Genetically Modified and Irradiated Food

Controversial Issues: Facts versus Perceptions

Veslemøy Andersen

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780128172414
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Medical Microbiology & Parasitology

Genetically Modified and Irradiated Food: Controversial Issues: Facts versus Perceptions explains the technologies used in these processes so they can be understood by those in general public health, scientific organizations, politicians and opinion makers/policymakers. The facts presented include a massive amount of scientific evidence that these technologies are safe and can be beneficial. Because the world is facing a future with an increasing number of people, new technologies are needed to ensure enough safe and healthy food, thus technologies that have the potential to dramatically increase the availability of safe and healthy food should be welcomed by everybody.

• Includes references to science based research on GMOs
• Explains the technologies in a clear way that can be understood by the general public
• Includes a massive amount of scientific evidence that these technologies are safe and can be beneficial

Part 1

Genetically modified food

Outline

1. Chapter 1. Why is genetic modification of interest or why can it be useful?
2. Chapter 2. A perspective on the evolution of genetic manipulation of biological materials, both plant and animal
3. Chapter 3. How are genes modified? Crossbreeding, mutagenesis, and CRISPR-Cas9
4. Chapter 4. Can genetic modification go wrong, and what if it does?
5. Chapter 5. GM food and human health

Chapter 1

Why is genetic modification of interest or why can it be useful?

Endre Máthé, PhD ^{1 , 2} , and Maria-Mihaela Antofie ^{3 1} Associate Professor at the University of Debrecen, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, Nutritional Genetics and Genomics Research Group, Debrecen, Hungary ² Professor at the “Vasile Goldiş” Western University of Arad, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Life Sciences, Arad, Romania ³ Associate Professor at the University “Lucian Blaga” of Sibiu, Faculty of Agricultural Studies, Food Industry and Environmental Protection, Sibiu, Romania

Abstract

The genetic modification is a widely debated topic. Pros and cons are substantiated with scientific results or by biased interpretation of experimental results and potential hazards. Genetic modification is a naturally occurring phenomenon. Basic research type of application of genetic modification is teaching us important lessons about the implication of genes in every aspects of life. The applied research–related genetic modifications are offering unprecedented solutions to make plants, animals, and microorganisms bring more benefits, while their impact on environment and human health once they are released into field or get introduced into the food chain needs case-to-case assessment.

Keywords

Biosafety; Food security; Genetically modified organisms; GM food

The book is intended to inform a wide spectrum of readers, not only scientists and certainly not just geneticists, but anyone eager to survey the pros and cons of the proposed topics based on facts (peer-reviewed evidences) and to challenge the misinformation provided abundantly by fake scientists publishing views about how bad and dangerous genetically modified (GM) food is. It is the responsibility of scientists to explain the quintessence of such a research, as misinformation is more dangerous than ignorance.

Genetic modification is a term that captures the imagination of many people and has generated wide debate among many groups of interest, including life scientists, policy makers, and law and ethical specialists, while citizens from developed, developing, and underdeveloped countries are facing this issue from different perspective. The ongoing basic research aims to understand the genetic modification -specific cause-effect type of correlations and make use of the GMOs to study the function of genes. On the other hand, the heavily questioned applied research is meant to offer novel and efficient solutions for current problems like biomass production, food safety and security, treatment of human diseases, adaptation of plant and animal species to climatic changes, etc.

Can we stay impartial and face the reality with respect to genetic modifications? In order to address in a fairly comprehensive way the main issues related to GM food, we will present the major issues related to the natural occurrence and laboratory-made GM bacteria, plants, and animals. Next we will focus on GM food–specific major considerations and concerns. In this way, we will follow the implications of genetic modification across the whole food chain giving a much broader and a more carefully balanced picture of the applicability of such a powerful and promising life science–related research method.

The definition of genetic modification refers to a naturally and/or laboratory-assisted genetic material–/gene-/DNA-based phenomenon that would lead to some kind of modification(s) of the genome/DNA of the host organism, hence the term of genetically modified (recombinant) organism (GMO) emerges. It is also important to notice that initially the genetic modification term would cover both the naturally and laboratory condition–assisted genetic modifications, while currently it is more related to the laboratory-obtained transgenic organisms, containing a foreign piece of DNA (gene(s)) from other species.

