A topic in Life Science about the reproduction of plants for Grade 11 and 12 students

1. GENETICALLY
MODIFIED
ORGANISM (GMO)
D I S C U S S A N T : J O S H U A G . J AV I E R
S V N H S S T U D E N T, H U M S S 1 1

2. OBJECTIVES:
• to further understand what is a genetically
modified organism and its example
• to fortify the fundamental concepts related to
genetics like DNA, genes and its types
• to comprehend the definition and methods of
genetic engineering
• to identify both the bright and dark side
genetically modified organism

3. I. WHAT ARE
GMOS?

4. WHAT ARE GMOS?
• According to the Institute for Responsible
Technology, A GMO (genetically modified
organism) is the result of a laboratory process
where genes from the DNA of one species are
extracted and artificially forced into the genes
an unrelated plant or animal. The foreign genes
may come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals
or even humans. Because this involves the
transfer of genes, GMOs are also known as
“transgenic”

5. WHAT ARE GMOS?
•A genetically modified organism (GMO)
is an organism whose genetic material
has been altered using techniques in
genetics generally known as recombinant
DNA technology. Whereas, recombinant
DNA technology is the ability to combine
DNA molecules from different sources
the one molecule, according to Science
Daily.

6. II. REVIEW!T H E F U N D A M E N TA L C O N C E P T S O F
H U M A N B O D Y A N D G E N E T I C S

7. ORGANISM (PLANTS, ANIMALS, HUMANS)

8. → ORGAN SYSTEMS (CIRCULATORY,
RESPIRATORY, NERVOUS)

9. → ORGANS (HEART, LUNGS, BRAIN)

10. → TISSUES

11. → CELLS

12. → NUCLEUS

13. → CHROMOSOMES

14. → DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID (DNA)

15. DNA
•Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) is a double-helix
structure which is responsible for the main
blueprint of an organism’s physical (both
internal and external) characteristics. They
made up of nucleotides (phosphate group,
sugar and a base). The four bases are:
adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine.
NOTE: A CHANGE IN THE DNA WILL CHANGE
EVERYTHING!

16. COLOR BLINDNESS TEST

19. DNA
•Deoxy (means ‘no oxygen’) +
ribose are found in RNA, is a
"normal" sugar, withone oxygen
atom attached to each carbon
atom, according to Pearson.

23. GENES
•In connection, genes are sequences or
strands of DNA, which determines a
certain trait. (I.e. skin, blood, hair, eye -
colour, shape or type)
•In contrast, an allele is a form of a gene,
which determines the specific trait. (I.e.
white skin, brown eyes, black hair, O
blood type, etc.)

24. GENES
•Genes are expressed in two types:
1) Phenotype and; 2) Genotype.
•The phenotype tells exactly the characteristic,
like ‘brown eyes’, but the genotype is a
portrayal of an organism’s phenotypic
characteristics through letters, such as ‘BB’,
‘Yy’, that are pre-identified through Gregor
Mendel’s Punnett Square Model.

25. GENOTYPE

26. PHENOTYPE

27. WHAT IS A GMO?
•Wrapping up all these facts, Genetically
Modified Organisms are the organisms,
relating to microorganisms, plants,
animals, humans, being transfigured
through the extraction of a gene in the
DNA from other organisms, which were
transferred to them, which we call ‘genetic
engineering’.

29. III. THE METHODS
OF GENETIC
ENGINEERING OR
GENETIC
MODIFICATION

30. METHODS OF GENETIC ENGINEERING
•Because living organisms have
natural barriers to protect
themselves against the introduction
of DNA from a different species,
genetic engineers must force the
DNA from one organism into
another.

31. METHODS:
Their methods include:
• Using viruses or bacteria to “infect” animal or
plant cells with the new DNA.
• Coating DNA onto tiny metal pellets and
it with a special gun into the cells.
• Injecting the new DNA into fertilized eggs
a very fine needle.
• Using electric shocks to create holes in the
membrane covering sperm, and then forcing
the new DNA into the sperm through these
holes.

32. GENE GUN

33. MICROINJECTION

34. CLONING

35. IV. BRIEF HISTORY
OF GENETIC
ENGINEERING /
GENETIC
MODIFICATION

36. HISTORY
•Everything started first with selective
breeding of both plants and animals, and
humans became good at it, but they never
understood how it worked.
•Until, we discovered the code of life, DNA
- Deoxyribonucleic Acid, which guides
growth, development, function and
reproduction of everything alive.

37. HISTORY
•Information is encoded in the DNA
structure. Four nucleotides are paired
and make up a code that carries
instructions, which guide the
development of organisms’ internal and
external instructions.
NOTE: If you changed the genetic code,
the organism’s physical structure will
eventually change!

38. HISTORY
•The discovery of the DNA by James
Watson and Francis Crick has become a
great milestone to the other genetic-
related discoveries.
•In the 1960’s, scientists bombarded
plants with radiation to cause random
mutation or change in the genetic code.

39. HISTORY
•In the 1970’s, scientists inserted DNA
snippets into bacteria, plants and animals
study and modify them for research,
medicine, agriculture and etc.
•Past 1974, the first genetically modified
animal, mice are considered a standard tool
for research, saving millions of lives.
•In the 1980’s, the first patent was given for a
microbe engineered to absorb oil.

40. MICROBES

41. HISTORY
•Today, we produce many chemicals by
means of engineering life, like life-saving
clothing factors, growth hormones and
insulin.
•The first food modified in the lab went
on sale in 1994, the Flavr Savr Tomato,
which has a longer shelf life, where a gene
is suppressing the production of rotting
enzyme.

