Topic 15

Question 1

GMO

Answer 1

organism whose genome contains heritable changes created through use of genetic engineering technology
-have novel combinations of genes, do not occur in natural populations of species- achieved through genetic engineering

Question 2

transgenic organism

Answer 2

organisms that carry one or more genes artificially introduced from another species into genome

• comprise subgroup of GMO’s
• all transgenic organisms-GMO but not vice versa
• allows direct modification of genome- novel traits can be expressed in organism
• inserted using vectors

Question 3

making transgenic plants

Answer 3

• agrobacterium is soil bacterium that can transfer genes into plants
• foreign DNA is inserted into plasmid without tumour DNA region and bacteria are modified to make them harmless
• foreign genes can then be transferred into bacterium cells into host plant cells by growing plant tissue culture with harmless Ti plasmids carrying foreign gene

Question 4

biological issues

Answer 4

-safety of consuming GMO’s
-cross-pollination between GM plants and wild plants
-cross pollination between GM and non-GM crops
-viability of transgenic organisms in the wild
-health of GMO’s
genetic variation in agriculture

Question 5

social issues

Answer 5

increased food supply, nutrient and food quality
expanded range for growth of agricultural species
access to technology-social equality/inequality
labelling and consumer choice
patents and pricing
costs to farmers

Question 6

ethical issues

Answer 6

violation of animal rights
human self interest overrides ethical treatment of organisms
intervention in evolutionary process