Genetically Modified Food

Is there any other kind?

Dan GraurJohn & Rebecca Moores Professor Department of Biology & BiochemistryUniversity of Houston

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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”)

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

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Google Images: “genetically modified food”

Alexis Rockman. 2000. The Farm. Oil and acrylic on wood panel5

Are these natural foods?

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• 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.”

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

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Genome

Transcribed Untranscribed

FunctionalRNA

Translated

Functional

FunctionalDNA Junk

Untranslated

Functionalprotein

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How does one genetically modify an organisms?

Protein-coding geneControlelement

Protein

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How does one genetically modify an organisms?

Dead geneControlelement

Method 1: Kill the gene.

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How does one genetically modify an organisms?

Protein-coding genes

Controlelement

Protein

Method 2: Duplicate the gene.

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How does one genetically modify an organisms?

Protein-coding geneControlelement

Protein

Method 3: Modify control.

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How does one genetically modify an organisms?

Protein-coding genes

Controlelement

Protein

Method 4: Add a gene.

How does one genetically modify an organisms?

Methods 5-∞

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How does one genetically modify an organisms?

Controlelement

Protein

Of particular interest is the creation of transgenics.

A gene from a different species

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

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

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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)

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• 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.

Selection when you’re lucky (desirable mutation present in the population)

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The aim is “black”

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

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Selection with genetic engineering

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

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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.

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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)

GeneticallyModified (Bad)

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Natural (inedible)

GeneticallyModified (yum!)

GeneticallyModified (yum!)

Actually: Plants and animals evolved traits to avoid being eaten. Genetically unengineered plants and animals are mostly inedible.

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The only natural citruses in the picture

Kale

Kohlrabi

Brussels sprouts

Leaves

Stem

Genus BrassicaWild mustard

Flowersand stemsBroccoli

Cauliflower

Flowerclusters

Cabbage

Terminalbud

Lateralbuds

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Domestication (primitive genetic engineering)

Wild Solanum(poisonous; opponents of GMOs should only eat wild Solanum)

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Even your pets are genetically engineered

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

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.

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ChickenGallus gallus

Red jungle fowlGallus gallus

At most 12 eggs per year

up to 371 eggs per year

Is this genetic engineering or is this genetic engineering?

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Red jungle fowlGallus gallus

At most 12 eggs per year

Is this genetic engineering or is this genetic engineering?

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Can you feed 7 billion people with genetically unengineered food?

A bowl of corn and wheat cereals with milk and bananas.

What can be more wholesome? What can be less genetically modified?

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Let’s analyze your breakfast:

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Corn:

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Teosinte(natural)

Corn(engineered)

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Teosinte(natural) May the

supporters, contributors, and propagandists of Greenpeace know only popcorn made of teosinte!

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

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Wheat:

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Wheat is transgenic

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Bananas:

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This is a natural banana: Very good for dentists!

Is Drinking Milk Natural?

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Milk:

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.

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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.

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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.

50Lucas Cranach the Elder. 1530. “Maria lactans" Oil on canvas

Majority of Adults Lactose Tolerant

51Majority of Adults Lactose Intolerant

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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.

Lactose toleranceThe Eurocentric View

• Hypolactasia (lactase restriction) = low lactase activity weaning.

• Normolactasia (lactase persistence) = persistent lactase activity into adulthood comparable to the neonatal period

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

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Modern GeneticEngineering

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The story of the Flavr Savr tomato

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

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

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

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Ripening:

1. Transformation of cellulose into sugar.

2. Pectin hydrolization.

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Ripening:

1. Transformation of cellulose into sugar.

2. Pectin hydrolization.

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

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Result: Flavr Savr™

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Result: Flavr Savr™

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DNA Technology & the Story of “Golden Rice”

Malnutrition

Vitamin A deficiency

• Weakens the immune system• Can lead to blindness which increases the

risk of death• Is entirely preventable!

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.

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)

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?

The reason that golden rice is not widely distributed among poor farmers is that Greenpeace likes blind children!

Blindness courtesy of

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What can we consume that is entirely GMO free?

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What can we consume that is entirely GMO free?

Nicotiana tabacum + Cinnamomum vera = Cinnamon flavored cigarettes

Is genetically modified food bad for you?

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Is genetically modified food bad for you?

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No. Ignorance is bad for you.

• 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.

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.

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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.

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