PowerPoint for environmental science

1. Presented by:
Earl Laurence M. Obdosantos
New Crops
and
Genetic Engineering
Environmental Science

2. Define what is green revolution.
Understand the process of genetic engineering.
Explain the primary function of genetically modified
organisms.
Learning Outcomes

3. 3000 species of plants have been
used for food at one time or
another, most of the world’s food
now comes from only 16 species.
Many new or unconventional
varieties might be valuable
human food supplies, however,
especially in areas where
conventional crops are limited by
climate, soil, pests, or other
problems.
Did you know?

4. The FAO predicts that
70 percent of the
future world
production growth
will come from higher
yields and new crop
varieties rather than
expansion of arable
lands.
Did you know?

5. Winged bean, a
perennial plant that
grows well in hot
climates where other
legumes will not grow.
It is totally edible (pods,
mature seeds, shoots,
flowers, leaves and
tuberous roots),
resistant to diseases,
and enriches the soil.
WINGED BEAN
(PSOPHOCARPUS
TETRAGONOLOBUS)

6. TRICALE OR TRITICALE
(X. TRITICOSECALE WITTMACK)
Another promising crop is
the tricale or triticale, a
hybrid between wheat
(Triticum) and rye (Secale)
that grows in light, sandy,
infertile soil.

7. GREEN REVOLUTION
The dramatic increases
obtained as these new
varieties spread around the
world has been called the
green revolution.
The Green Revolution is the
term given to the use of
high-yielding varieties
(HYVs).

8. Most green evolution
breeds really are “high
responders,“ meaning that
they yield more than other
varieties if given optimum
levels of fertilizer, water,
and protection from pests
and disease.
Under suboptimum
conditions, on the other
hand, high responders may
not produce as well as
traditional varieties.

9. The basic physical and
functional unit of
heredity.
What is a gene?

10. It involves removing
genetic material
from one organism
and splicing it into
the chromosomes of
another.
GENETIC ENGINEERING

11. PROCESS OF GENE TRANSFER

12. GENETIC ENGINEERING USES MOLECULAR
TECHNIQUES TO PRODUCE NEW CROP VARIETIES
Plants that produce their own pesticides might
reduce the need for toxic chemical; while
engineering for improve protein or vitamin
content could make our food more nutritious.
Attempts to remove specific toxins or allergens
from crops also could make our foods safer.
Plants have been engineered to make industrial
oils and plastics.

13. GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS

14. Animals, too, are being genetically
modified to grow faster, gain weight on less
food, and produce pharmaceuticals such
as insulin in their milk.
It may soon be possible to create animals
with human cell-recognition factors that
could serve as organ donor.

15. Maurice Miller

16. David Bennett

17. GMOs themselves might escape and
become pests or they might interbreed with
wild relatives. In either case, we may create
superweeds or reduce native biodiversity.
Constant presence of pesticides in plants
could accelerate pesticide resistance in
insects or leave toxic residues in soil or our
food.

18. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a
bacterium, makes toxins lethal to
Lepidoptera (butterfly family) and
Coleoptera (beetle family).
The genes for some of these toxins
have been transferred into crops
such as maize (to protect against
European cut worms), potatoes (to
fight potato beetles), and cotton (for
protection against boll weevils).
Most GMOs have been
engineered for pest resistance
or weed control

19. The effectiveness of this natural
pesticide - one of the few available to
organic growers - is likely to be
destroyed within a few years.
One solution is to plant at least a
part of every field in non-Bt crops
that will act as a refuge for non-
resistant pests.
The hope is that interbreeding
between these “wild-type” bugs and
those exposed to Bt will dillute out
recessive resistance genes.

20. There is also concern about the
effects of nontarget species.
The other major group of
transgenic crops are engineered
to tolerate high doses of
herbicides. Currently these crops
occupy 20 million hectares
worldwide, or about three-
quarters of all genetically
engineered acreage.

21. At the base of some
people’s unease with
genetic modification is a
feeling that it simply is
not right to mess with
nature.
Is Genetic Engineering safe?

22. In 2002, while millions of its
people faced famine, Zambia’s
government refused to accept
thousands of tons of genetically
modified maize(corn) from the
United States, claiming that it
might be unsafe for human
consumption.
Most European nations have bans
on genetically engineered crops.
Is Genetic Engineering safe?

23. Is Genetic Engineering safe?
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration declined to
require labeling of foods
containing GMOs, saying
that these new varieties
are “substantially
equivalent” to related
varieties bred via
traditional practices.

24. Is Genetic Engineering safe?
Biotechnology may be
a more precise way of
creating novel
organisms than normal
breeding procedures.

25. In a ten-year study of genetically modified
crops, a group from Imperial College, London,
concluded that GMOs tested so far do not
survive well in the wild, and are no more likely
to invade other habitats than their unmodified
counterparts.
What if GMOs escape and interbreed with native species?
Is Genetic Engineering safe?

26. On the other hand, others of scientists counter
that some GMO crops already have been
shown to spread their genes to nearby fields.
It is not clear, however, if the genes involved
will have any adverse effect or whether they
will persist for many generations.
What if GMOs escape and interbreed with native species?
Is Genetic Engineering safe?

27. Is Genetic Engineering safe?
The first genetically modified
animal designed to be eaten by
humans is an Atlantic salmon
containing extra growth
hormone genes from an oceanic
pout.
The transgenic fish grow seven
times faster and are more
attractive to the opposite sex
than a normal salmon.

28. CONCLUSIONS
Many people argue
that we should take a
better-safe-than-sorry
“precautionary
approach” that errs-if
at all-on the side of
safety.
The 5,000-member
Society of Toxicology
has concluded that,
“Based on available
tests, there is no reason
to suspect that
transgenic plants differ
in any substantive way
from traditional
varieties.”

29. CONCLUSIONS
On the other hand, a panel of biologists and
agricultural scientists convened by the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences urged the
government to more carefully, and more
publically, review the potential
environmental impacts of genetically
modified plants and animals before
approving them for commercial use.

30. QUESTION
Will they help feed the world or will
they lead to a greater consolidation
of corporate power and economic
disparity?

31. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING 1E!!!