11-02-2013, 04:28 AM
"Transgenics is not as simple as pollination, and it would seem, far, far less predictable."
That statement seems entirely backwards. Genetic modification involves placing a gene with known characteristics (e.g., what enzyme they produce) into a chromosome. The resulting plant is genetically identical to the parent except for the introduced gene. Pollination involves crossing two parent plants with thousands of genes whose chromosomes can recombine in essentially a random manner. In standard development of improved varieties of plants hundreds or thousands of pollinated crosses are made. Then the large number of offspring are grown to maturity to determine the effect of any individual cross. When hybridizing something like fruit trees this process can take nearly a decade.
The anecdote related by jerry in another thread is relevant here. A plant geneticist stated to him that she knew which genes affect flavor in tomatoes, but could not simply insert those genes into suitable parents to produce better fruit due to the political noise. Rather she had to make the thousands of conventionally pollinated crosses and then grow out and test the thousands of resulting tomato offspring for desirable characteristics, a very slow process. The insertion process is obviously more predictable.
That statement seems entirely backwards. Genetic modification involves placing a gene with known characteristics (e.g., what enzyme they produce) into a chromosome. The resulting plant is genetically identical to the parent except for the introduced gene. Pollination involves crossing two parent plants with thousands of genes whose chromosomes can recombine in essentially a random manner. In standard development of improved varieties of plants hundreds or thousands of pollinated crosses are made. Then the large number of offspring are grown to maturity to determine the effect of any individual cross. When hybridizing something like fruit trees this process can take nearly a decade.
The anecdote related by jerry in another thread is relevant here. A plant geneticist stated to him that she knew which genes affect flavor in tomatoes, but could not simply insert those genes into suitable parents to produce better fruit due to the political noise. Rather she had to make the thousands of conventionally pollinated crosses and then grow out and test the thousands of resulting tomato offspring for desirable characteristics, a very slow process. The insertion process is obviously more predictable.