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Biotechnology and Food: 

Biotechnology and Food Personal Choices & Public Policies Thomas M. Zinnen University of Wisconsin-Madison/Extension

What is Food?: 

What is Food? Name three foods that come from things that have not been alive.

The Biology and Nature of Food: 

The Biology and Nature of Food Nearly all our food comes from living things. Plants, Animals, Microbes From these, humans select or develop crops, livestock and cultures. Traits such as taste, color, ease of preparing, yield, vigor, nutrition

Traits = Genotype x Environment: 

Traits = Genotype x Environment Manipulate the Genes Manipulate the Environment Manipulate both the Genes and The Environment This is Becoming a Fundamental Fork in the Road

Breeders Need Sources of Genetic Variation: 

Breeders Need Sources of Genetic Variation Gene Pool Methods for Selecting Desirable Traits

Genetic Modifications of Crops: 

Genetic Modifications of Crops In how many ways are crops genetically modified today?

How can we get better crops?: 

How can we get better crops?

How can we get better crops?: 

How can we get better crops? 1. Selection Breeding Hybridization Cloning Grafting Radiation Mutagenesis Chemical Mutagenesis Gene Splicing Genomics/Gene Expression Tissue Culture

Genetic Modifications: 

Genetic Modifications Which of these are “natural”? Which of these occur in Nature in the absence of The Hand of Humanity? Does it matter, as a point of risk? Manipulate, Maneuver, Manufacture

1. Selection : 

1. Selection This is the oldest method of plant improvement. You take seeds from the best plants and plant them the next year. Your crops will gradually improve, but not in a systematic way.

2. Breeding: 

2. Breeding

2. Breeding : 

2. Breeding For about two hundred years, plant breeders have taken their best plants and intentionally moved pollen to other high value plants of the same species --you get to choose who the parents are. This allows for intentional improvement in specific traits, but does not require knowledge of genetics. It was from plant breeding experiments that Gregor Mendel (1865) first worked out the basic principles of genetics. But Mendel’s principles were not applied until around 1900.

3. Hybridization: 

3. Hybridization Allows best traits of two parent strains to be present in crop plant Hybrid vigor increases productivity of the plant. In corn, requires hand detasseling, often done by teenage work crews

3. Hybridization: 

3. Hybridization Apomixis: Apomixis is the production of seed without sex; plants that grow from seeds are virtual clones of the parent plant. If Apomixis could be applied to corn, hybrids could be grown from seed (no detasseling). This would change the picture in terms of availability of advanced varieties for poor peasant farmers, and ability of companies to profit from developing new varieties.

4. Cloning : 

4. Cloning Cloning, by growing new plants from cuttings, has been done since the beginning of agriculture. Any time you take a part of a plant other than the seed and use it to produce a new plant, you are cloning. Modern tissue culture is cloning, but so is planting grapes from a cutting. Apples , Potato, Grapes, Orchids, Oranges, Bananas, African Violets are grown this way.

5. Grafting: 

5. Grafting Grafting is simply splicing two plants together in such a way that they survive. Most commonly used in fruit trees, a stem which produces good fruit is grafted onto a trunk which typically grows short and strong.

6. Radiation Mutagenesis : 

6. Radiation Mutagenesis Source: Website of the Maize Genetics Cooperation - Stock Center USDA/ARS/MWA - Soybean/Maize Germplasm, Pathology & Genetics Research Unit University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign - Department of Crop Sciences S-123 Turner Hall, 1102 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801-4798, USA (217) 333-6631 [phone], (217) 333-6064 [fax], maize@uiuc.edu [internet] 

6. Radiation Mutagenesis : 

6. Radiation Mutagenesis Source: Website of the Maize Genetics Cooperation - Stock Center USDA/ARS/MWA - Soybean/Maize Germplasm, Pathology & Genetics Research Unit University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign - Department of Crop Sciences S-123 Turner Hall, 1102 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801-4798, USA (217) 333-6631 [phone], (217) 333-6064 [fax], maize@uiuc.edu [internet]  A significant feature of the maize collection is the large number of chromosome aberrations that are included. Many of these were deliberately induced by various forms of radiation prior to the mid-1940's. The great majority of them, however, were induced in seed samples exposed to atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946 or Eniwetok Atoll in 1948.

