Lesson 17

• Crop modification by 


  breeding and genetic engineering
• Hybridization


  common in nature and used by breeders to introduce new genes
• Maize


  product of artificial selection
• Plant breeding


  crossing of certain species to come out with a plant having desirable characteristics
• Mutations


  can arise randomly or induced by breeders
• Plant biotechnology


  generally: innovations in use of plants to make useful products, specifically: use of GMOs in agriculture and industry
• Genetic modification


  improve the nutritional quality of plants
• Transgenic organisms

  engineered to express a gene from another species, made resistant to herbicide Glyphosate
• overuse of transgenic crops

  results in evolution of glyphosate resistance
• examples of transgenic crops

  golden rice, transgenic cassava, Bt toxin
• Biofuels


  fuels derived from living biomass
• Genetic engineering

  may transfer allergens to a plant used for food (no credible evidence)
• Problems of transgene escape

  introduced genes escaping into related weeds through crop-to-weed hybridization, could result in superweeds
• Maize


  produces Bt toxin, reduced infection by Fusarium (fungus that produces a cancer-causing toxin), contains 90% less of the cancer-causing toxin than non-Bt corn
• prevention efforts for transgene escape 


  male sterility, apomixis, transgenes into chloroplast DNA, strict self-pollination