Describe products, current and future, that may be created using DNA technology in agriculture.

  1. Organic fruits and vegetables that require no water or sunlight to grow
  2. Genetically modified (GM) crops resistant to pests, drought, or disease
  3. Artificial fertilizers made from non-living organisms
  4. Traditional crops selected through cross-breeding methods

Answer: Genetically modified (GM) crops resistant to pests, drought, or disease

Answer Explanation: 

Humans have been breeding plants and animals with more desirable qualities for thousands of years by employing traditional modification techniques like cross-breeding and selective breeding. Traditional breeding techniques were used to develop the majority of the foods we eat today.  However, it can take a long time to transform plants and animals by traditional breeding, and it is challenging to create highly specific modifications.  Scientists were able to make such modifications more quickly and precisely once they developed genetic engineering in the 1970s.

The primary genetic substance found in all biological organisms is DNA.  Through the use of DNA sequence information, we can now regulate or even control plant features because of advancements in biotechnology and molecular biology.  DNA technologies based on gene expression, transgenic technology, and DNA molecular markers have been used extensively in agricultural production and have demonstrated great promise in enhancing plant growth regulation, lowering the loss caused by various biotic and abiotic stressors, increasing breeding efficiency, and improving agricultural yields and quality.

Currently, GMOs with desired features like increased nutrition and pest resistance are created in agriculture using DNA technology.  Genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism whose genome has been engineered in a laboratory to promote the expression of desired physiological features or the production of desired biological products. In conventional livestock production, crop farming, and even pet breeding, it has long been the practice to breed select individuals of a species to produce offspring that have desirable qualities.

Crops modified for climate resistance and precise gene editing methods like CRISPR are potential future uses. CRISPR genome editing allows scientists to create plants with desired qualities. To breed plants with desired qualities, researchers utilise CRISPR to precisely modify plant DNA sequences known to be associated with certain traits. CRISPR technologies avoid many of the negative side effects of traditional plant breeding methods because of their extreme precision.  Plant DNA can be modified using CRISPR techniques without adding any foreign DNA.

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