PLANTS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

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Cameron Sanders
6 years ago
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1 INTRODUCTION Biotechnology can be defined as the combination of technology and biology. Biotechnological processes take different types of organisms (biology) and modifies them to produce something useful for society. Biotechnological applications can be classified into different groups: - Blue group biotechnologies: use marine and aquatic organisms. It is not very common. - Grey group biotechnologies: their objective is the environment and maintain ecosystems. - Red group biotechnologies: in this case biotechnology is applied to medicine (discovering new antibiotics or vaccines). - White group biotechnologies: they improve food production. - Green group biotechnologies: their objective is to progress in the cultivation of plants. However, we are going to focus in the green group biotechnology or plant biotechnology. The main objective of plant biotechnology is to modify characteristics of plants to cultivate them easily. There are many examples but two of the most famous are related to creating plants resistant to droughts (example: corn) and plants resistant to pests (example: Bt cotton). Nowadays, plant biotechnology is used by farmers all over the world. 1

2 PLANTS RESISTANCE TO DROUGHTS - Lecture 1 Droughts are one of the worst situations a plant can go through. New biotechnological techniques are being used to understand the process of how a plant senses and reacts to droughts. Using this biotechnology new transgenic plants resistant to droughts can be produced. One of the plants that has been modified using biotechnology to be resistant to droughts is corn (scientific name: Zea mays). Corn is the most cultivated crop around the world but 15% of the production is lost because of droughts. A lot of the lost production could be recuperated by cultivating modified corn resistant to droughts. The production of the first corn plant which was resistant to droughts was carried out by an enterprise called Monsanto. It was commercialized in 2013 after many months of investigation and tests. The modified corn plants have been designed to adapt correctly to droughts and use the soil moisture available to continue living. However, there is always another point of view. These modified corn plants resistant to draughts can damage the ecosystems where they are cultivated. This can end up affecting other plants and animals around. 2

PLANTS RESISTANCE TO DROUGHTS - Lecture 2 All around the planet it is common to observe how climate is getting warmer and rains are less frequent, giving drought conditions.

3 PLANTS RESISTANCE TO DROUGHTS - Lecture 2 All around the planet it is common to observe how climate is getting warmer and rains are less frequent, giving drought conditions. This dry weather is affecting farmers and their plants around the world. The solution is to use modified plants that by using biotechnology, are resistant to droughts. Corn is one of the most cultivated crops around the world. However, drought resistant plants are specially needed in Africa, where the dry climate can kill a quarter of the total corn production. For that reason, corn plants resistant to droughts were created by using biotechnology. Those resistant plants were given to 13 African countries. The cultivation of these modified corn plants is helping African people to stop being poor. For example, in Zimbabwe, growing corn plants resistant to droughts is helping more than half a million people. Most of these drought-resistant corn plants have been produced by a company called Monsanto. The main problem is that Monsanto is the only enterprise selling this type of plants; consequently, the price of these plants in some countries (for example, India) is very high. Most of the farmers in India can not pay the price and they continue growing plants that will die in drought conditions. This effect is called the monopoly of Monsanto in India. 3

4 PLANTS RESISTANCE TO PESTS - Lecture 1 Cotton plants (scientific name: Gossypium) can produce cotton fibres, that can give cotton for our clothes. For that reason, cotton agriculture is into the top five most cultivated plants around the world. However, cotton fields are frequently ruined by insect pests. A pest takes place when an insect invades the plants in a field to feed from their fruits or seeds; when a plant is invaded with a pest it is impossible for farmers to take agricultural benefits. In order to stop this situation, a company called Monsanto was able to produce cotton plants which were resistant to pests using biotechnology. These plants are called Bt cotton. The key factor to produce these cotton resistant plants was to introduce a bacteria called Bacilus thurigiensis (Bt) into the cotton plant to protect it from insects. Bacilus thurigiensis is normally in the soil, protecting plants which are near but not inside the plant. In addition, Monsanto is investigating more about cotton plants resistant to pests in India since The investigations in India have demonstrated that the cotton plants are also resistant to a type of worm (pink bollworm). The countries that produce more cotton around the world are China, India and the US. Monsanto sells pest resistant cotton plants to these three countries. But Monsanto is also selling cotton plants resistant to pests in other countries like Argentina. 4

PLANTS RESISTANCE TO PESTS - Lecture 2 Cotton is the main crop many farmers cultivate around the world. Cotton is extracted as a fibre from the cotton plants.

5 PLANTS RESISTANCE TO PESTS - Lecture 2 Cotton is the main crop many farmers cultivate around the world. Cotton is extracted as a fibre from the cotton plants. However, cotton plants are very susceptible to insect attack. The insect attacks to plants are denominated pests. In order to protect their cotton plants from insect pests, farmers use expensive insecticide that can damage the environment. Biotechnology has been used to produce cotton plants that are resistant to insect pests. The insect-resistant cotton plant is called Bt cotton. An advantage of cultivating Bt cotton is that the amount of insecticide needed is less. China is one of the first producers of cotton in the world. Therefore, Chinese farmers cultivate Bt cotton more than normal cotton plants. Bt cotton agriculture in China damages the environment less than using insecticides. However, an investigation showed that Bt cotton in China is not resistant to all types of pests; bollworms are able to invade and kill Bt cotton plants. To conclude, Chinese farmers show better health conditions after cultivating Bt cotton. They also get more economical benefit when growing Bt cotton compared to normal cotton plants. 5

Bt maize technologies: Insect pest control Anani Bruce

Bt maize technologies: Insect pest control Anani Bruce Training course on identification and management of biotic stresses in maize 8-10 December 2015, Islamabad 1. What is Bt? Outline 2. How does Bt work