In class I've been studying race and genetics, specifically dominant and recessive genes. This week we read an article titled "From Farm To Lab To Table," which talked about selective breeding and GMOs. This article relates to what I'm learning because we've been focusing a lot on inheritance and selective breeding is very relevant to that. This article has made me want to learn more about the history of GMOs.
Only The Best Genes Survive
The phrase is referring to artificial selection, or selective breeding, which is the process by which humans use animal and plant breeding to selectively develop certain traits by choosing which plants or animals will reproduce.
Another meaning the phrase could refer to, though it was not mentioned in the article, is natural selection. This is basically the natural version of selective breeding - the process by which an organism better adapted to it's environment (this is where it differs from selective breeding - the trait that suits the animal better, not the trait that suits the human) tends to produce more offspring.An example provided by the text is the eggplant. The eggplant was originally just what is sounds like - a small, white, egg-shaped plant. Over the generations, because of selective breeding, eggplant became what it is today - much larger and much purpler. This is because, in history, farmers chose to replant the bigger and more colorful eggplants because they also happened to have a less bitter taste.
Genetic Modifications
In recent years, a new form of selective breeding has appeared. It's called genetic modification. It is basically a more direct version of selective breeding only available because of our modern knowledge of genetics. It involves directly modifying the genes of a plant or animal to exacerbate or suppress a certain trait - with the same results as natural selection, just faster.
A benefit of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) is that when successful, it adds something useful or takes away something bad, something which can help our civilization advance and develop.
A con to GMOs is monoculture. Monoculture is when you rely on a single variety of a crop. This can come with some risks - yes, you always get the good trait, but you could also be relying on a crop especially susceptible to a particular disease or mutation.
For example, in the article is says that "Today, the Cavendish variety represents 99% of commercially exported bananas, but its reign as king banana may come to an end."
The articule uses this as an example of monoculture. Cavendish bananas are all genetically the same, cloned so that the trait of being resistant to a historic strain of the Panama disease is guaranteed in every banana. Unfortunately, this also means that the Cavendish banana is now unable to adapt to fight off a new strain of the Panama disease and therefore may, as stated in the article, "lose it's place as top banana."
