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What Teens Say...
Name: Andrew Stein
Essay Theme: Dynamic DNA |
State: Michigan
School: Oxford Middle School |
Need More Food? Use Genetics! |
 People have been
dabbling in the realm of genetics for over 4,000 years! Pioneer
scientists such as Gregor Mendel and Thomas Fairchild paved
the way to new discoveries. Wouldn't they be surprised to learn
that their ideas are being used to splice spider genes into
lamb genes and flounder genes into tomato genes? With this technology,
maybe someday we could grow plants that produce more food in
a room than an entire farm does today. Imagine going into your
"walk-in garden" to harvest this week's produce, knowing
that your abundant plant supply will make up for the loss in
a week's time. This could be made possible by using tools from
the past along with some exciting new technologies that are
changing the way we think about food production.
Hybridization,
a tool used widely in the past and present, is a way of producing
offspring with desired traits by pairing two organisms that
possess the desired trait, together. For instance, you could
pair a corn plant that produces a few big ears with another
that produces lots of small ears, together. With this cross,
you would hope to get a stalk with lots of big ears.
Inbreeding
is another tool used to produce organisms with desired traits.
It is when two plants with the same form of a desired trait
are bred to produce offspring with that trait. The offspring
is referred to as a purebred. However, genetic disorders often
occur with inbred organisms.
These
tools are great, but is there a better way? DNA (deoxyribonucleic
acid) may prove to be the answer. We have found that DNA, known
as a building block of life, can be manipulated. Genetic engineering
is a widely beneficial, but controversial, tool. It is a way
of splicing genes from one organism into another. This is done
by cutting a chromosome on a certain gene and splicing the chosen
gene from another organism into it.
You
may wonder what this has to do with boosting agricultural bounty.
It has everything to do with it! Scientists have already spliced
genes from a flounder into tomatoes, making a tomato plant that
is resistant to cold. We are on the threshold of some pretty
amazing breakthroughs. For instance, you might be able to splice
the gene that codes for a strawberry to be perennial into a
potato plant. Or you could splice the gene from certain weeds
that rapidly reproduce into a wheat plant, making the wheat
rapidly reproduce.
Using these
examples, perhaps now you can understand how the "walk-in
garden" of the future could work. It would be full of rapidly
producing, perennial plants with special characteristics such
as being resistant to cold or bearing lots of fruit. The possibilities
are endless. Who knows what the future holds in store for agriculture?
Genetic engineers and people who have creative imaginations
to put their tools to use-that's who!
References:
| Brown, T. 2002. Personal communication. |
| Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.
1999. Applications of |
|
Biotechnology to Crops: Benefits and Risks. CAST Issue
Paper No. 12,
<http://www.cast-science.org/ biotc_ip.htm>
(October 15, 2002) |
| Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.
2002. Plant biotechnology |
|
timeline, <http://www.whybiotech.com> (October
15, 2002) |
| Morrison, E., A. Moore, N. Armour, A. Hammond,
1. Haysom, E. Nicoll, and |
|
M. Smyth. 1997. What the Future Holds. Pp. 544-558.
Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston, New York. |
This essay was part of a 2003 essay contest sponsored by
Council for Agricultural Science & Technology.
Click here to see how essays were selected.
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