... desired characteristics, such as resistance to frost or to pesticides. The goal is to give these new characteristics to a living thing that couldn't do those things before. The techniques of modern genetics have made possible the direct manipulation of the genetic makeup of organisms. In agriculture, genetic engineering allows simple genetic traits to be transferred to crop plants from wild ... relatives, other distantly related plants, or virtually any other organism. Genetically ... being more discussed as it could affect the future of the economical and nutritional world today by a ...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and our limited knowledge has greatly expanded. No longer does the gradual process of selective breeding confine improvements; we now have the ability to genetically modify a species' specific characteristics within a single generation (Ford 65). Such rapid advancement could provide many benefits; Cathy Becker of ThriveOnline writes that such technology could make foods more nutritious, cause an increase ... Hachey). In 1865, Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, presented his studies about the laws of heredity. James Watson and Francis Crick described the double helix structure of DNA...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... than any other living organism, man has been interested in the modifications of characteristics through experiments of cross breeding. Parent plants were carefully selected based on their contributing factors to the next improved generation. It was through such processes that changed the ancestor of corn into the hybrid we see today. On a genetic level, this all has to do with DNA ... breeding, the DNA sources need not be related because they are not sexual crosses. Therefore, asexual plants can be crossed with sexual plants, bacteria, even mammals. In addition, it is possible to control...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... (genetic modified organisms) is most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. All living organisms have genes written in their DNA. They are chemical instructions for building and maintaining life. By modifying the genes, scientists can alter the characteristics of an organism. Scientists and farmers have been selectively breeding ... plants since the late 19th century through a process called hybridization. Today, plants can be bred by changing their genetic makeup often with the insertion of just one ge...

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... created to enhance nutritional value or increase the resistance to herbicides. The old method of enhancing plants was done through breeding them over and over again. This was deemed too time consuming and not accurate enough in the minds of some. Now, scientists can isolate a gene responsible for a certain characteristics of one plant and put it into another. Genes from non-plant cells can also ... be transplanted into the plants. The best known example of this is the use of BT genes in corn and other crops. BT is a naturally occurring bacterium ... been proven effective in resistance ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... . Until the 20th century, this had to be done by breeding desirable characteristics into crops. This method requires plenty of effort and is rather imprecise. Genetic modification speeds up the process by identifying the genes that produce these selected traits and introducing them into the desired crop. The first wave of GM crops, grown in the 1990s, has largely given benefits to farmers ... that stops the growth of other bacteria that catalyze the formation of ice was sprayed over a strawberry crop to protect them from frost damage. Hence, the strawberry crop can survive during winter....

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• Grade Level: High School