Transgenic foods -types of crops

Our global food and feed for our livestock are derived from plants and animals which have been grown and bred for several thousand years. Over time, humans have selected desirable traits to continue into the next generation through selective breeding. Animals and plants have therefore undergone significant genetic change as a result of thousands of years of natural genetic manipulation. For example consider the Belgian Blue Bull, as seen on the right, it red for a genetic mutation that deactivates genes responsible for the synthesis of a protein called myostatin. Myostatin slows muscle growth and enables the normal, healthy animal to maintain a balance between muscle and skeletal development. The absence of this protein causes unchecked muscle growth and reduced fat deposition. The result is a leaner more muscular animal.

In recent times, science has provided the technology and knowledge to modify genetic material of living organisms more directly by using modern gene manipulation. Breeding between different species is impossible using conventional techniques. For example a drought resistant cactus plant could not be crossbred with a potato plant in order to produce a drought resistant potatoes. However, with modern techniques scientists can identify, isolate and transfer genes which express desirable traits form one organism into another. For example, bacteria have been genetically modified to produce pharmaceutical products such as insulin for human use by incorporating the human gene that is responsible for insulin production into the genetic makeup of a bacterium. Other genetic manipulations have resulted in plants that are pest and disease resistant, drought resistant and fish that grow faster and mature quicker. The term transgenic organism is used to describe an organism which has had a foreign, inheritable gene inserted using modern gene manipulation technology.

But before we continue let's take a simple look at genetic material.

Genetic material is present in every cell in our body, except for red blood cells. It is composed of an extremely long molecule called DNA that has information, dealing with every aspect of a cells life, encoded along its length. These DNA is packed in super coiled structures called chromosomes and kept in a special structure within the cell called the nucleus.