Genetic Engineering of Crop Plants
Richard R. MacMahon, Ph.D., High School in the Community
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Give FeedbackBiological Aspects
There seem to be at least four major objectives being pursued at this time in crop plant genetic engineering research. These are:
1. To improve biological protection of crops against insects, weeds and fungi by inserting genes for the natural production of an insecticide (Feder, 1996) or for resistance to fungi or an herbicide (Hinchee et al, 1988).
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2. To elevate levels of important nutrients (e.g. methionine levels in soybeans - Beardsley, 1996) so as to make crops more nutritious.
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3. To obtain better control of ripening and post-harvest storage life to assure that produce are in peak condition when taken to market (Maryanski, 1995).
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4. To specifically modify genomes to produce a specific product (e.g. a caffeine-less coffee bean, edible vaccines in potatoes - Pollack, 2000).