HIV vaccine)
• Possible future applications of GMOs in aquaculture

  • Raising marine fish in fresh water
  • Manipulating the length of reproductive cycles
  • Increasing the tolerance of aquaculture species to wider ranges of environmental conditions
  • Enhancing nutritional qualities and taste
  • Controlling sexual maturation to prevent carcass deterioration as fish age
  • Using transgenic fish as pollution monitors
  • Creating fish that act as pollution monitors
  • Enabling fish to use plants as a source of protein
  • Using fish to produce pharmaceutical products
  • Improving host resistance to a variety of pathogens, such as Infectious Haematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHNV), Bacterial Kidney Disease (BKD) and furunculosis
• Impacts of GMOs


  • Environmental
  • Social
  • Human health risks
  • Economic
• Environmental impacts of GMOs in aquaculture

  • Overfishing
  • Spread of disease and parasites
  • Introduction and spread of exotic species
  • Chemical pollution
  • Habitat destruction for the establishment of the farm or as a result of farm activities
  • Eradication of predators that feed on the farmed species
• Three main factors affecting environmental impacts of GMOs in aquaculture

  • Species in production
  • Location of production
  • System of production
• Species in production


  For culturing species with higher trophic level position, the requirement of feed input will be more, thereby releasing large quantity of wastes
• Location of production


  The impact on environment due to farm outputs (waste, amplified disease or parasites, escapes of cultured stock, or killing of predators) will be high in ecologically sensitive locations, such as mangroves, coastal estuaries and migration of fish routes
• System of production


  Open net pens are completely open and thus, anything that happens in the farm can be transferred to outside of the farm whereas closed containment system contains all inputs and outputs within itself
• Social impacts of GMOs

  • Traditional livelihood
  • Community displacement
  • Exploitative labor practices
• Cause of social effects of GMOs

  The export-driven manufacturing of commodities like shrimp, where businesses aim to maximize profits by taking advantage of underdeveloped nations with lax rules
• Human health risks of GMOs

  • Whether GMOs are safe for human consumption
  • If the DNA is derived from an allergenic protein
  • If the transgenic results in the expression of an inactive toxin gene
  • The introduction of a transgene into the host DNA may have toxic effects
  • A dormant toxin gene may potentially be produced in a fish species that is normally safe if a transgenic were to be inserted
• Economic impacts of GMOs

  • The GM IR characteristics have primarily increased earnings through improved yields
  • Reduced production costs (less money spent on insecticides) have also benefited many farmers, particularly in industrialized nations
• Develop adaptive routes based on consensual goals, tipping points, and strategies to avoid them can only be done from such a framework, with explicit and morally evaluated uncertainties
• As part of a motivated engagement where ethics and optimism define a fabric that supports a common coastal sustainability goal, such a development must involve scientists, stakeholders, and users
• The present dystopian situation differs from such an idyllic landscape due to large and often implicit uncertainties that allow biased decisions, often against a sustainable coastal future; corrupted analyses linked to limited ethics and diverging interests that lead to aggravated conflicts; unmotivated stakeholder cooperation due to social inertia or contradictory expert opinions; reactive compromises because of personal interests or perceived threats, which result in inefficient adaptation; and lack of decision making, due to overwhelming uncertainties and pervasive pessimism that result in inactiveness
• The scientific world should support this transformation by bounding and making explicit the inherent uncertainties with larger data sets and improved knowledge; increasing social and economic confidence on observational and numerical results, based on cross-disciplinary analysis impelled by balanced ethics; proactive decisions linked to available forecast and projection products that apply and share such anticipated information; and cooperative commitment based on stakeholder optimism and trust on the co-designed interventions and criteria
• The relationship between information and decision or power should be bounded by shared ethical values; explicit uncertainties and error intervals; clear distinction between true and false discourses. Such an approach requires a transformation on how information is generated, disseminated and even controlled, since that information shapes perceptions and the capacity to decide by diverse socio-economic groups
• The blending of social and ecological sciences should be based on knowledge-based ethics for interdisciplinary systems like coastal zones, enabling a shift from segmented management and rigid engineering to an all-encompassing strategy that connects sustainability to social responsibility, especially for the irreplaceable natural capital
• Building on the ability of coastal systems to heal themselves naturally and adopting jump-start measures to promote recovery if going dangerously near to tipping points would make coastal adaptation pathways under climate change more sustainable. In order to turn degraded coastal regions into high quality habitats, these interventions should target the source of the issue (such as sediment starvation, coastal rigidification, etc.)
• The development of coastal protected areas should follow the path of marine protected areas and national parks on land. These areas offer mid- to long-term advantages, such biodiversity, which are difficult to commercialize
• Ending of social and ecological sciences

  Should be based on knowledge-based ethics for interdisciplinary systems like coastal zones, enabling a shift from segmented management and rigid engineering to an all-encompassing strategy that connects sustainability to social responsibility, especially for the irreplaceable natural capital
• Coastal systems


  • Able to heal themselves naturally
  • Adopting jump-start measures to promote recovery if going dangerously near to tipping points would make coastal adaptation pathways under climate change more sustainable
• Interventions to turn degraded coastal regions into high quality habitats


  Should target the source of the issue (such as sediment starvation, coastal rigidification, etc.)
• Coastal protected areas


  • Follow the path of marine protected areas and national parks on land
  • Offer mid- to long-term advantages, such biodiversity, which are difficult to commercialize but are necessary to build healthy and resilient coasts
  • Give room for coastal dynamics and habitat for coastal ecosystems, reuniting the natural coastal capital (represented by its biodiversity and ecosystem services) with littoral socio-economic assets that are essential for the welfare of coastal communities
• Genetic modification (GM) process

  1. Gene of interest is identified

  2. Gene is isolated

  3. The gene is amplified to produce many copies

  4. The gene is then associated with an appropriate promoter and poly A sequence and inserted into plasmids

  5. The plasmid is multiplied in bacteria and the cloned construct for injection is recovered

  6. The construct is transferred into the recipient tissue, usually fertilized eggs

  7. Gene is integrated into recipient genome

  8. Gene is expressed in recipient genome; inheritance of gene through further generations
• Why GMOs are produced

  • Enhancing growth and/or efficiency of food conversion
  • Enhancing muscle characteristics for commercial purposes
  • Controlling reproductive activity and/or sexual phenotype
  • Increasing resistance of species to disease causing microorganisms
  • Increasing tolerance to/of environmental variables such as temperature
  • Modifying behaviour, e.g. aggression
  • Controlling fertility and/or viability
• Currently used GMOs


  • Herbicide tolerance (Soybean)
  • Insect resistance (Corn)
  • Altered fatty acid composition
  • Virus resistance
  • Fortification (Golden rice)
  • Vaccines (Hepatitis B virus surface antigen in transgenic tobacco)
  • Faster maturation (Growth hormone in fish)
  • Flower production (Ornamental plants)
  • Paper production (Improved lignin digestibility in trees)
  • Bioremediation (Degradation of persistent organic pollutants)
• The protein from Bacillus thuringiensis was successfully utilized as an eco-friendly insecticide for many years before the creation of the recombinant corn
• Seeds harboring recombinant protein genes may unintentionally disseminate recombinant genes or expose non-target species to fresh environmental toxins
• GMO seeds may be pricey and out of reach for the farmers who stand to benefit from them the most