6. Radiation:(Photo of Bikini Explosion): 

6. Radiation: (Photo of Bikini Explosion)

6. Radiation: 

6. Radiation Mutagenic effects of radiation on plants has been known since the 1920’s Still used today to generate variation in crop cultivars.

7. Chemical Mutagenesis: 

7. Chemical Mutagenesis Same idea as radiation, and about as old; use chemicals to induce mutations, then study the mutated offspring for desirable traits Completely random, but has resulted in commercial varieties of wheat, lettuce and many species of ornamental flowers.

6&7 Radiation and Chemical Mutagenesis: 

Counting both radiation and chemical mutagenesis, there were at least 2,252 commercial varieties that were the result of mutation breeding, by the year 2000. 6&7 Radiation and Chemical Mutagenesis

8. Gene Splicing: 

8. Gene Splicing A specific, known gene and its promoters are inserted into the crop plant Because the sequence of the inserted gene is known, it is possible to locate it and to determine its insertion site in the genome. Subject to intense regulatory scrutiny Electron micrograph of Agrobacterium tumefaciens infecting plant cell University College Worcester, UK

From Recombining DNA to Recombinant DNA Technology: 

From Recombining DNA to Recombinant DNA Technology 1973 Cohen & Boyer The Gene Pool becomes a Gene Ocean Any organism on earth is a source for genes for use by breeders Recombinant DNA Technology is one of the most powerful tools ever invented.

9. Genomics/Gene Expression: 

9. Genomics/Gene Expression Genomics is the science of looking at the whole genome of a species. Corn, Wheat and Rice, among others, are the targets of genomic research Genomics plus improved knowledge of controlling gene expression may mean that genes already in our crop varieties can be turned on to protect them from pests and other hazards (drought, salt).

10. Tissue Culture: 

10. Tissue Culture Plant breeders have learned how to use plant hormones to grow whole plants from one or a few cells. Plant cells growing in culture tend to produce a lot of mutations, which can include beneficial mutations.

10. Tissue CultureEmbryo Rescue: 

10. Tissue Culture Embryo Rescue Embryo rescue enables breeders to attempt wide crosses between varieties that could not be hybridized before Crosses are performed between plants but the resulting embryo aborts before a seed is produced. In embryo rescue, the embryo is removed before this happens and grown outside the parent plant to produce a new plant. In this instance, you're crossing two plants that are not sexually compatible, that is, species that would not usually be expected to interact in nature.

10. Tissue CultureAnther Culture: 

10. Tissue Culture Anther Culture Immature pollen from a diploid (double chromosome) plant is cultured and grown into whole, haploid plants. The whole plants with selected desirable traits are then manipulated to double their chromosomes, becoming conventionally-breedable plants.

10. Tissue CultureSomoclonal variation: 

10. Tissue Culture Somoclonal variation Variations occur in plants regenerated from cultured cells or tissues. Resistance to early blight (caused by Alternaria solani) was developed from protoplasts of Russet Burbank potato. Mechanisms include chromosomal rearrangements, somatic crossing over, sister chromatid exchange, transposable elements and gene amplification that occur during callus formation.

10 Tissue CultureProtoplast Fusion: 

10 Tissue Culture Protoplast Fusion Isolated protoplasts can be induced to fuse. Non-specific fusion of protoplasts from the same or different species can be induced using two methods: Use of chemical fusing agents. However, this may have an effect on protoplast viability. By electrical depolarization (electro fusion). There is little effect on protoplast viability. Gives an efficient high frequency of fusion.

10 Tissue CultureProtoplast Fusion: 

10 Tissue Culture Protoplast Fusion Cell Fusion can be used to: Produce fertile diploid somatic hybrids of sexually incompatible species. Produce heterozygous lines within a single species which could normally only be propagated by vegetative means e.g. potato and other root crops. Transfer of limited parts of the genome from one species to another Make novel interspecific and intergenetic crosses between plants impossible to hybridize conventionally.

