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PPA-47: Genetically Engineered Crops University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment PPA-47 Cooperative Extension Service Genetically Engineered Crops Emerging Opportunities Paul Vincelli, Plant Pathology Background Information The genetic modification of plants is nothing new. Nature genetically Biotechnology is “any technological modifies organisms in bizarre and application that uses biological systems, remarkable ways (see 1: Sweet Potato, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, Genetically Engineered by Nature and to make or modify products or pro- 2: Is This Genetically Engineered Corn?). cesses for specific use.”1 This definition Humans have guided genetic changes encompasses many, many applications, in crops for thousands of years through including traditional ones such as fer- simple selection. More recently, plant mentation of alcoholic beverages. breeders have employed a variety of In certain biotech crops, their genetic more advanced breeding techniques. material (DNA) has been purpose- In all instances, the breeder is seeking Sweet potato, an example of a natural GMO fully manipulated in the laboratory. crops with improved plant performance. Photo courtesy of Steve Patton These genetically engineered crops are Improved performance may in- Sweet Potato, Genetically Modified often called “GMOs,” an acronym for clude improved nutritional qualities, by Nature. Transfer of genes from one “genetically modified organisms.” These 1 increased yield, more efficient use of organism to another seems bizarre until one GMOs are the focus of this publication. fertilizer or water, tolerance to stresses realizes that this process happens regularly DNA is merely chemical information, like drought and heat, disease resis- in natural ecosystems. Gene transfer is one like words in a book. Just as we can use tance, etc. Breeders seek improved of the ways that Nature creates biodiversity. a word processor to edit sentences or crop performance in order to provide For example, scientists recently reported that to transfer them from one book into benefits to farmers, consumers, and the sweet potato, a crop many of us enjoy every another, laboratory techniques allow environment. Thanksgiving, naturally contains at least four us to edit DNA or transfer it from Some breeding techniques cause genes from a soil-dwelling bacterium. Ex- one organism into another. In and of substantial genetic changes, including amples of natural gene transfer are common themselves, words are not poisonous. some very well accepted, conventional in the scientific literature, and more are be- Similarly, in and of itself, DNA is not breeding techniques. Commercial ing discovered regularly as science advances. poisonous. Changing the words in a genetically engineered crops are de- book changes how it reads. Similarly, signed so that they generally have very changing the DNA of an organism can limited and precise genetic changes. In change its appearance or function. fact, the genetic changes in genetically All foods contain DNA. We eat engineered varieties typically have less DNA with every meal. Eating DNA is impact on the crop’s metabolism than not dangerous. Consuming DNA of all other crop-improvement techniques. any crop or animal—whether they are Many will be surprised to learn that traditional varieties or biotech ones— much of what they know about genetic does not cause that DNA to be inserted engineering is becoming obsolete. The into our own DNA. If DNA in our food most up-to-date methods of genetic somehow inserted itself into human engineering can produce remarkably DNA, our bodies would contain genes modest and precise genetic changes in Genetically engineered corn is still just corn. from the foods people have eaten for plants. And they can do so in a way that Photo courtesy of Chad Lee thousands of years. But we don’t find leaves no trace of “foreign DNA.” This wheat genes or rice genes in humans Is This Genetically Engineered Corn? new technique is called because the DNA naturally present in genome edit- You can’t tell by looking at it. Geneti- , and it can produce genetic changes 2 our foods does not insert itself into hu- ing cally engineered corn is corn, pure and in specifically targeted genes, and man DNA. simple. There are no “Frankenfoods,” except those changes may be as minimal as a those that Nature has created on her own. 1 From the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i1905e/i1905e00.pdf. Cooperative Extension Service | Agriculture and Natural Resources | Family and Consumer Sciences | 4-H Youth Development | Community and Economic Development one-nucleotide change. This process FDA for human use as long ago as 1982. netic engineering were developed by is like changing one letter in an entire Numerous