GMOs - is it not only healthy, but also tasty? 5 useful GM species of animals and plants

For many years, supporters and opponents of genetically modified organisms have been arguing in the media, at conferences and meetings. The most interesting thing is to observe the discussions in which people who barely received a secondary education take part, and who are trying to convince everyone else that, they say, eating a genetically modified tomato, a person or his children will change both externally and internally. The result of such discussions is the intimidation of people with the subsequent fastening of the labels “Does not contain GMOs” to packs with salt and bottles of mineral water.

At the same time, scientists, qualified specialists try to prove that the majority of GMOs are absolutely safe, and the problems, if they can be, are not at all that something will grow in a person, or, on the contrary, will disappear. Well, while all these disputes are going on, the number of genetically modified organisms around us is constantly increasing. And among them there are very interesting species.

Apples that do not darken in the cut

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We all know that the pulp of an apple that begins to come into contact with the air darkens. This is due to the fact that there is a tyrosinase in the apple that catalyzes the reaction of iron-containing polyphenols in air. If the slice of a normal apple drip citric acid, then the slice will not darken, because citric acid is one of the strongest antioxidants.

Not so long ago, a biotech company Okaganan Specialty Fruits Inc. brought a new variety of GM-apples, in which the enzyme polyphenol oxidase is simply “turned off”. As a result, melanin is not formed when interacting with oxygen.

Plus, these same scientists have created apples without stones and films, which are located next to the stones.

Tomatoes with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects

These tomatoes, created by the efforts of the John Innes Research Center, are purple in color. Specialists who created these tomatoes, wanted to achieve a high content of anthocyanins in the final fruit. This pigment, according to some oncologists, has anti-inflammatory anti-cancer effect. At the same time, anthocyanin was added by adding a gene from the snion DNA to a tomato tomato, a plant with many anthocyanins in its tissues.

After conducting relevant studies in mice, an interesting result appeared - the number of sclerotic phenomena also decreased, which manifested itself in the form of a decrease in the number of plaques in the vessels of rodents. Anthocyanins also have antifungal effects, which makes it possible to “freeze” the development of mold fungi.

Super sweet fruits

Russian scientists from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (IBC) have already proved themselves . Back in the late 1990s, scientists learned how to insert a gene from the West African thaumatococcus plant into the plant’s DNA. It turned out that this gene is responsible for the production of thaumatin II protein, which is thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar.

Scientists were able to add the gene of thaumatoccus to strawberries, pears, apples and even tomatoes. As a result, the fruits have become much sweeter, and in the case of strawberries, another property of the new gene has emerged - resistance to the “scourge of strawberries” - gray rot.

Fortified rice

The creators of the new rice variety have added the gene for maize and the gene for soil bacteria Erwinia uredovora to the plant's DNA. As a result, a new variety of rice contains a large amount of vitamin A. Approximately 150 grams of such rice contains the daily intake of vitamin A for an adult.

According to scientists, GM-rice can provide "vitaminization" of the broad masses of the population, provided, of course. that the grade will be allowed in different countries. And permission to achieve is not so easy.

Milk without E. coli

According to WHO, more than 1.8 million children die annually due to poisoning caused mainly by intestinal bacillus Escherichia coli. At the same time, most of the deaths of these 1.8 million are a consequence of the additional feeding of the children with cow or goat milk.

In human milk there is a lot of lysozyme enzyme, which has a destructive effect on the walls of bacteria. The idea of ​​scientists is to increase the amount of this enzyme in goat's milk. As a result, scientists from the United States have created GM goats that produce milk with a high content of lysozyme.

So far, testing of new milk was carried out only on animals (pigs), and the results showed that animals that drank milk with lysozyme had much less intestinal disorders.

In principle, the discussion on “GMOs is good or bad” has not yet been put. Scientists conduct research, ordinary people discuss the results of these studies. Anyway, it is necessary to come to terms with the fact that GMOs are already among us for a long time, and this process is irreversible.

Based on materials " Attic ", Irina Yakutenko .