Question
Answer
Expert response from Andy Newhouse
P.h.D. Student
Wednesday, 11/15/2017 17:28
An "LMO" (Living Modified Organism) is basically a GMO that is alive and capable of passing on its genes to a subsequent generation. In most situations, the terms LMO and GMO are essentially synonymous, but neither term is really used by most biotechnologists! More on that below.
The term LMO was used in the Cartegena Protocol (basically a big document that came out of an international convention several years ago, more detailed info here.)
The reason we as scientists don't typically use the term "genetically modified" is that it's not very specific - the plants that produce nearly ALL our food have been modified in some way compared to their wild ancestors! This has mostly been done through selection and traditional breeding, ever since humans started saving seeds. But other technologies like mutagenesis have been used for many decades to produce new and useful traits. Transgenesis and newer technologies like CRISPR are just another way to modify plants. All these processes modify plants' genes, so the resulting organisms or offspring might be considered genetically modified. The terms "genetic engineering" or "genetically engineered" more specifically refer to transgenic organisms.
Whether an organism is living (LMO) is sort of an arbitrary distinction in my mind - the original term Genetically Modified Organism seems to imply that one is referring to a living organism anyway.
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