medications are based on studying the creative things Nature book. A change of one nucleotide is the genetic engineering, and more such does with DNA. most precise and minimal change that medications are coming. For example, a ` Are genetically engineered crops is physically possible in a plant’s DNA. promising, potentially life-saving exper- safe to eat? Such a change is so minimal that scien- imental vaccine for Ebola is genetically Genetically engineered crops grown tists cannot distinguish such a change engineered. in the USA are subjected to scrutiny from a mutation that occurred natural- Which genetically engineered for safety to humans and to the en- ly. Thus, genome editing allows one to crops are grown in the USA? Most vironment. Three federal agencies engineer plants in a minimally invasive genetically engineered crops are not are involved in evaluating the safety way, leaving no trace of laboratory consumed directly by humans. In the of genetically engineered crops: the manipulation. For this reason, genome USA, most are grown for animal feed, US Department of Agriculture, the editing complicates the regulatory for processing, or for fuel production. US Food and Drug Administra- picture. For example, if a crop variety Certain varieties—though not all—of tion, and the US Environmental engineered by genome editing cannot the following crops grown in the USA Protection Agency. In contrast to be distinguished from one that was not are derived from genetic engineering: genetically engineered crops, non- engineered, can it be regulated? Should Alfalfa engineered (non-GMO) crop variet- it be regulated? Apple (trademarked Arctic® Apple) ies typically receive very little to no Wise breeders use the best method Canola formal evaluation by government available to solve particular problems. Corn (both field corn and sweet corn) agencies. Genetic engineering tech- In cases where traditional breeding Cotton nologies are advancing very rapidly. techniques provide an adequate level of Papaya Consequently, in July 2015, the fed- crop improvement, these are preferred Pineapple (trademarked ‘Rosé Pine- eral government began a process to to techniques that are more technically apple’) review and update the oversight of demanding or expensive. For example, Potato (trademarked ‘Innate® Po- genetically engineered crops. conventional breeding has made more tato’) Many scientific experts worldwide progress in creating drought-tolerant Soybean agree that genetically engineering corn than genetic engineering, at least Squash a crop generally presents no new for now. However, if a breeding objec- Sugar beet health risks that cannot also arise tive cannot be met using conventional In addition, certain genetically engi- from conventional plant breed- methods, a genetically engineered ap- neered apple and potato varieties are in ing. As explained in footnote 2, proach makes sense to most scientists. the process of commercialization, and recombinant DNA is quite natural (See Benefits of Genetic Engineering on other genetically engineered crops are and common in our foods, and page 8 for examples.) Most crop scien- likely to be commercialized in the near has been so for thousands of years. tists think that the wise use of genetic future. If you wish to avoid all foods What matters is not the presence engineering will help reduce food inse- derived from genetic engineering, you of recombinant DNA, but what the curity and make food production more can buy certified organic foods or those DNA does in the plant. You can sustainable. specifically labelled to be GMO free. read in-depth about what scientific Genetic engineering has been part organizations say on the topic of of American life for decades. Geneti- Concerns about Genetic genetic engineering and food safe- cally engineered corn has been grown Engineering ty in the file named Quotes from in the USA since 1996. Most cheeses in ` Is genetic engineering natural? Science Academies on Consuming the US are made using genetically en- Nature commonly and naturally GMO Crops, online at https:// gineered enzymes approved in 1990 by produces dramatic changes in the kentuckypestnews.wordpress. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration genetics of plants.2 An example is de- com/2015/03/31/consumption-of- (FDA). High-quality enzymes for mak- scribed in 1: Sweet Potato: Genetically genetically-engineered-gmo-crops- ing cheese are produced by genetically Engineered by Nature. Many more ex- examples-of-quotes-from-position- engineered bacteria in fermentation amples are described in the scientific papers-of-scientific-organizations/. tanks instead of obtaining enzymes literature. This natural “genetic turbu- Certain genetically engineered from the stomachs of dead calves. Insu- lence” often seems
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