AGRICULTURAL

APPLICATIONS
Resistance and Tolerance
Nutritional Enhancements
GM Crops
GM Livestocks
Impacts on Society
Learning Outcomes
•  Identify products of biotechnology used in agriculture.
(CO1, CO2, CO4)

•  Discuss relevant issues concerning the use of

biotechnology in agriculture. (CO2, CO4)
Vaccines for Plants
•  Infection – leads to reduced growth rates, poor crop yields
and low crop quality
•  Plant vaccine – contains dead or weakened strains of the
plant virus that turn on the plant’s version of immune
system

https://www.researchgate.net
Vaccines for Plants

https://www.google.com.ph
 Genetic Pesticides
•  Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) – produces a crystallized
protein that kills harmful insects and their larvae

•  Bt crystals (Cry protein) – breaks down the cementing

substance that fuses the lining cells of the digestive tract
in certain insects

http://whatisbtcorn.pbworks.com/
Genetic Pesticides
Corn-borer infested
Genetic Pesticides
Bt Corn Field
Genetic Pesticides
•  Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) – produces toxin harmful to
monarch butterflies (large doses)

•  In 2002, Agricultural Research Service – Bt toxin posed

little risk to monarch butterflies in real-world situation.

ib.bioninja.com.au
Herbicide Resistance
•  crops can be genetically engineered to be resistant to
glyphosphate

•  Glyphosphate – block the enzymes EPSPS (functions in a

biochemical pathway responsible for the synthesis of
aromatic amino acids and other compounds vital to plant
growth and survival)
Herbicide Resistance

Engineering Herbicide-Resistant Plants

Herbicide Resistance
•  A single-site mutation of a proline amino acid at position
101 in EPSPS has been implicated in glyphosphate-
resistant weeds

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/
Enhanced Nutrition
•  improving crop nutrition

•  Golden Rice – rice that has been genetically modified to

produce large amounts of beta-carotene

•  Vitamin A deficiency – lead to blindness

http://www.goldenrice.org/
Enhanced Nutrition

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/
GM Crops
•  have provided with a foreign gene called transgenes

•  very expensive to develop

•  soybeans, corn, cotton and canola

•  potato, squash, papaya, sunflowers, coffee

•  China claimed that they have developed 141 types of

transgenic crops with 65 in-field trials
GM Crops
GM Crops

http://discovermagazine.com/
GM Livestock
•  to develop new medical treatments

•  improve our food supply, and

•  enhance our understanding of all animals, including

humans
Techniques for Creating Transgenic Animals
•  First steps in animal transformation: selection, location
and preparation of the desired gene.

Techniques:
1.  microinjection method
2.  injecting the DNA directly into the zygote
3.  transgametric technology
Techniques for Creating Transgenic Animals
1. Microinjection method

Micromanipulator – a device used to insert genetic material

into animal cells involved

Ø  fertilized egg is removed from an animal and placed

under a microscope
Ø  the device is used to grasp the zygote and the genetic
material is inserted using an extremely fine injection
needle
Techniques for Creating Transgenic Animals

http://www.eplantscience.com/
Techniques for Creating Transgenic Animals
1. Microinjection method

Pronucleus – is either the nucleus of the sperm or the egg

that contains half the chromosomes of the fertilized ovum.

Ø  the zygote is placed back into the mother’s uterus

Ø  only about 4% of the genetically modified zygotes
develop into full-term newborn animals
Techniques for Creating Transgenic Animals
2. Microinjection method

Ø  the genetic material is placed in embryonic stem cells

Ø  these are taken from an embryo after it has grown for
about 7 days after fertilization

blastula stage – where the cells are dividing but have not
begun to differentiate

ü  the embryonic cells can be altered and cultivated in the

lab to produce a large number of genetically modified cells
for use in generating transgenic animals
Techniques for Creating Transgenic Animals
3. Transgametic technology

Ø  the virus is especially treated to remove any harmful

effects, and a desirable gene is inserted
Ø  the vector is then injected into an unfertilized egg
Ø  once the foreign DNA is integrated into the egg, the egg
is fertilized via IVF
Ø  resulting embryo is transplanted into a host mother
Increasing agricultural production with
transgenics
•  Selective improvement - by introducing genes that are
responsible for faster growth rates or leaner growth
patterns, animals can be raised to market more quickly.

