Gene modified FOOD Pros and cons ofGM-Food The Comenius-life-long-learning-project is financially granted by the European Commission

Classification of Industrial biotechnology  Red biotechnology: medicinal & pharmaceutical applications  Green biotechn.:agricultural- & food- applications.  Grey biotechn.: environmental applications  Blue biotechn.:biochemials of marine organisms  White biotechn.: industrial applications

Genetically modified plants are classified  “Agricultural Requirements”, for example herbicide tolerance or  insect resistance. (Bacillus thurigiensis)  examples: BT corn BT peanuts BT potatoes BT cotton Round-up-ready soja Round-up-ready Cotton

Bacillus thuringiensis Bacillus thuringiensis (or Bt) a soil-bacterium, has been commonly used as a pesticide.bacteriumpesticide ( Source: The crystalline Bt toxin is produced by Bacillus thuringiensis in an inactive form (protoxin), which is transformed to its active form (delta-endotoxin) in the guts of certain insects. The active toxin binds to receptors in the gut, killing the insect.

Corn is damaged by the corn borer  Traditional pesticides application gene-modified BT maize.

Advantage: BT-gen modified plants  By genetic modification the transgenic plants produce BT-toxine, a protein, inside the crops. So the poisonous protein is produced by the plant themself.  If an insect eats the plant, it is killed by the BT-toxin as described earlier.

Unknown risks or disadvantage:  What happens to mamalians (animals or humans) when they eat BT-toxine for longer time?  We don´t know it really.  So it should be better to test those GM-Foods for longer time, before animals or man are allowed to eat it.  In the Pharma Industry there are very long lasting tests usual.

Recent research results: Int J Biol Sci 2009; 5: “A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health” By Joël Spiroux de Vendômois, François Roullier, Dominique Cellier, Gilles-Eric Séralini..effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system. We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn

Are there allergenic stimulating effects to the mammalians?  If strange proteins get into our blood- system, the body recognizes the strange protein-patterns and reacts with his immunreaction.  By taking up some thousands of harmless microbes the boddy gets immunology by this way.  The critical question is: what happens with protein-patterns of BT-maize or round-up ready plants?  Is this a way that we possibly get allergic against some pesticides?

Round-up a very effective herbicide ( glyphosate) Round-up a very effective nonselective herbicide ( glyphosate) glyphosate-tolerant crops 1) glyphosate-tolerant soybean since(1996) 2) round-up-ready corn ( zea maize) 3) round-up-ready rice (Oryza sativa L.) 4) round-up-ready peanuts 5) round-up-ready cotton Round up = glyphosate

Are there positive aspects or advantages of GM Food?  Artichokes produce normally fructanes, carbohydates that are not digested by the human gut.  Fructanes are polymer fructose- units, that form long chains (also called Inulin).  Some microbes in the human colon metabolise fructanes and form anticholesterinic active products.

The round-up-resistant plants  Give obvious better harvest results  But what will happen when transgenic crops are eaten for longer time?  We don´t really know all effects yet.

Are Cloned potatoes with a gene of artichokes anticholesterinic activ?  Scientist of MaxPlanck Inst. of Golm Germany have cloned potatoes with the fructane-genes of artichokes.  The cloned potatoes produce „healthy“ fructanes for a better digestion and anticholesterinic side-effect.

Virus-components as Vaccine  Normal virus are built –with a capsid of protein and –some DNA or RNA inside  wich is the real dangerous infectiuos component of every virus  To get a component for a Vaccine one takes the genetic- informaion of the capsid-protein only without the infectous RNA or DNA

Genetically modified Tomatoes against HIV or HepatitisB  Rurik Salyaev at the Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry in Irkutsk, Russia, and his colleagues have got the vaccine “ingredients” from tomato plants  Others try also to clone bananas that way.

„Plantibodies“ from Virus-capsule protein  Rurik Salyaev took the genetic information of virus-capsule-protein from HIV Virus or Hepatitis-B Virus and cloned them to tomato-genes.  The Tomatoes grow normaly and produce also the proteins of the both virus- capsules.  Feeding mice with the tomatoes, the proteins induce the formation of antibodies against HIV or Hep-B. Is this a possible way to get cheap vaccines against very dangerous diseases?

Astronauts are eating „sterile food“.  When they come back to earh, they are put in quarantine, to get immunolgical adapted to the normal aldays microflora of the intestines.  Our immune-body is naturally stimulated by eating a lot of harmless microbes.  Is there a difference in eating „normal“ food or „vaccine-stimulating“ fruits?

But what happens  Eating more of the  „vaccine-stimulating“ Tomatoes / bananas we don´t know yet!  We don´t know HOW much or HOW often can one eat those Vaccine-Tomatoes without getting severe problems.

Giant-fish  80 milion tons of fish are caught per year, some fish-populations are severe in danger.  40 million tons of foodfish are bred in aquacultures  Young rainbow-trouts and salmons are genetically manipulated with a gene for salmon-growth hormon.

Giant-Salmons  The so manipulated Salmons grew doublesized compared to the natural sized.

What problems are conected with transgenic GM-fish?  We don´t know what will happen if growth-hormons of fish are eaten. ( we know that cattle in USA are raised with growth-hormons and the people are getting too big).  A lot of poor countries need many food, but is this the right way to feed them?  What will happen when transgenic fish occasionally escape of the aquacutures?

myostatin blockers …

What are the aims of cloning mamals? If some medical useful remdies are produced the cloning of mamals is justifiable. If some medical useful remdies are produced the cloning of mamals is justifiable. So in the next step they are going to raise transgenic goats to produce the tissue- Plasminogen Activator.(t-PA) from goat´s milk. i.g. the anticoagulating factor agianst thrombosis wich is produced by GM-mice and is extracted successfully from the mouse-milk.

Conclusion: Genetic modification of Organisms  Is a great challenge but also a great risk and / or adventure.  We should be aware of the resposibility: what we are able to do  And how far we should go ?

Thank you for your attention The Comenius-life-long-learning-project is financially granted by the European Commission G.Fridrich HTL Wels 2010