Genetically modified organisms are still very much talked about around the world. Some of us believe they are dangerous and wrong, while others feel they are a step into the future and beneficial. I had a class in my undergrad where we talked about GMOs and I was surprised to see that most of my classmates didn't really care. Food is food. We saw a video however, about places in Europe where people actually have the choice between GMO and regular food. The shelves are stacked and labeled so when you are shopping you can decide from what shelf you want to buy.
In this article, researchers in the UK have introduced the gene AtMYB12 from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana into a tomato's genome. They used a tomato because it's genome has promoter regions that correspond to genes that code for several metabolic enzymes. The gene AtMYB12 from the Arabidopsis thaliana plant, is able to turn on metabolic pathways that help the tomato plant produce more flavanols and phenylpropanoids as it grows (nutrients!!). Apparenlty, the gene "increases the supply of aromatic amino acid precursors as well as ATP and reducing power".
So there is an accumulation of nutrients that are benericial for us in one "genetically modified" tomato. Also, the gene seems to be pretty versatile because it can be added to other fruits and they are currently working on adding it to vegetables. The researchers hope to have this approved for market, and hope this can make GMO foods have a better reputation and view from the public.
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This would be good, because tomatoes are yummy, and nutrients are good!
ReplyDeleteThe outlook for GMOs is looking better and better every day in my opinion. It seems that every time I look at new information about them, something like this pops up. Something that can obviously improve the future for us since there are constantly more and more people populating this planet.
ReplyDeleteI've seen many article in which GMO's aren't harmful to humans. This is a very interesting article!
ReplyDeleteI'm all for GMOs, but it would definitely be nice to know which GMO foods have beneficial additives vs harmful/non-beneficial ones!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear that GMOs provide nutrients in tomatoes! I only ever hear negative comments on GMOs.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a step in the right direction however I'm still skeptical about GMOs. The fact that more countries ban GMOs vs allowing them is definitely a red flag to me along with all the research saying how terrible they are. But, I agree with Dwight, if they can turn GMOs reputation around and make them more advantageous then harmful I don't have an issue with that.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see something more balanced. GMOs are like any new technology; they have the potential to be useful if correctly used. I haven't read very much scientific work to indicate that GMOs are harmful (or more harmful than the alternative anyway). In essence, all crop plants have been genetically modified by selective breeding...anyway, I don't worry very much about most GMOs, and I think in general people overreact because they don't understand what a GMO is or even that these are generally pretty low risk.
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