How was the bacterial type of genetic modification discovered? Initially the phenomenon describing the formation of GMOs was named genetic transformation and was discovered accidently by Frederick Griffith in the 1920s as a natural phenomenon by which the host bacterial cell gains genetic material/genes from some molecules present in the culture media. At that time, we did not know much about the chemical nature and the subcellular localization of the hereditary material. Griffith was working with two Streptococcus pneumonia strains and showed that the nonvirulent strain got transformed into a virulent one when the sterilized virulent bacterial lysate was introduced into the media of the nonvirulent strain. Much later it has been demonstrated that such a genetic transformation implies the uptake of virulent DNA fragments by the host nonvirulent bacterial cell from the culture media, leading to a genetically recombined organism that acquires new trait(s). Moreover, it has also been demonstrated that the abovementioned genetic transformation among identical or different bacterial species is a seldom event as many bacterial cells are greatly restricted in taking up free DNA fragments from a liquid environment.

What is the competent cell–based bacterial transformation about? It is also interesting that since the 1970s, there have been developed novel laboratory methods by which the so-called competent host bacterial cells could take up circular DNA molecules like plasmids, and the efficiency of such bacterial transformations increased significantly in such conditions or controlled ex situ environments. Before transformation, the plasmid was cut open, and a foreign fragment of DNA, containing gene(s), could be incorporated by closing the plasmid back, resulting in a recombinant plasmid. It is worthwhile mentioning that Stephen Norman Cohen and Herbert Boyer published in 1973 the first scientific article proving an outstanding discovery for biology: obtaining a recombinant plasmid and ensuring the transfer from one living organism to another, laying the foundations of DNA/gene cloning that became one of the most powerful molecular methods (Cohen et al., 1973). We must specify that this is different from the implicated DNA uptaking mechanisms seen in the case of Griffiths competent host types of bacterial transformations. Moreover, the competent bacterial host strains were included into the molecular cloning methodologies so that the bacterial host cells could efficiently incorporate, replicate, and even express the plasmid-carried recombinant cloned gene(s) without getting integrated into the major bacterial DNA/genome. Thus, the trespassing of a biological barrier like the horizontal gene transfer (HGT, implying the movement of genetic material between different species) represents a remarkable achievement in the history of mankind, and it will open new challenging horizons accelerating the development of life sciences. Accordingly, high throughput basic research programs like genome projects (sequencing of the genomes of many species, including the human genomic DNA) were initiated, together with the ever-going quest, to understand the function(s) of genes. As a consequence, the humanity gained more knowledge than ever on the molecular and cellular aspects of life, so that today, we envision every life-related phenomena as an interplay between genomes/genes and the environment.

Once again, we must emphasize that the extraordinary development of our molecular and cellular knowledge explaining life related cause-effect type of correlations is very much built on the genetic transformation of bacteria using the competent bacterial host strains and recombinant plasmid techniques, though presently, the fundamental research makes use of the more efficient PCR (polymerase chain reaction) methods to operate with DNA molecules. On the other hand, the applied research activities in the field of biotechnology quite often rely on the GM bacteria to obtain some products that can be further processed by the pharma and food industries. So to give one such an example, until recently, the production of a biologically active insulin and its analogs in GM E. coli and yeast was preferred, but taking in consideration the obtained insulin biological activity and the increasing demand for insulin to treat diabetes, it was proposed to use GM plants and animals for such purposes (Baeshen et al., 2014).

Could the laboratory-obtained GM bacteria be a source of environmental safety hazard? In 1974 Paul Berg was the first to blow the whistle and raised ethical concerns about GM bacteria and molecular cloning during the early days of molecular biology and biotechnology (Berg et al., 1974). Through his involvement, the Committee on Recombinant DNA Molecules was founded in the United States that, together with the Assembly of Life Sciences, the National Research Council, and the National Academy of Sciences, organized the Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA in 1975. The scientific community recognized the outmost importance of biohazards that emerged due to the discovery and rapid advancement of knowledge in the field. At the meeting, more than 100 professionals (biologists, lawyers, and physicians) specified some voluntary guidelines to ensure the safety of GM bacteria–based molecular cloning and recombinant DNA technology. In modern times, this was the first momentum when the scientist demonstrated a strong spirit of responsibility for the benefits and costs of GM bacteria–promoted scientific progress, and they also showed determination to inform and engage large public into discussions.

Getting back to the initial question, it was obvious from the early days that the HGT-like phenomenon is a major concern, meaning that genetic sequences from a GM bacterium could be transferred to native bacterial species and modifying the latest genomes and subsequently their ecological niche (Heuer and Smalla, 2007). It is also possible that the GM bacteria released into the environment could ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Part 1. Genetically modified food
• Case studies
• Part 2. Irradiated food
• Index