1. GM-Foods
What? Why? How? What for?

2. Examples of traits found in GM Foods
Disease-resistance
GM Papaya resistant to Papaya ringspot virus
Papaya

3. Examples of traits found in GM Foods
Pest-resistance
European Corn Borer
Herbicide Tolerance
RoundUp Ready

4. Examples of traits found in GM Foods
Increased Nutrition
Golden Rice – Vitamin A
Medication, frost-resistance, salt tolerance, drought tolerance

5. How common are GM Foods?

6. How common are GM Foods?

7. How common are GM Foods?

8. How are GM Crops made? Old method
Old Method – Cross Breeding
Same species
Takes many generations.

9. How are GM Crops made? Old method
Thousands of years
Teosinte Modern corn

10. How are GM Crops made? New method
Transgenics
Can move genes from any living organism.
GM Cotton resistant to boll weevil
Cotton

11. Advantages of GM Foods Increased production Decreased pesticide use
Improved shelf-life
More land available for farming
Flavr Savr Tomato

12. Disadvantages of GM Foods
No label
Allergy risk?
Mixing of genes with wild relatives
Safe for human consumption

13. Bt Crops Bacillus thuringiensis is a common soil bacteria.
Produces a protein - toxic to certain insects (not humans)
Toxin coats intestine and larvae starve.

14. Bt Crops Sprayed to control both beetle, moth, and butterfly larvae.
European Corn Borer causes $1 billion in crop damage each year.

15. RoundUp Ready RoundUp is an herbicide used to control weeds
RoundUp Ready crops are resistant to RoundUp.

16. RoundUp Ready Concerns
Is it safe for the environment?
No-till land has increased 35%
Estimated 1 billion tons of soil erosion prevented
5% increase in herbicide use

17. PROMOTER TRANSGENE TERMINATOR
How Are GM Crops Made
Isolate Gene
Place gene in “gene cassette”
Promoter – tells cell “beginning of gene”
Transgene – codes for protein
Terminator – tells cell “end of gene”
Gives gene “context” otherwise it’s “just DNA”
PROMOTER TRANSGENE TERMINATOR

18. How Are GM Crops Made Transfer Gene to organism
Viruses or bacteria to infect cells (agrobacteria)
Gene Gun

19. What are we doing in lab? Bring in a food item made of corn or soy
Isolate DNA
PCR
Run and analyze Gel

20. What is our PCR detecting?
Tubulin – found in all plants; cytoskeleton
CaMV35S promoter – strong promoter from Cauliflower Mosaic Virus; used in many gene cassettes

21. Thinking Ahead Will we be able to detect what trait our GM Food has?
What is the purpose of detecting tubulin?
No, detecting the promoter, not the transgene which codes for traits.
Control – helps us know if we successfully isolated DNA and set up PCR.

22. Why do we need to modify foods in the first place?

23. Access to food Need to feed millions of starving people
Only 10% of land is “arable” (can produce crops)
Others?

24. How are crops genetically modified?
Classical genetics (cross-breeding) vs. transgenics

25. How common is GM Food?
63% of all land used to grow GM crops is in U.S.

26. How common is GM Food?
Number of acres used for GM Farming is increasing world wide.

27. How common is GM Food? In U.S. (2004) - 45% of corn (38% in WI)
- 85% of soybeans (82% in WI)
- 76% of cotton

28. GMO Free Labels

29. GMO Free Labels

30. How are transgenics made?
Determine which gene, Isolate DNA, cut out gene, paste gene into a plasmid, gene gun to transfer DNA into plant cells, clone to produce more transgenic plants

31. What are some issues related to GM-Foods?
What types currently exist?
How much of our crops are currently GM? How much of the food in the store?
How would we know if something is GM or not?

32. What are some issues related to GM-Foods?
Is GM Food safe to eat? How safe is it?
Safe for the environment? Does it result in more or less use of pesticides? More or less use of herbicides?
Who determines if it is safe or not?

33. What are some issues related to GM-Foods?
Can the genes escape into nature?

34. Which are GM traits are most commonly used?
Virus Resistance
Papaya, beets
Roundup Ready (herbicide resistance)
Canola, cotton, soybeans, corn
Bt (pest resistance)
Cotton, corn, potatoes
Harvest of Fear Video Clip

35. Bt crop - concerns Can insects develop resistance to Bt?
Yes, but that’s true for non-GM insect-resistant crops as well.
Recommended that Bt crops be alternated with regular crops.

36. Bt crops - concerns Is Bt safe for the environment?
69.7 million pounds less pesticide used in 2005.
Fewer “non-target” insects such as monarch butterflies are killed compared to spraying.
Can Bt crops still kill non-target insects?

37. Bt concerns? Is Bt safe for humans?
FDA considers Bt to be safe for human consumption. Digested quickly.
Humans have been exposed to Bt for many years.

38. RoundUp Ready Concerns
Can the herbicide-resistance genes move by pollen?
“Superweeds”
Yes, but true for non-GM herbicide-resistant crops as well.
Not a trait that will allow it to outcompete in wild areas

39. General GM Food Concerns
Are GM Foods safe for the environment?
World’s 1950 grain output = 692 million tons
World’s 2003 grain output = 1.9 billion tons
170% increase
Same number of acres
Would need 1.8 billion additional hectares of land to produce same amount of grain by 1950’s methods.

40. General GM Foods Concerns
Allergens
What if new gene encodes a protein causes allergic reactions and/or death in people?
How would you predict if a food might contain a new allergen?

41. RoundUp is considered “Friendly”
It is virtually nontoxic to mammals, birds, fish, and insects
- It exhibits essentially no pre-emergence activity. It won't prevent plants in your garden from germinating.
- It exhibits essentially no residual soil activity even when applied at high rates. Roundup binds tightly to soil particles and doesn't move on or in the soil to affect untreated plants nearby
- It breaks down quickly into natural materials such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen
- It does not penetrate the woody stems of trees, shrubs, or grapevines
- Finally, the most important feature, once inside the plant, glyphosate inhibits a key enzyme found only in plants and bacteria EPSP synthase.