•  improve our chicken and egg supply;

•  increase milk production, make milk richer in proteins and

lower fat content
Ø  Herman – carries a human gene for lactoferrin
Increasing agricultural production with
transgenics
•  reduction of diseases in animals raised for food.
Ø  Foot and Mouth Disease, cholera and Newcastle disease
Ø  mastitis – an inflammation of milk glands caused by
Staphylococcus aureus

Ø  lysostaphin – protein that kills

S. aureus
Bioengineering of Livestock
1.  Transgenic salmon
– developed by Aqua
Bounty Technologies

– expresses the growth

protein year-round

– applied to trout, tilapia

and turbot
Bioengineering of Livestock
2. Enviropig – developed
by University of Guelph
(Ontario)

– with a gene for phytase

– breaks down
phosphates in the pigs’
food, reducing P
excretion in the animals’
waste
Bioengineering of Livestock
Ø  reducing the susceptibility to disease of farm animals

Ø  ViaGen has identified shrimp that carry disease-

resistant genes

Ø  University of Minnesota are investigating genes in

turkeys that cause the development of larger breasts
and are associated with resistance to Salmonella
Summary of the benefits and risks of agricultural applications
of biothechnology

Technology Positives Risks

Transgenes Potential to enhance all Decrease in biological diversity
– general forms of human with potentially greater impact
agriculture of new pathogens; migration
into human food supply without
the knowledge of the
consumer; technology may not
thrive in new locations
Herbicide Increased agricultural Outcrossing, resulting in the
resistance productivity; decreased development of super weeds,
use of resistant to herbicides.
nonbiodegradable
herbicides.
Summary of the benefits and risks of agricultural applications
of biothechnology
Technology Positives Risks
Insect Increased agricultural Outcrossing, resulting in the
resistance productivity; decreased development of Bt-resistant
use of insects. Bt would no longer be
nonbiodegradable an option for organic farmers.
insecticides. Adverse effect on butterfly
populations.
Nutritional Positive impact on Might actually have little effect
enhanceme nutritional status for but could serve as an
nts people in developing advertising hype for
nations. commercial entities.

Hardiness Allows agriculture on Development of superhardy

marginal land. plants that could become
nuisance plants, such as
invasive grass
Summary of the benefits and risks of agricultural applications
of biothechnology
Technology Positives Risks
Frost resistance Increased Might result in climate change.
agricultural
productivity.

New product Decreased cost of Wreak havoc in economies

sources, such as production of dependent on traditional
lauric acid from some plant production methods.
rapeseed plants products.

Bioengineered Increased In the case of bioengineered

farm animals productivity of fish, farmed fish might escape
animal-based and overwhelm native
food products. populations.
Bioengineering of Livestock
Ø  reducing the susceptibility to disease of farm animals

Ø  ViaGen has identified shrimp that carry disease-

resistant genes

Ø  University of Minnesota are investigating genes in

turkeys that cause the development of larger breasts
and are associated with resistance to Salmonella
Creating Knockout Animals
Ø  by replacing an original gene in an animal’s genome
with an inactive foreign gene, the effects of the
displaced gene can be observed.

Ø  homologous recombination – a gene for a particular

characteristic has a specific place or position on the
DNA strand on the chromosome

Ø  knockout - if a new inactive gene is placed in the exact

position on the chromosome as the original gene, the
new gene does not function
Creating Knockout Animals
Ø  allows scientists to study what effect the original gene
has on similar animals

Ø