How difficult is it for scientists to genetically modify food?

Expert response from Qiudeng Que

Ph.D. Group Leader, Crop Transformation and Analysis, Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC.

Tuesday, 03/04/2018 13:18

Genetically modified food refers to edible matters that are genetically modified, or contain components from a genetically modified organism (GMO). Genetically modified organisms can be a crop plant or a microorganism. It is relatively easy to genetically modify microorganisms. For example, genetically modified microbes are used to produce enzymes used for making cheese and other dairy products. On the other hand, genetic modification of crop plants such as corn and soybeans is much more difficult and may take a long time. Usually, only a few strains of a particular crop can be genetically modified or transformed efficiently with a transgene under special conditions. A transgene can be delivered into plant cells with either a gene gun apparatus using a technique called “micro particle bombardment” or through a natural Agrobacterium-mediated biological process. However, regeneration of cells containing the transgene into a whole plant is very variety-dependent. Therefore, a transgene is usually inserted into one particular variety and then conventional breeding is used to breed the transgene into other varieties for commercial cultivation.