42. FLAVR SAVR TOMATO

43. HISTORY
•But, in the 1990’s, a brief threat in the human
engineering happened.
• To treat maternal infertility, babies were made
using a genetic material coming from 3
humans, making them to be the first humans to
to have three genetic parents.
•Now, there are super-muscled pigs,
Featherless chicken, fast-growing salmons
transparent frogs. On the other side, we’ve
made things glow in the dark.

44. PIGS

45. SALMONS

46. CHICKEN

47. FROGS

48. FISH

49. HISTORY
•Looking to the future, through genetic
engineering, HIV, Cancer cells and other
genetic diseases and viruses might be
cured, there are hopes that babies can be
designed, and aging signs might be
reversed, and humans have this possibility
to spend more than a thousand years with
their loved ones.

50. V. ARE GMO
(GENETICALLY
MODIFIED
ORGANISMS)
GOOD OR BAD?

51. ANSWER:
•In the field of medicine, genetically
modified insulins, as medical
applications are widely accepted.
•However, not the same norm goes with
food and agriculture.

52. VI. IS
GENETICALLY
MODIFIED
PLANTS AND
ANIMALS OKAY
OR NOT OKAY?

53. ANSWER:
•Since the ancient period, until now, we
have been pre-modifying plants and
animals to increase their benefits to
humans, through simple breeding, which
changes automatically and naturally the
genetic code of an organism.
•So, how is it different with what the so-
called, ‘Genetically Modified Organism’ or
‘GMO’?

54. ANSWER:
•First, selective breeding is a happy-
go-lucky method, which in contrast
with genetic engineering. In genetic
engineering, we can choose the
we want. For example, you can make
fruits bigger and more immune to
pests.

55. VII. ARE GMOS
BAD?

56. ANSWER:
•The first objection of GMOs is what we call,
‘Gene Flow’, which means that GM plants
might get mixed with Non-GM plants, which
may cause unwanted characteristics.
• But, there is a method to avoid mixing GM
plants and Non-GM plants, which are
‘Terminator Seeds’, however it’s also a big ANTI-
FACTOR in pursuing GMOs, because it might
produce sterile plants, which may require
farmers to buy new seeds per year.

57. ANSWER:
•This factor resulted to a public protest
to stop this technology, but
unintentionally, seeds from GMO plants
carried by the air have been planted in
different locations or places.

58. VIII. IS FOOD
COMING FROM
GMO DIFFERENT
WITH THOSE OF
NON-GMO?

59. ANSWER:
•GMO products, the moment they have
been produced widely, has been
checked and tested by multiple
agencies, which have concluded that
GMOs are safe to be eaten as non-
GMOs.

60. ANSWER:
•However, some plants have been engineered
to create toxic like BT crops, where the
scientists borrowed a gene from bacterium
‘Bacillus Thuringiensis’, which allows plants
produce a poisonous protein that can kill
pests. In this case, the plant makes its own
pesticide, and insects eat it and dies. Isn’t it
threatening? Pesticide sprays could be simply
washed off using water, but what if the
pesticide material is inside the crop?

61. ANSWER:
•But, nothing to worry because poison is
not a big deal and is just a question of
different perspectives. What’s harmless to
some species might kill another set of
species. Like coffee and chocolates, which
can be poisonous for insects and/or
animals, but harmless for us, humans,
unless if taken with no moderation, of
course.

62. ANSWER:
•On another approach, there are GMO plants
that are resistant to weed-killers, which may
help farmers to kill the weeds, without harming
the crop. But, on the dark side of this approach,
it is a big business for the pesticide industry.
•Mostly, all 90% of all cash crops in America are
herbicide-resistant, mostly to glyphosate. In
result, the use of glyphosate has increased.

63. ANSWER:
•Much of this criticism is for modern agriculture
and for business corporations that holds our
food supply and is only a matter of profit and
not life – sustenance, and that food is for
people and not for profits.
•In reality, GMO technology is an ally and not an
enemy, in helping to save and protect nature
and lessen its negative impacts in the
environment.

64. IX. WHAT GOOD,
GMOS CAN DO?

65. ANSWER:
•For example, in Bangladesh, eggplant
production is a major plant industry,
but harvests are destroyed by pests.
Hence, farmer rely on pesticides. Not
just that it is expensive, but it also
makes farmers sick frequently.

66. ANSWER:
•But, in the introduction of the
genetically modified eggplant during
the year 2013, this phenomenon has
stopped, which resulted to a dramatical
decrease of 80%, farmers’ health has
improved, and their income rose
intensely.

67. ANSWER:
•In some cases, GMO has been the only
option. During the attack of Ringspot
virus in Hawaiian papayas, a genetically
modified Hawaiian papaya has been
introduced, which has prevented the
Hawaiian papaya industry from
collapsing.

68. ANSWER:
•Now, the scientists have been working for a
GMO that will improve our diet, which they
target to produce plants that have more
nutrients, like a fruit with high-anti-oxidant
levels that help fight diseases or rice with
additional vitamins. (I.e. golden rice, purple
tomatoes), and plants resilient to climate
change and that can adapt to erratic weather
and various soil conditions, making them
resistant to droughts or floods.

69. ANSWER:
•Scientists are working on crops
which can filter the air from
nitrogen, like microbes. Nitrogen is
a common fertilizer, but it pollutes
the ground water and speeds up
climate change.

70. ANSWER:
•We can also modify plants
that are super-effective
collectors of carbon
dioxide, which can improve
the atmosphere and
reverse the effects of
climate change.

71. X. CONCLUSION

72. CONCLUSION:
•GMO could be our most
powerful weapon to save
our biosphere. 😊

73. THE END!
T H A N K Y O U F O R L I S T E N I N G ! 