GMO - is it not only useful, but also tasty? 5 useful GM-species of animals and plants

For many years, supporters and opponents of genetically modified organisms have been arguing in the media, at conferences and meetings. The most interesting thing is to observe the discussions in which people who have barely received secondary education participate and who try to convince everyone else that, by eating genetically modified tomatoes, a person or his children will change both externally and internally. The result of such discussions is intimidation of people with the subsequent attachment of the labels “Does not contain GMOs” to packs of salt and bottles of mineral water.

At the same time, scientists, qualified specialists are trying to prove that most GMOs are absolutely safe, and the problems, if they can be, are not at all that a person will grow something, or, conversely, disappear. Well, for now, all these disputes are going on, the number of genetically modified organisms around us is constantly increasing. And among them there are very interesting views.

Apples that do not darken in the cut

We all know that the flesh of an apple, which begins to come in contact with air, darkens. This is due to the fact that the apple contains tyrosinase, which catalyzes the reaction of iron-containing polyphenols in air. If you add citric acid to a slice of an ordinary apple, then the slice will not darken, since citric acid is one of the strongest antioxidants.

Not so long ago, the biotechnology company Okaganan Specialty Fruits Inc. Bred a new variety of GM apples, in which the polyphenol oxidase enzyme is simply “off”. As a result, melanin does not form upon interaction with oxygen.

Plus, these same scientists created apples without seeds and films, which are located next to the seeds.

Tomatoes with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects

These tomatoes, created by the efforts of the John Innes Research Center, are purple in color. The specialists who created these tomatoes wanted to achieve a high content of anthocyanins in the final fetus. This pigment, according to some oncologists, has an anti-inflammatory anti-cancer effect. In this case, anthocyanin was added by adding a gene to the tomato DNA from the DNA of snapdragon, a plant in the tissues of which there is a lot of anthocyanin.

After conducting relevant studies on mice, an interesting result was manifested - the number of sclerotic phenomena also decreased, which manifested itself in the form of a decrease in the number of plaques in the vessels of rodents. Anthocyanins also have an antifungal effect, which allows you to "freeze" the development of molds.

Super sweet fruits

Russian scientists from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (IBC) have already proved themselves here . Back in the late 90s, scientists learned to insert a gene from the DNA of a West African plant thaumatococcus into the DNA of plants. It turned out that this gene is responsible for the production of thaumatin II protein, which is many thousand times sweeter than regular sugar.

Scientists were able to add the thaumatococcus gene to strawberries, pears, apples and even tomatoes. As a result, the fruits became much sweeter, and in the case of wild strawberries another property of the new gene also appeared - resistance to “the straw of the strawberry” - gray rot.

Fortified rice

The creators of the new rice variety added the corn gene and the soil bacteria gene Erwinia uredovora to the plant’s DNA. As a result, the new rice variety contains a large amount of vitamin A. About 150 grams of such rice is the daily intake of vitamin A for an adult.

According to scientists, GM rice will be able to provide "vitamins" to the broad masses of the population, provided, of course. that the variety will be permitted in different countries. And getting permission is not so simple.

Milk without E. coli

According to the WHO, more than 1.8 million children die each year due to poisoning, caused mainly by Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli. Moreover, most of the deaths out of these 1.8 million are the result of feeding the children with cow or goat milk.

In human milk, a lot of the enzyme lysozyme, which has a destructive effect on the walls of bacteria. The idea of ​​scientists is to increase the amount of this enzyme in goat’s milk. As a result, scientists from the United States created GM-goats that produce milk with a high lysozyme content.

So far, the testing of new milk has been carried out only on animals (pigs), and the results showed that animals drinking milk with lysozyme had much less intestinal upsets.

In principle, the point in the discussion “GMOs is good or bad” has not yet been set. Scientists conduct research, ordinary people discuss the results of these studies. Be that as it may, we must come to terms with the fact that GMOs have long been among us, and this process is irreversible.

Based on materials from the Attic , Irina Yakutenko .