Current Event related to GMO's

In the article Biotech's Plans to Sustain Agriculture from the Magazine Scientific American it talks about how Biotechnology is the future to be able to maintain the worlds agriculture system and our growing population. According to this article "... Yet modern agriculture is also the only reason we can produce enough food to nourish our population of 6.8 billion-a number slated to reach more than nine billion by midcentury. " This means that we rely have been relying on GMO's without knowing. The bigger the population the more and more food we have to grown and at a faster pace. And how are we supposed to do it? Well with biotechnology everything is possible. In the article it talk about how biotechnology benefits us. We need to evolve urgently and GMO's are a fundamental key to make it possible. Science has always helped discover new ways to help the world. With GMO's we will be getting more for less. Which will benefit farmers, factories and stores. As of now people are Stressed about how we are going to sustain the world with food. However, with GMO's all that stress will be gone because the way out of this problem is GMO's. This way we wont have to worry about running out of food crops. We will be getting more of what we need for a low price and this is what we need at the moment. This article supports my view of GMO's which is for it.

Surveys Regarding GMO's

Results to the Lab GMO or not?

The photograph above is a picture of the results from the Gel Electrophoresis. On lane one we inserted a sample containg Non- GMO food control with plant primers. In other word, in this lane food that is was not genetically modified and came from plants was inserted. And as you can see from the diagram we did get a reall light bearly visible band. Which means that our contol sample was in fact derived from a plant. While, in lane two we inserted Non- Gmo food contol with GMO primers. Which is almost like lane one the only difference is that in this lane our Non- GMO control sample now has GMO DNA. As you can see in lane two there is no band, which means our contol was not a GMO. However, lane three was our actual sample of tortilla chips with plant primers. In this lane we expect to see a band because tortilla chips originally come from plants. And as said we did see a band in lane three, confirming that our chips do originally come from plants. Lane four was our sample of tortilla chips with GMO primers. For this lane we don't know wehter or not we will see a band, because we do not know for a fact if tortilla chips are GMO's or not. That is the reason why we are conducted the Gel Electrophoresis. From the results of our gel we can view a very light band almost hard to see but it is their. Because, we saw a band in lane four that means that in fact the tortilla chips are genetically modified. Lane five is our GMO positive DNA with plant primers. This lane is a sample of an actual GMO with plant DNA. And this lane will verify that our GMO positive did come from a plants. And in fact lane five sample was derrived from a plant because a band was visible. Lane six is the GMO positive DNA with GMO Primers. This lane will once again verify that our tortilla chips sample are indeed GMO's. Because a band was able to be seen from the gel tortilla chips are modified.

GMO or not?

As a current eleventh grade student at STEM Academy High school, i was given the task to conduct a lab to test weather one of the foods provided by our teacher was or wasn't genetically altered. For this project we conducted a 3 day lab consisting of first the DNA extraction from one of the food samples provided. Our food samples choices were Tortilla corn chips, corn bread mix, papaya, and a fresh corn cob. The food sample my group and i choose were tortilla chips, because we were curious to find out wether chips could actually be altered. The second day of the lab we conducted a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The purpose of the PCR was to test for the presence of the inserted DNA. However, for this experiment my group and I performed two PCR reactions. One reaction was done to check if our food sample contained plant DNA. Second reaction was performed to see if it contained GMO DNA. AFter the PCR was completed we had to do a Gel Electrophoresis lab and run a gel to check wether or not our first two labs were succesfull. And most importantly to vertify if the tortilla chips were modified or not.

How are GMO's made?

In order to make a genetically modified organism there are three main fundamental components needed to make a GMO. These components are the gene you want to transfer, the organism in which the gene will be inserted to, and a vector that will serve as a car that will drive the gene into the targeted cells.

In this diagram you can observe the exact process of how GMO's are made.
http://www.odec.ca/projects/2003/britt3m/public_html/makinggmo.htm

Should GMO's be consumed?

You might be wondering what do GMO's mean... right? Well, the term GMO's or most commonly known as Genetically Modified Oganisms are commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. These plants are modified in a laboratory to enhance certain traits such as an increased resistance to herbicides or for the improvement of its nutrients. However, many of these genetically modified organism are available for human consumption such as Alfalfa, Canola, Corn, Papaya, Potato, Rice, Soybean, Squash, and tomato. Although, genetically modified organisms in foods are controversial today, there are many benefits that come along. These enhanced foods can be modified to last harsh farming conditions, which willl make the impact on the enviroment less. Also with ability to genetically alter organisms we would have the potential to decrease worldwide agricultural problems. Genetically altering organisms will benefit by increasing the disease resistance. To this day there are many viruses such as, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Therefore, plant biologists are working to create plants resistance to those diseases. Cold tolerance is another way that GMO's will benefit us because, at times unexpected frost can destroy sensitive crops. And with a antifreeze gene that comes from a cold water fish we would get rid of this problem.With the insertion of this antifreeze gene,plants are going able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill non -engineered crops.