Common among these:: 

Common among these: Some generate genetic variation, others allow breeders to select for variants, and none happen without human intervention. One doesn’t know exactly what genes are changed All but gene splicing are unregulated in the US

Common among these:: 

Common among these: Each could introduce an allergen, if you have a new phenotype, you have a new gene, and you have a new protein, and proteins can be allergens.

Common among these:: 

Common among these: You could create a super-weed. (But none have emerged from research) All these methods may introduce unknown genetic changes, which could have unanticipated consequences.

To avoid legal liability: 

To avoid legal liability Use tools or methods for which you are not held responsible. Avoid precise, limited genetic insertions which bring on regulatory scrutiny.

Regulatory Schemes: 

Regulatory Schemes Do you regulate new plant varieties on the basis of how they were created? Do you regulate new plant varieties on the basis of the risks inherent in the variety, regardless of the method used to create the variety? Can you suggest another way to regulate new plant varieties?

A Big Question:: 

A Big Question: Which of these non-recombinant technologies will draw the attention of biotech’s opponents, raising costs or possibly blocking adoption?

How can you use this?: 

How can you use this? You can download and use the slide set for appropriate audiences You can use the ideas in discussions with the general public.

Key ideas:: 

Key ideas: New plant varieties are needed. Most of the methods of generating new plant varieties involve some degree of genetic uncertainty No method of generating new plant varieties is 1000 % risk-free.

Biotechnology is Controversial: 

Biotechnology is Controversial Differences in Values Versus Differences in Conceptions and Misconceptions

A Spectrum of Values About Food: 

A Spectrum of Values About Food Wholesome Holistic Holy

Wholesome vs. Loathsome: 

Wholesome vs. Loathsome A wholesome food can be loathsome, based on tradition, habit, taste or religion.

Ethics vs Squeamics: 

Ethics vs Squeamics Ethics--from ancient Greek ethos, meaning “character” or “custom” Distinguishing between that which is unacceptable behavior and that which makes us uncomfortable

Perception is Reality: 

Perception is Reality Except, Often It is Not Whose job is it to point this out? Ask Galileo if it’s easy.

The Challenge of Perception is the Potential for The Feeling of Deception: 

The Challenge of Perception is the Potential for The Feeling of Deception How Consumers Think New Foods Are Developed, Tested and Regulated How New Foods Are Actually Developed, Tested and Regulated

Learning vs UnLearning: 

Learning vs UnLearning “It’s not that people don’t know. It’s that so much of what people know just isn’t so.” --Ronald Reagan

Criticisms of Recombinant DNA Technology from Prophets, Princes, Priests and People:: 

Criticisms of Recombinant DNA Technology from Prophets, Princes, Priests and People: Perversion Poison Promiscuity Profit Power

And Proof: 

And Proof

Perversion: 

Perversion Transfer of genes from one species to another is an abomination ‘The realm of God and of God alone’

Poison: 

Poison The introduced gene itself may be a poison Introducing new genes may turn on dangerous genes or turn off beneficial genes

Promiscuity: 

Promiscuity The introduced gene may make the crop a superweed The introduced gene may flow to wild relatives, polluting their gene pool The introduced gene may flow to related weeds, making them superweeds.

Profit: 

Profit Companies are concerned primarily with making a profit “Food for people, not for profit”

Profiteering vs Propheteering: 

Profiteering vs Propheteering

Power: 

Power Biotechnology by its need for scientific infrastructure concentrates power in countries rich in infrastructure In their drive for profits, biotechnology companies seek patents, preclude the free use of the technology, purchase competitors, prevent farmers from saving seed

Power, continued: 

Power, continued Biotechnology sucks resources away from research and economic development based on sustainable agriculture, including especially organic methods.

