Genetic engineers can make plants

Answer 1

There are two quite different concepts to consider.

a) that plants may be bred and cross-bred in a manner that is close to those that naturally occur. The common strawberry of commerce is actually a cross of a small, soft, rather fragrant, and very sweet Alpine Strawberry of Europe; with a larger species from N America. This cross is one that could have occurred in nature. But didn't. This is normal Genetic Engineering or plant breeding.

b) If we wish to incorporate a novel feature in a plant, that would have not occurred naturally, then we may add to its DNA, features from a quite foreign organism. For example, components from fish DNA, that contribute to their temperature resistance; have been added to fruit to enhance their cold temperature performance. Strictly this is called Transgenic Engineering. Across genera.

Most of the Insulin used these days comes from bacteria Transgenic Engineered to produce this substance. Something they wold never naturally do. Similarly, plants have been made resistant to particular viruses. And to particular herbicides.

Unfortunately (IMHO) the boundaries between Normal genetic engineering and the transgenic form have been deliberately blurred in popular literature, but the difference between the two is important. Also important are the advances that Transgenic has enabled.

As to the actual techniques, a rather large number are at the disposal of the geneticist these days. Snipping out part of a genome, adding in a new snippet and so on. This is really an advanced field, and the manipulations take place at the DNA level.

Answer 2

Genetic engineering in crops helps make them grow faster and have more yields than non GMO crops. Some have been bred so that they are resistant to different pesticides, enabling the producer to spray for weeds that would normally kill that crop.

Answer 3

Through out history people have artificially selected plants and animals to breed. These people selected plants with the traits they desired for plants and animals and this is a form of genetic engineering. By doing this they where able to choose plants and animals that grow faster, yield higher amounts of food, grow in more extreme environments, and are more resistant to disease and pests. Our early human ancestors used these techniques to make food production efficient enough to be able to move away from the hunter gatherer life style and live in permanent settlements resulting in the beginning of human civilization. Recently besides just breeding better plants for human cultivation we have been able to directly delete, modify, and add genes to plants. The goals our however are largely the same with the exception of many modification being made to make our crops resistant to herbicides and pesticides allowing us to use these chemicals in fields containing our food crops. All of these techniques are ultimately used to produce more food more cheaply. Recently some genetic engineering has also been used to cause plants and animals used in agriculture to produce specific nutrients like vitamin A in rice or specific drugs.

Answer 4

Plasmids carry genes in bacteria. A plasmid carrying a beneficial gene can be used to put the gene into a plant.

Answer 5

some of genetic engineering in Fields of agriculture and medicine are diagnostic tools, gene therapy , and DNA fingerprinting.

Answer 6

resistant to insects