By Tim Durham

Dr. Durham’s family operates a 30-acre vegetable farm on Long Island, New York — where he returns to work every summer. During the academic year, Dr. Durham teaches general biology, plant science, biotechnology, genetics, and agronomy at Ferrum College in Virginia.

Science is a framework of discovery and application to tackle real-world problems. Since the discovery of DNA, our knowledge has increased exponentially! But how do we put that to work? Biotechnology is applied molecular genetics. Scientists observed a number of phenomena “in the wild” and modeled these methods for crop improvement.

For example, scientists observed a bacterium called Agrobacterium tumefaciens genetically engineering its host plants. It causes a disease called Crown Gall (stem growths). Basically, it adds some extra directions (in the form of genes) to the plant’s genetic blueprint. These genes instruct the plant to produce food for the bacterium! The galls are the observable result of this spot genetic engineering — miniature (rewritten) cellular factories.

Intrigued, scientists then piggybacked this discovery with another, restriction enzymes in bacteria. Restriction enzymes are used by bacteria to cut the DNA of invading viruses. This defensive approach basically slices and dices them into genetic bits, effectively inactivating them. What scientists found was that different enzymes cut in very specific ways.

So let’s say organism X has genes of interest that could improve a crop. These genes can be duplicated and cut out with a specific restriction enzyme. In parallel, the undesirable genes that cause crown gall in Agrobacterium are cut out. We can then paste the genes from organism X, filling the gap we just created in Agrobacterium. Rejoin the cut ends and voila, the Agrobacterium is now a vector for the genes we want it to deliver into a plant — taking a page out of the Windows PC “cut and paste” function.

There are other methods to produce GMOs, including the “gene gun”, but Agrobacterium (nature’s genetic engineer) was the initial inspiration. A case study in modeling nature — biomimicry!

Whatever the method, GMOs greatly streamline farm operations, including herbicide tolerance (Roundup Ready technology) or bt traits that equip the plant with its own biodegradable insecticide. One nibble and pest caterpillars or rootworms are toast. Many more applications are in the works, including nutrient fortification — which admittedly has more public appeal.

In theory, sound science should counterbalance controversy. In practice, this has not been the case with GMOs. Despite a decades-long track record of safety, they’re still treated harshly by regulators. The spiritual sequel to GMOs are in the works — gene editing. Rather than cut and paste outside genetic materials into an organism, as with GMOs, gene editing simply rewrites what’s already there. This is poised to avoid much of the current controversy.