Franklin Bushey

Research Paper

Genetic Engineering Will Play a Dominant Role in Relieving the Effects of
Global Warming.

Among the devastating natural disasters the world has faced thus far, environmentalists are anticipating global warming to have the greatest catastrophic impact on the world. Global warming is due to greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and methane that trap the sun's heat in the earth's atmosphere. This phenomenon is known as the "greenhouse effect.” Researchers have estimated the human population to reach over 10 billion by 2050 while an estimated two thirds of crop yields will be lost due to adverse environmental factors caused by global warming. Because of these statistics it is crucial for researchers to combat the effects of global warming to avoid food shortages in the near future. By genetically engineering plants, geneticist are able to manipulate crop characteristics that will allow them to better resist pests, herbicides, temperature change, water scarcity, and droughts in different areas around the world. Even though the genetic modifications of plants have given rise to many critics it is still one of the most useful tools in combating the effects of global warming and cannot be ignored. The concepts of plant genetics have gained a lot of analysis and scrutiny within the past decade due to immense confidence of its success much different than that of animal genetics. Undoubtedly, the methods for genetically engineering plants are much less complicated than that of animals due to many factors. All plants embody a common transformation system through the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The transformation system is extremely advantageous for plant genetics because the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens acts as a transporter in introducing a foreign piece of DNA into the host plant. This strand of DNA is usually made up of the desired trait that is going to be introduced to the host plant, the species that will acquire the specific traits such as resistance to drought, temperature, and water scarcity. Another reason why plants are more adequate to be genetically engineered is due to the process of redifferentiation. Redifferentiation is the ability of a plant to give rise to a whole new plant. More specifically, redifferentiation becomes useful when a transformed piece of plant containing the desired strand of DNA coding for a specific trait, such as the leaf or stem, then regenerates and gives rise to a whole plant that will bear the desired trait that was inserted previously. For the reason that plants are so much more adequately suited to be engineered, limitless efforts have been put forth in this field of research. Even though plants are considerably more manageable to modify than animals, the methodology of plant genetics is still quite complex. Genetic engineering of plants is the manipulation of recombinant DNA (rDNA) to give rise to a plant species with a desired trait expressed through the DNA sequence. There are many different types of methods used to genetically modify plants with today’s technology, but for the purposes of this paper the most common biological method for modification will be discussed. Before geneticists can even begin to work on modifying a plant species he or she must know what the interest trait is and where to obtain these interest genes: Genes that confer stress resistance can be sourced from germplasm collections; including wild relatives of crops that are held in gene banks or organisms that currently live in the habitats of water deficit or excess, extreme temperature and salinity that have evolved to cope with those conditions. Depending on the desired traits, the isolation of these genes can be either a long process or a relatively quick retrieval. The next step is to insert the desired genes into the host plant by taking a small sample (such as a leaf or seed) and inserting the DNA