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Flashmag September 2020 www.flashmag.net
DNA, which encodes proteins in an organism, becomes more similar between individuals of a species, and this lack of genetic diversity inevitably leads to the destruction of a genetically engineered population.
One of the best documented examples is the famine of 1800 in Ireland. At that time, Ireland was heavily dependent on potatoes for its nutrition, and the type of potatoes it grew did not come from seeds. the Irish planted sections of a mother potato; in this way, all potatoes were clones of their parents and contained identical genetic information. The lack of genetic variability in these potato crops was found to be detrimental when an invasive pathogen, P. infestans, wiped out the entire potato population. As all potatoes had almost identical genes, there were no populations of potatoes with favorable traits that would have allowed them to escape P. infestans. If Ireland had grown different varieties of potatoes with greater genetic diversity, it would have been likely to find a potato population containing genes that provide resistance to the pathogen. If a sufficiently large percentage of potato crops in Ireland were resistant to P. infestans, perhaps this famine would not have been so catastrophic.
It is therefore essential to maintain genetic diversity, as increased DNA variability will provide a better opportunity for organisms to adapt to a changing environment.
The argument that proponents of genetic engineering often make, is that they create plants or animals that are more able to resist diseases known to man. A plausible argument, but also very light. The environment in which humanity deploys remains a great unknown, and at the present time, there is no miracle panacea to protect plants or a group of individuals against all possible and imaginable diseases. , for the simple reason that despite the progress of science, the pathogens that could attack humanity, plants, or animals, are infinitely numerous without counting the degree of mutation. Protecting a population by genetically homogenizing it against a parasite rather decreases the survival changes of the group in the event of the appearance of a new pathogen.
In addition to crossbreeding between species that naturally bring new genes into a population, whereas genetic engineering specifically chooses certain genes that it manipulates to insert into a population, for a specific purpose.
GMOs can also affect genetic diversity through the uncontrolled growth of a genetically modified population. If beneficial genes are introduced into GMOs, this may allow them to become more resistant than their wild relatives. This situation would be detrimental because GMOs would grow faster and reproduce more often, which
Berlin Wall
Lerone Pieters