STS 5B

SELECTIVE

BREEDING

• aka artificial selection, a

process used by humans to

develop new organisms with

desirable characteristics

• breeders select two parents

that have beneficial phenotypic

traits to reproduce, yielding

offspring with those desired

traits

• coined by Charles Darwin (On

the Origin of Species

)

SELECTIVE BREEDING

• Slow

• Imprecise

• Modification of genes that

naturally occur in the

organism

Genetically Modified

Organisms (GMO)

are living organisms whose

genetic material has been

artificially manipulated in a

laboratory through genetic

engineering.

GENETIC MODIFICATION

• Very fast

• Precise

• Can introduce genes into an

organisms that would not

naturally occur

Vitamin enrichment Rice

Three genes for the manufacture of beta- carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, in the endosperm of the rice prevent its removal (from husks) during milling

Vaccines Tobacco

Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) produced in transgenic tobacco induces immune response when injected into mice

Oral vaccines Maize

Fusion protein (F) from Newcastle disease virus (NDV) expressed in corn seeds induces an immune response when fed to chickens

Faster maturation Coho salmon

A type 1 growth hormone gene injected into fertilized fish eggs results in 6.2% retention of the vector at one year of age, as well as significantly increased growth rates

Herbicide tolerance Soybean

Glyphosate herbicide (Roundup) tolerance conferred by expression of a glyphosate-tolerant form of the plant enzyme

5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) isolated from the soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens, strain CP4

Insect resistance Corn

Resistance to insect pests, specifically the European corn borer, through expression of the insecticidal protein Cry1Ab from Bacillus thuringiensis

Altered fatty acid composition Canola

High laurate levels achieved by inserting the gene for ACP thioesterase from the California bay tree Umbellularia californica

Less-flatulent cows

Methane is a major contributor — second only to carbon dioxide — to the greenhouse effect, so scientists have been

working to genetically engineer a cow that produces less methane.

Banana vaccines

People may soon be getting vaccinated for diseases like hepatitis B and cholera by simply taking a bite of banana.

Researchers have successfully engineered bananas, potatoes, lettuce, carrots and tobacco to produce vaccines, but

they say bananas are the ideal production and delivery vehicle.

Flavr Savr tomato

was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a license for human

consumption. By adding an antisense gene, the California-based company Calgene hoped to slow the ripening

process of the tomato to prevent softening and rotting, while allowing the tomato to retain its natural flavor and color.

Enviropig

"Frankenswine," as critics call it, is a pig that's been genetically altered to better digest and process

phosphorus. Pig manure is high in phytate, a form of phosphorus, so when farmers use the manure as fertilizer, the

chemical enters the watershed and causes algae blooms that deplete oxygen in the water and kill marine life.

Glow-in-the-dark cats

In 2007, South Korean scientists altered a cat's DNA to make it glow in the dark and then took that DNA and cloned

other cats from it — creating a set of fluffy, fluorescent felines.

Web-spinning goats

Researchers inserted a spiders’ dragline silk gene into the goats’ DNA in such a way that the goats would make the

silk protein only in their milk. This "silk milk" could then be used to manufacture a web-like material called Biosteel.

Venomous cabbage

These genetically modified cabbages would produce scorpion poison that kills caterpillars when they bite leaves — but

the toxin is modified so it isn’t harmful to humans.

Genetically engineered angelfish

glow in a tank under a blacklight, at a fish farm in Pingtung, southern Taiwan,

September 16, 2010. The fish are expected to be sold at around $30 after certification.