Genetically Modified Organisms

What are GM‟s?

 Organism one that has been altered through recombinant DNA technology
 Involves either the combining of DNA from different genomes or the insertion of foreign DNA into a genome
 The most common genetically modified (GM) organisms are crop plants
 Microbes are the first organisms to be genetically modified

Other terms that mean the same thing:

 Genetically engineered

 Transgenic

 Recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology

What is not a GMO?

 Does not include
◦ Mutants.
◦ Fusion of animal cells unless the product can form an animal.
◦ Plants formed x protoplast fusion.
◦ Plants formed by embryo rescue or invitro fertilisation or zygote implantation.
◦ Organisms formed by natural DNA transfer.

How does this differ from Mendel and his peas?

GM vs. Selective breading

Selective breading
 Slow
 Imprecise
 Modification of genes that naturally occur in the organism
 Occur between plant/animal of same species(dog  dog)

GM
 Very fast
 Precise
 Can introduce genes into an organism that would not occur naturally
 It can occur between different types of species (Human  bacteria)

…