Selective Breeding versus Transgenesis

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Selective Breeding vs. Transgenesis

Intro:

The following report is going to compare two different types of human manipulation; selective breeding and transgenesis and the biological implications of each. I will be focusing on drought resistant crops and in particular drought resistant corn as scientists have provided evidence that drought will be increasing in the future due to global warming and over 30% of current land used for agriculture in the world will be no longer usable. At some point a future drought will affect New Zealand. Therefore New Zealand farmers will need to begin growing drought resistant crops by use of either selective breeding or transgenesis so that we are prepared for the future.

Selective breeding:

Humans have been manipulating genetic transfer by using selective breeding for thousands of years. For example, the original carrot in the pre 900s was small, purple and did not contain carotene while the carrot we know today is orange, thick, juicy and a result of thousands of years of selective breeding for the most desirable traits. Another example of artificial selection that is fairly modern is the selection of cows for the fattiest milk. In the 1890s the introduction of the Babcock test allowed farmers to measure the fat content in their cows milk; this allowed farmers to select for cows that produced the fattiest milk and have them breed. Testing showed that the fat content of cow milk increased from 3-4% to 4.5-5.1% in the 2000s. Farmers realised that the production records were more important than appearance or pedigree. A more modern technique of selective breeding is the use of marker assisted selection (MAS). MAS is a method of screening an organism to see if a desirable trait is present...

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...scovery-of-feral-gm-wheat/

5. http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/10/what-science-tells-us-about-the-safety-of-genetically-modified-foods/

6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/norman-borlaug-and-selective-breeding-of-wheat/12908.html

7. http://cls.casa.colostate.edu/transgeniccrops/faqpopup.html

8. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029730

9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg9-HTtgFOk

10. http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/pages/monsanto-statement-on-usda-gm-wheat.aspx

11. http://www.monsanto.com/gmwheat/pages/default.aspx

12. http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/grocery_shopping/crops/22.genetically_modified_wheat.html

13. http://web.mit.edu/demoscience/Monsanto/impact.html

14. http://web.mit.edu/demoscience/Monsanto/players.html#reportsonge

15. http://organic-center.org/news/gmo-wheat-discovery-dangers-and-implications/

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