The Pivotal ‘P’ Word: : 

The Pivotal ‘P’ Word: The Nature of Proof Fairness in Proof and in Proving Comparable Scrutiny What Every 6 Year Old Knows: What’s Fair, and What’s Unfair What is a Fair Compare?

Is Biotechnology Safe?: 

Is Biotechnology Safe? Yes or No Black and White Cut and Dried Guaranteed And Certain

Is Biotechnology Safe?: 

Is Biotechnology Safe? Distinguishing between The Process and its inherent risks & The Specific Gene and its inherent risks

Is Biotechnology Safe?: 

Is Biotechnology Safe? The Possibilities: Risks of rDNA are Greater Than, Equal To, Less Than, Or Different From Risks from other genetic modifications?

Is Biotechnology Safe?: 

Is Biotechnology Safe? Is there evidence that gene splicing is riskier than other methods of genetic modification? Is Biotechnology As Safe As Other Methods of Genetic Modification?

Is Biotechnology Safe?: 

Is Biotechnology Safe? Key principle based on 1987 report from the National Academy of Sciences: Safety assessments “should be based on the nature of the organism and the environment into which it will be introduced, not on the method by which it was modified.”

Is Biotechnology As Safe As Other Methods of Genetic Modification?: 

Is Biotechnology As Safe As Other Methods of Genetic Modification? 1987 National Academy of Science: “No conceptual distinction exists between genetic modification of plants and microorganisms by classical methods or by molecular methods that modify DNA and transfer genes.”

Is Biotechnology As Safe As Other Methods of Genetic Modification?: 

Is Biotechnology As Safe As Other Methods of Genetic Modification? 1989 National Research Council report: “Crops modified by molecular and cellular methods should pose risks no different from those modified by classical genetic methods for similar traits.”

Revisiting the Issue of Relative Risk: 

Revisiting the Issue of Relative Risk A Committee of the National Research Council has again reviewed the issue of relative risks of recombinant DNA technology The committee’s report in April 2000 reaffirmed that there is no evidence that the risks of recombinant DNA technology are different from those of other methods of genetic modification.

"Is It Safe?" vs. "Is It Safe Enough?”: 

"Is It Safe?" vs. "Is It Safe Enough?” Science can assess the risk Politics draws the threshold of acceptance For example, what are the roles of science and of politics in setting speed limits?

What is the Benchmark of Safety?: 

What is the Benchmark of Safety? How safe is safe enough? Should transgenic crops be less safe, as safe, or safer than other genetically modified crops? If safer, How much safer? How measured? How long?

What is the Benchmark of Safety?: 

What is the Benchmark of Safety? The Method of ‘Heft’ vs. The Double Scales of Justice We may not know how risky two approaches are, but we can consider which weighs more Conventional Methods as the Standard of Acceptable Risk

What is the Benchmark of Safety?: 

What is the Benchmark of Safety? Comparable Scrutiny for Comparable Risk? Incomparable Scrutiny for Comparable Risk?

Product vs. Process: 

Product vs. Process Where lie the risks? Where do people perceive the risks lie?

Two Types of Regulations: 

Two Types of Regulations Regulations to protect the public from the risks of biotechnology Regulations to protect biotechnology from the fears of the public What are the benefits and pitfalls of such ‘reassurance regulations’?

How are the risks of these genetic modifications managed and reviewed?: 

How are the risks of these genetic modifications managed and reviewed? Should the threshold of safety for crops developed using these methods serve as the threshold of safety for crops developed using recombinant DNA technology?

Gene Flow and Recombination in Nature: 

Gene Flow and Recombination in Nature Within a species Between species Transformation, Transduction, Conjugation, Cell Fusion, Viral Infection DNA: The Carrier of Genes

Human Perceptions and Understanding about Genes: 

Human Perceptions and Understanding about Genes Our understanding about how genes change and flow affects how humans convert knowledge into technology. For example, the concept of “species” and of “species barrier” For example, the developing idea of “genes in context”

Hearing and Speaking the Difference: 

Hearing and Speaking the Difference Science as Statements about Nature Vs. Science as Statements about Our Understanding of Nature