Agricultural Biotechnology

Introduction

Biotechnology has recently emerged as a technology of promise and peril in the lexicon of environmental controversies. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines biotechnology as “The application of Science and Technology to living organisms as well as parts, products and models thereof, to alter living or nonliving materials for the production of knowledge, goods and services.” Michael (pp. 56-68) mentions the Convention on Biodiversity defines biotechnology in similar terms in regard to its biosafety protocol and its revenue-sharing agreements for genetic resources. Food biotechnology is a broad, encompassing term that applies to a wide range of technologies developed during the past thirty years (Michael, pp. 56-68). Scientists design these technologies, including genetic modification, to improve food safety, reduce pesticide use, and improve the quality attributes of the final food product. After widespread publicity concerning genetically modified (GM) food, especially in Europe, public concern over these developments led some governments to take legislative or administrative action.

Agricultural Biotechnology

Biotechnology is the use of living organisms—microbes, plants, or animals—to provide useful new products or processes. In a broad sense, biotechnology continues a process that is thousands of years old (Michael, pp. 56-68). Using traditional plant breeding techniques, humans have altered the genetic composition of almost every crop by only planting seeds from plants with desired traits, or by controlling pollination. As a result, most commercial crops bear little resemblance to their early relatives. Current maize varieties are so changed from their wild progenitors that they cannot survive without continual human intervention.

The 1970s heralded recombinant DNA technology, which gave researchers the ability to cut and recombine DNA fragments from different sources to express new traits. Genes and traits previously unavailable through traditional breeding became available through DNA recombination.

Techniques

Modern plant genetic engineering involves transferring desired genes into the DNA of some plant cells and regenerating a whole plant from the transformed tissue. New DNA may be introduced into the cell via biological or physical means.

The most widely used biological method for transferring genes into plants capitalizes on a trait of a naturally occurring soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which causes crown gall disease. This bacterium, in the course of its natural interaction with plants, has the ability to infect a plant cell and transfer a portion of its DNA into a plant's genome. This leads to an abnormal growth on the plant called a gall. Scientists take advantage of this natural transfer mechanism by first removing the disease-causing genes and then inserting a new beneficial gene into A. tumefaciens. The bacteria then transfer the new gene into the plant (Pranab, pp. 111-119).

Another gene transfer technique involves using a "gene gun" to literally shoot DNA through plant cell walls and membranes to the cell nucleus, where the DNA can combine with the plant's own genome. In this technique, the DNA is made to adhere to microscopic gold or tungsten particles and is then propelled by a blast of pressurized helium.

Advantages

Depending on which genes are transferred, agricultural biotechnology can protect crops from disease, increase their yield, ...