BRAINCAKEGenetic Modification of Crops
Crops are genetically modified to give them characteristics that would be slow or impossible to achieve by selective breeding.
Aims of GM crops
• Pest resistance: Bt crops produce a toxin that kills insect pests, so they need less insecticide spraying.
• Herbicide tolerance: farmers can spray fields to kill weeds without harming the crop.
• Disease resistance: for example papaya modified to resist papaya ringspot virus.
• Tolerance of drought or salty soils, allowing crops to grow on poor land.
• Improved nutrition: Golden Rice has been modified to produce beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency causes blindness in many children where rice is the main food.
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More in Gene Technology
- Microinjection
- Gene Silencing
- Transgenic Plants
- Cloning Plants
- Genetic Modification of Soya Bean
- Gene Technology in Animals
- Gene Technology in Humans
- Knockout Mice
All 17 lessons in Gene Technology · All Edexcel A-level Biology topics