GM lectures Flashcards
What are ecosystem services?
Ecosystem services are benefits to humans from transfer + flow of resouces.
e.g. Populations (natural and managed): – Nutrient cycling – Decomposition – Pest and disease regulation – Soil health and structure – Pollination
What are the three components of ecosystem services?
- Drivers of change (policy, climate, land use etc)
- Benefits (wellbeing, food + water, economy etc)
- Natural resources (air, soil, land, water, etc)
What are the characteristics of a monoculture?
Monocultures are…
- Homozygous (genetically identical)
- Low diversity
- Treat all the same
- Low response for selection
- Out-crossed crops sold as F1 hybrids
note: low diversity monocultures led to Irish potato famine.
What are the characteristics of diversified cropping?
- Mix of crops
- High diversity
challenges: - May need to be grown at different times
- May need different inputs
What are the characteristics of commercial breeding?
- Takes many generations and high cost to produce pure lines with novel phenotypes.
- Modern techniques used tech for ‘speed breeding’
- Cost transferred to farmer who pays seed co. a royalty to use their seeds
- Genetic materials is protected by IP rights
What is an example of applications of commercial breeding?
The Green Revolution was made possible with the use of commercial breeding techniques. Led to…
- moving from 1 => 2-3 croppings per year
- increased fertiliser, water, and pesticide use bc more plantings
- over-use of inputs
==> Solution: invest in farmer education.
How much plant diversity is utilised in agriculture?
- Of the 30,000-300,000 edible plants, only 7000 have been used in ag. Of this 7000, only 20-30 provide 90% of calories. Over half of calories are from rice, wheat and maize.
What are landraces?
Landraces are heterogenous populations; related, inbred individuals; often developed by farmers through mass selection prior to 1950s.
What’s the significance of landraces and old varieties?
May be of interest for adaptive potential to low input, biotic/abiotic stress or novel quality.
How much animal diversity is utilised in agriculture?
only 30-40 species (~0.25%) used intensively, 14 account for 90% of production
Why conserve livestock/crop diversity?
- Cultural significance
- Adaptation to different environment
- Breeding value
- New uses (env. remediation, new food, medicinal)
What is conserved?
- Varieties (landraces + cultivars)
- breeds
- related species
- potentially useful species
How is genetic conservation achieved?
Genetic conservation is achieved through…
In-situ conservation (requires lots of land) (preservation of ecosystems, continued use on farm)
- Germplasm collections
- Community-based seedbanks
- Cryopreservation, tissue culture, DNA sequencing
What is Diversifood?
Diversifood is an example of ag biodiversity conservation
- Focuses on underutilised + forgotten plants for low-input and organic agriculture to diversity existing food systems.
- Promotes community seed banks and participatory plant breeding.
- Whole supply chain
How is intellectual property (IP) used in genetic resources?
IP is used to protect…
- Plant variety rights (PVRs) to protect breeder’s investments
- End point royalties
- Patents on genes and varieties.
What is an example of an IP ethical issue in gene resources?
- “Biopirates”: rich countries taking traditional varieties from developing countries + cultures and claiming IP on them, forcing OGs to pay to use them/their name.
- IP + commericialisation of bush foods, ensuring traditional owners have input + control.
What is heterosis?
Heterosis is the idea that hybrids are superior over parents
What is the quickest breeding technique?
Mutation is the quickest breeding technique.
What are some examples of biotech?
Biotech: use of biological discoveries for dev. of industrial process + production of organisms.
=> GMOs
=> PCR
=> Marker genes/proteins
How to make a (transgenic) GMO?
Livestock – DNA microinjection into fertilised egg cells
Plants:
– Monocots: Microprojectile bombardment (Gene gun)
– Dicots: Agrobacterium tumefaciens
==> Crown gall can infect plants: insert plasma into bacterial chromosome + it puts foreign DNA into dicot so bacterium carries desired genes.