Plant Systems Through Biotechnology
As we enter the 21st century, the world faces problems with feeding the increasing population. The need for agricultural food commodities increases along with concerns about being environmentally friendly. Agricultural lands will be forced to become more productive or move into previously wild areas. Most people favor keeping wild areas free from agricultural or human influence. The most realistic alternative is to make the current farmlands more productive. One method of doing this is to incorporate herbicide resistant biotechnological crops into agricultural food commodity systems. The use of herbicide resistant crops would allow farmers to produce a higher quality crop with less input of labor and chemicals. There are several stages in bringing a biotechnological crop from the lab to the market. These cops must also gain approval from government regulations and address consumer safety concerns.
A system must be determined to be of great demand in the market to continue the process. There are high costs associated with bringing a biotech crop to the market and the crop must be able to recover the research and testing costs in order to be successful. The first step in creating a biotech crop is to begin looking for a desired trait to incorporate into a plant genome. This includes finding a gene that makes a plant resistant to the herbicidal chemical glyphosate. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the Monsanto contact herbicide, Roundup. A plant must be found that is resistant to the chemical and the gene must be isolated. The gene is then inserted into the desired host plant genome. This may be accomplished through the use of Agrobacterium or a gene gun. The plant now has the gene that makes it tolerant to the over-the-top application of glyphosate containing herbicide. The product then moves into field-testing where the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) must regulate the field-testing of the genetically modified organism. After the field-testing, the plant must move into the product registration process and government agency safety tests.
Several government agencies govern areas of biotech crops. The Food and Drug Administration governs the safety and labeling of food in this country. The need for approval from other countries similar agencies will be necessary in the future to increase the market value of the crop. One method of safety in the future is the use of an ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) test to quickly classify...