A description of Genetically Modified Food with vicious attacks on Greenpeace.

1. Genetically Modified Food
Is there any other kind?
Dan Graur
John & Rebecca Moores Professor
Department of Biology & Biochemistry
University of Houston
1

2. 2
Summary
•All food is genetically modified.
•Opponents of genetically modified food are
scientifically clueless & societally malicious. (My
wife doesn’t allow me to use “morons”)

3. 3
Google Images: “organic food” or “natural food”

4. 4
Google Images: “genetically modified food”

5. Alexis Rockman. 2000. The Farm. Oil and acrylic on wood panel
5

6. Are these natural foods?
6

7. 7

8. • What is a genetically modified organism?
• Are genetic modifications unnatural?
• What constitutes genetically unmodified
“natural” food.
• What scientific and logical errors are
committed by the opponents of genetically
modified organisms that justify their
classification as “clueless.”
8

9. The entire genetic material
(DNA) carried by an organism
is called the genome.

10. 10
Genome
Transcribed Untranscribed
Functional
RNA
Translated
Functiona
l
Functional
DNA Junk
Untranslated
Functional
protein

11. 11
How does one genetically modify an organisms?
Protein-coding geneControl
element
Protein

12. 12
How does one genetically modify an organisms?
Dead geneControl
element
Method 1: Kill the gene.

13. 13
How does one genetically modify an organisms?
Protein-coding
genes
Control
element
Protein
Method 2: Duplicate the gene.

14. 14
How does one genetically modify an organisms?
Protein-coding geneControl
element
Protein
Method 3: Modify control.

15. 15
How does one genetically modify an organisms?
Protein-coding
genes
Control
element
Protein
Method 4: Add a gene.

16. How does one genetically modify an organisms?
Methods 5-∞
16

17. 17
How does one genetically modify an organisms?
Control
element
Protein
Of particular interest is the creation of transgenics.
A gene
from a
different
species

18. Eduardo Kac. 2000. GFP bunny. Rabbit, jellyfish
GFP, UV lamp with fluorescein filters.
This transgenic rabbit (called Alba) was
purportedly made by inserting a
jellyfish gene that produces a green
fluorescent protein into the rabbit
genome. Whether this story is true or
not, one has to ask artist Eduardo Kac.
The rabbit was never seen in vivo. 18

19. Art and Engineering are artificial.
There is nothing artificial about genetic
engineering. All the procedures we can do
in the lab, have been done in nature for
millions of years.
Art and Engineering are artificial.
There is nothing artificial about genetic
engineering. All the procedures we can do
in the lab, have been done in nature for
millions of years. 19

20. 20
None of the people
in this picture
would be here
without (1) gene
duplication, (2)
gene deletion, (3)
modification of
genetic control, or
(4) infusion of
foreign genes
(mainly bacterial
ones).
A group photo of GMOs
(Blaffer museum employees)

21. 21
• A genetic modification may or may not
have a visible effect on the organism.
• In case it does, the modification may or
may not be desirable.
• To get desirable results, we need to apply
selection, and allow only desirable
individuals to reproduce.

22. Selection when you’re lucky (desirable
mutation present in the population)
22
The aim is “black”

23. Selection when you’re not lucky (you have
to wait for the desirable mutation)
23

24. Selection with genetic engineering
Selection + genetic engineering
differs from other types of selection
by being very fast.
24

25. The domestication of animals and
plants 15,000 years ago and the
genetically engineered organisms of
2013 entail the same genetic
modifications. The only difference is that
one process is faster than the other.
Genetic engineering is to
domestication as hand knitting is to
machine knitting. The only difference is
that Greenpeace hasn’t ever burned textile
factories.
25

26. The Basic Error of GMO Opponents:
Plants and animals evolved for millions of years for
the sole purpose of being eaten by humans. Such
plants and animals constitute natural food.
Natural, wholesome
(good)
Genetically
Modified (Bad)
26

27. 27
Natural (inedible)
Genetically
Modified (yum!)
Genetically
Modified (yum!)
Actually: Plants and animals evolved traits to
avoid being eaten. Genetically unengineered
plants and animals are mostly inedible.

28. 28
The only
natural
citruses in
the picture

29. Kale
Kohlrabi
Brussels sprouts
Leaves
Stem
Genus Brassica
Wild mustard
Flowers
and stemsBroccoli
Cauliflower
Flower
clusters
Cabbage
Terminal
bud
Lateral
buds
29

30. Domestication (primitive genetic engineering)
Wild Solanum
(poisonous;
opponents of GMOs
should only eat wild
Solanum)
30

31. 31
Even your pets
are genetically
engineered

32. 32
If you know a
supporter of
Greenpeace, kill
his/her pets!

33. After this talk you are all invited to taste a few
items* made out of genetically-modified
ingredients:
bananas, wheat, rice, corn, eggs, chicken,
yeast, potatoes, milk, bell peppers,
sugarcane, soybean, grapes, sunflower,
celery, sorghum, onion, garlic,
tomatoes…
*Food bought, schlepped, prepared, and paid for by
Dr. Mina Graur. 33

34. Chicken
Gallus gallus
Red jungle fowl
Gallus gallus
At most 12 eggs per year
up to 371 eggs per year
Is this genetic engineering or is this genetic engineering?
34

35. Red jungle fowl
Gallus gallus
At most 12 eggs per year
Is this genetic engineering or is this genetic engineering?
35
Can you feed 7 billion
people with genetically
unengineered food?

