Biology Forum Genetics genetic engineering of a plant

3 voices
9 replies
  • Author
    Posts
    • #9522
      kateman
      Participant

      i am doing some research for an assignment on genetic engineering of crops and want to know what impacts mutations of genes have on genetically modified crops?
      for example, can mutations form toxins/allergens or amplify toxins/allergens?
      what effects should i be researching? iam trying to find things but cant.
      names, principals or cases or experiments will really help
      or is this unknown?

      Also, can the recessive genes (such as the bt gene put into maize) play any role on influencing the attributes of the plant even though it isnt dominant? and if so how (again i dont need you to explain, i’ll be quite happy researching key words)?
      iam hearing a lot of cases about maize cross pollinating into other farms and contaminating entire crops but that would have to mean that the attributes are being dominated by the wild variety and are still showing its poisons. it just got me thinking.

      any replies will be most appreciated 🙂

    • #83652
      Cat
      Participant

      First of all Bt is dominant. Second, if you are told to research side effects on the crop itself, allergens are irrelevant.

      You should look up insertional mutagenesis drawbacks (random) that can potentially cause gene knock outs with overall effects anywhere from explicit phenotypic changes to subtle biochemical alterations.

    • #83653
      mith
      Participant

      The biggest problem is, the point of insertion is essentially random i.e. you might be in a transposon region, a coding region a regulatory region etc etc.

    • #83663
      kateman
      Participant

      dominant? i was told by a professor (who is researcher and university lecturer in the field of genetic engineering of crops) that it was recessive.

      That is rather confusing. Do you have any reference to support that the gene is dominant?
      The reason i ask is because i cant find any information to say whether it is recessive or dominant and thats why i went to ask the professor and he told me it was recessive.

      thankyou both, your help is very much appreciated 🙂

    • #83667
      mith
      Participant

      It’s dominant, one copy will allow production of toxins.

    • #83669
      Cat
      Participant

      Here is one reference: http://www.ias.ac.in/jgenet/Vol79No2/Jg456.pdf

      If you do a Google search for Bt gene, you will come up with more references. You will have to read a lot of material though.

      If you want more info go to Syngenta homepage and read their materials. They produced Bt corn.
      Here are some basic things you should have though:
      Most gain of function mutations (like new foreign gene) are dominant, recessives are rare.
      Most loss of function mutations are recessive, dominant are relatively rare.

    • #83671
      kateman
      Participant
      quote mith:

      It’s dominant, one copy will allow production of toxins.

      but lets just say it was recessive, then it could still produce the toxin right? and only a very small amount is needed to kill off the bugs that eat it, so that small amount produced would do the job.

      Cat, thank-you for that link, it is really good! 🙂
      i dont mean to sound ungrateful, i appreciate your help, but i need a reference specifically for maize and its genes that are being inserted. or is the gene inserted the exact same and therefore it doesnt matter what plant is being studied, the gene will have the same reaction in say cotton?
      if so, how would i explain that?

      also, syngenta was a good start. lot of information on it. cheers!

    • #83724
      Cat
      Participant

      1. By definition if one copy of the gene is enough to produce the phenotype (toxic to bugs in this case) than the gene is dominant.

      2. As I said before, the insertion (what is being inserted – Bt gene) does not matter to the plant. What matters is where it is being inserted within the original plant genome. In that case it matters on plant to plant bases (each specific plant) and you cannot generalize effect (not maize in general). However, whatever effects are possible in maize are theoretically likely to be possible in other plants and vice versa.

      3. I do not understand your question: "the gene will have the same reaction in say cotton?" Please, give an example to clarify what you mean.

    • #83729
      mith
      Participant

      I think kate is asking whether by genes produce the same proteins in every plant.

    • #83732
      kateman
      Participant

      yeah i think we both got a bit confused there
      but i found out, of the hundred odd bt strains in existence, the one i chose is recessive

      i just got confused as i was being told by many different people many different things, but now i know the specific traits of my strain, its all good. Thanks so much you guys, you’ve really helped. :mrgreen:

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

Members