FCGMOs GMOs vs non-GMOs

Robert Vavala Author

03/27/2018 Added

71 Plays

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Explanation of the general differences between GMOs and non-GMOs

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[00:00:01.800]We have developed an understanding
[00:00:03.640]of genetic modifications that allow us
[00:00:05.960]to tell the difference between transgenes and mutations.
[00:00:09.150]So now let's use that in contrast situations
[00:00:14.200]that involve non-GMOs and those that involve GMOs.
[00:00:18.150]So we'll take a look at a couple of situations here.
[00:00:22.010]Let's start with these pigs, we're looking at them
[00:00:24.280]at the DNA level, the blue represents the pig chromosome
[00:00:28.930]and you can see there's been an insertion
[00:00:31.110]of a transgene.
[00:00:32.978]This transgene has a promoter on off switch
[00:00:35.680]that came from a mouse gene,
[00:00:38.100]and E. Coli bacteria provided the coding region
[00:00:42.840]and it's a coding region that tells the pig
[00:00:46.060]just like it tells the E. Coli how to build
[00:00:49.500]a protein called phytase.
[00:00:51.140]Phytase is an enzyme that has the function
[00:00:55.030]of digesting a phosphor storage molecule.
[00:00:57.680]And these phosphor storage molecules are abundant
[00:01:01.690]in corn seeds and in soy bean seeds,
[00:01:05.840]the feed that most farmers feed their pigs.
[00:01:10.070]So you can see where if there's phosphorous in the seed
[00:01:13.990]and this enzyme breaks up the seed storage,
[00:01:16.700]phosphorous storage molecule, that phosphorous
[00:01:18.960]is available to the pigs and beneficial to them.
[00:01:22.680]So as it turns out, phytase enzymes,
[00:01:27.880]genes that can code these phytase enzymes,
[00:01:29.920]they're found in all sorts of living things,
[00:01:32.330]microbes, plants, even some animals,
[00:01:34.600]but they're not found in pigs.
[00:01:37.540]So could you use classical breeding to try to find pigs
[00:01:43.780]that would make this phytase a phosphorous digesting enzyme?
[00:01:48.770]The answer is no.
[00:01:50.920]There are no pigs on the planet that a breeder
[00:01:54.040]or pig breeder could work with that possess this trait.
[00:01:56.690]The only way this trait could've been introduced into pigs
[00:02:02.320]is by making a transgene where the mouse promoter allowed,
[00:02:07.870]combined with the bacteria coding region,
[00:02:11.190]allowed them to use that phosphorous that was in the grain
[00:02:14.460]so there was less phosphorous in the waste.
[00:02:16.700]The mouse promoter was expressed in the salivary cells
[00:02:21.770]of the pig, and so that's where the enzyme would be made.
[00:02:27.190]It would break up the phosphorous making it available
[00:02:29.950]as it passes through its digestive system,
[00:02:32.470]and there's less phosphorous in the manure.
[00:02:34.720]Lots of benefits, would you call this a GMO or a non-GMO?
[00:02:39.240]Yeah, this is a GMO.
[00:02:40.630]It takes a transgene, a gene that doesn't naturally occur
[00:02:44.970]in pigs introduced into the pig genome to deliver this trait
[00:02:50.400]and this work was successfully done
[00:02:52.500]by genetic engineers in Canada.
[00:02:55.550]Okay let's look at another situation.
[00:02:57.280]Here we have a soy bean plant that can resist
[00:03:00.140]the application of a herbicide that's killing the weeds
[00:03:03.760]that would be competing with this plant.
[00:03:06.610]As it turns out, the plant has this characteristic
[00:03:09.610]because of a mutation that occurred
[00:03:11.692]in a gene that's found in all soy bean plants,
[00:03:14.790]but the altered allele the mutation occurred,
[00:03:19.206]created an altered protein that could function
[00:03:23.530]but not interact with this herbicide molecule.
[00:03:26.840]So plants that had had the mutated version of this
[00:03:32.059]soy bean gene, had the mutated allele,
[00:03:35.520]could be grown as herbicide resistant varieties.
[00:03:38.870]Is this a GMO or a non-GMO?
[00:03:43.180]This is a non-GMO, a gene that the soy bean plant
[00:03:47.690]already has has been altered and that alteration
[00:03:52.616]delivered the desired trait that the breeders could then
[00:03:55.942]work with in their soy bean improvement process.
[00:04:00.150]This is a good example of a non-GMO
[00:04:03.540]that's very important in agriculture.
[00:04:13.020]Alright let's look at a third example,
[00:04:14.580]again it involves soy beans.
[00:04:15.980]In this case we need a soy bean plant that's resistant
[00:04:20.020]to the roundup herbicide.
[00:04:22.480]When that herbicide is applied at field rates,
[00:04:25.880]rates that would kill the weeds,
[00:04:27.760]this plant continues to grow.
[00:04:29.980]And the reason this plant can grow is because it's been
[00:04:34.390]given the instructions to build a bacteria version
[00:04:38.600]of this enzyme that's critical for plant growth
[00:04:42.840]and development in the target of the roundup herbicide.
[00:04:47.150]By using a promoter from a plant virus,
[00:04:50.330]this gene is signaled to be turned on in every part
[00:04:53.330]of the plant, all the active cells, the leaf cells,
[00:04:57.800]the stem cells, the pod cells, the root cells
[00:05:01.020]would be turning this gene on making
[00:05:02.760]the herbicide resistant protein,
[00:05:05.770]and that would create a plant that could resist
[00:05:10.130]the application of this particular herbicide.
[00:05:13.200]Mutations in soy bean genes,
[00:05:16.573]in the genes the soy bean plant already had,
[00:05:19.780]were never discovered that could deliver this trait.
[00:05:22.900]They had to deliver this trait by using a gene
[00:05:26.890]that originally was found in a bacteria.
[00:05:29.760]So is this a GMO or a non-GMO?
[00:05:35.860]This is a GMO, even though this enzyme there's a similar
[00:05:39.630]version of this enzyme that's found in the plant,
[00:05:43.090]because the gene that encodes this enzyme was
[00:05:46.990]from a bacteria and was introduced as a transgene
[00:05:50.030]into the soy bean chromosome, this is an example
[00:05:53.870]of creating a GMO using genetic engineering
[00:05:56.700]to introduce that one additional transgene
[00:06:00.043]to deliver the trait that you're interested in.
[00:06:02.240]Okay, so if you understand the difference between
[00:06:04.450]mutations and transgene modifications,
[00:06:08.630]you can understand where there is,
[00:06:13.260]you can apply the term GMO to the genetic change
[00:06:16.760]and when you should apply the term non-GMO.
[00:06:20.010]So changes in genes that the organism already has non-GMO,
[00:06:24.720]inserting a transgene, inserting a new gene
[00:06:27.630]into the chromosome to add that additional gene
[00:06:31.900]to encode a protein that the plant otherwise, or animal,
[00:06:35.120]otherwise wouldn't be able to make, that's a GMO.
[00:06:38.070]So I think it's important to understand those differences
[00:06:41.840]at the DNA level.
[00:06:44.310]Okay so we've tackled our learning outcome goals.
[00:06:50.670]Will I add a bonus presentation here that takes you through
[00:06:54.850]the basic steps in animal and plant genetic engineering
[00:06:58.280]so that if you recognize when using genetic engineering
[00:07:03.430]technology is desired or needed to impose
[00:07:08.700]the genetic change on the living thing,
[00:07:10.990]what the work load, what the steps involved would be
[00:07:15.396]for the genetic engineering scientist.

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FCGMOs GMOs vs non-GMOs

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