36. A bowl of corn and wheat cereals with
milk and bananas.
What can be more wholesome?
What can be less genetically modified? 36
Let’s analyze
your breakfast:

37. 37
Corn:

38. 38

39. 39
Teosinte
(natural)
Corn
(engineered)

40. 40

41. 41
Teosinte
(natural) May the supporters,
contributors, and
propagandists of
Greenpeace know only
popcorn made of teosinte!

42. An allopolyploid is a species with multiple sets
of chromosomes derived from different species.
42
Wheat:

43. 43
Wheat is transgenic

44. 44
Bananas:

45. 45

46. 46
This is a natural banana:
Very good for dentists!

47. Is Drinking Milk Natural?
47
Milk:

48. The digestion of lactose, the primary sugar
present in milk, into glucose and galactose, is
catalyzed in the small-intestine by an enzyme
called lactase.
48

49. Lactase persistence
In mammals, levels of lactase decline rapidly after
weaning, and adults are not able to digest lactose.
Most people are unable to digest lactose as adults
(i.e., they are lactose intolerant).
Digestion of fresh milk in individuals who are
lactose intolerant can result in diarrhea, which
during most of human history was lethal.
49

50. When the only source of milk is the mother, lactose
intolerance is evolutionarily advantageous, since
breastfeeding is an imperfect contraceptive, which
inhibits menstruation & delays
resumption of ovulation.
50
Lucas Cranach the Elder. 1530. “Maria
lactans" Oil on canvas

51. Majority of Adults Lactose Tolerant
51Majority of Adults Lactose Intolerant

52. 52
Lactose tolerance arose as independent mutations in the
control region of the lactase gene, once in N. Europe, and one
in W. Africa (5,000-15,000 years ago). No such mutation
occurred in Asian populations.

53. Lactose tolerance
The Eurocentric View
• Hypolactasia (lactase restriction) =
low lactase activity weaning.
• Normolactasia (lactase
persistence) = persistent lactase
activity into adulthood comparable
to the neonatal period 53

54. Cow milk
consumption
represent a rare
case in which the
genetic change
occurred in the
consumer rather
than the consumed.
54

55. Modern
Genetic
Engineering 55

56. The story of the
Flavr Savr tomato
56

57. Tomatoes are usually
picked when they are
unripe so they will not
bruise in transit.
57

58. Prior to marketing,
ripening is initiated by
exposing the tomatoes to
ethylene.
58

59. Problem: Tomatoes that
are ripened with ethylene
are not tasty, they contain
less sugar than
vine-ripened
tomatoes).
59

60. Ripening:
1. Transformation of
cellulose into sugar.
2. Pectin hydrolization.
60

61. 61
Ripening:
1. Transformation of
cellulose into sugar.
2. Pectin hydrolization.

62. Solution: Knockout the gene
that produces the enzyme
that hydrolyzes pectin.
62

63. Result: Flavr Savr™
63

64. Result: Flavr Savr™
64

65. DNA Technology & the
Story of “Golden Rice”

66. Malnutrition

67. Vitamin A deficiency
• Weakens the immune system
• Can lead to blindness which increases the
risk of death
• Is entirely preventable!

68. Vitamin A Deficiency: The Problem
• 400 million poor in rice-based societies are
Vitamin A deficient.
• 500,000 children per year go blind.
• 1.15 million vitamin A deficiency-
precipitated deaths among children world
wide.
• Rice is the main staple crop for most of
these children, but rice lack pro-vitamin A
and other micronutrients.

69. Vitamin A Deficiency: The Solution
• Golden Rice
– Development by Potrykus and Beyer
– Contains a gene from maize or daffodil plants
and common soil bacterium (Erwinia)

70. Golden Rice
• Free distribution of seeds
• Potential to save millions of
lives and prevent millions of
children from going blind.
• So why is it not in large scale
distribution?

71. The reason that golden rice is not
widely distributed among poor farmers
is that Greenpeace likes blind children!
Blindness courtesy of

72. 72
What can we consume that is entirely GMO free?

73. 73
What can we consume that is entirely GMO free?
Nicotiana tabacum + Cinnamomum vera
= Cinnamon flavored cigarettes

74. Is genetically modified
food bad for you?
74

75. Is genetically modified
food bad for you?
75
No. Ignorance is bad
for you.

76. • Nostalgia = a sentimentality for the
past.
• Genetic nostalgia = A sentimentality
for the genetic engineering of the
Neolithic, and a feeling of hatred for
the genetic engineering of the 21st
century.

77. The making of ale and
lager involves some
amazing genetic
engineering of yeast.
The ale yeast was modified
in 9500 BCE.
The lager yeast was
genetically modified early
in the 15th century.
Part of the story involves
an yeast from Patagonia.
77

78. Because of Texas law and
University of Houston
regulations, I cannot invite
you for a taste.
So, I am going to throw
two paper balls in the air.
Catch them and you will
receive a bottle of very
good beer (to be consumed
at home).
Proof that you are 21 years
or older is required. 78

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