Genetically Modified Foods, FRIEND OR FOE?!

Background/Process


      Genetically modifying food can be a dangerous yet rewarding process. When one genetically modifies food they are inserting a desired gene into the genetic make up for the growing organism so that it might show different desired traits, possibly for plants to withstand the cold or even grow faster. Some pros from this process might include but are not limited to, selective breeding, improved nutrition, improved drug, producing more food for more people however there are many negatives to genetically modifying food, such as allergies, your tinkering with the natural progress of evolution, and by mass producing your limiting genetic diversity.
       How one exactly makes these genetically modified foods is through inserting the gene of interest into a TI plasmid. After that you place the plasmid into a Agro Bacteria through transformation and finally put that into the plants cell wall. What we are trying to discover in this lab is how to tell if a food has been genetically modified or not. On the first day we will do DNA extraction by breaking down the call wall and cell nuclear membrane by smashing it and putting it into a heat bath. However once this process is done we need to kill the DNase before it destroys the genetic material and we will the DNase with Instagene Matrix beads. By day 2 our goal is to amplify the actual DNA. First we need PCR or polymerase Chain Reaction to copy DNA, next we need the target DNA, Nucleotides, and Primer which is compelemtary to our sequence. Finally by day three we finish with gel electro to see if our food shows after using the GM primer. Our control will be organic so we can comapre the results.
      Genetically modiying foods is a controversial issue. Some believe he havent studied the long term effects enough yet and that these altered food items can possibly cause diesases like cancer. However some people are willing to thake that chance for increased profit and food stupply to feed more people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzTECVk8tVU

Our main results were that our apple was genetically modified. We were eating it without even knowing that it had the man made genetic qualities all along. Some possible sources of error might include our ability to pipet properly, having different DNA on your apple sample.