ENSC 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Bt Cotton, Insulin, Taco
13 Apr 2017
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Document Summary
Advances in biotechnology have produced tools and techniques to "engineer" genetic traits. Organisms such as plants, animals, bacteria or viruses in which the genetics have been modified in order to produce a new property. Gm crops have been grown commercially on over 1 billion hectares. Roughly 88% of corn, 93% of soybeans, and 94% of cotton produced in the. Naturally occurring bacteria that produce crystal proteins that are lethal to insect larvae - protein inserts itself into the membrane of the gut epithelial cells of an insect and creates an ion channel through which atp can be depleted. Farmers started to use bt as a pesticide in 1920 but limitations. Products such as spray are rapidly washed away by rain and degenerate under sun"s uv rays. There are some insects that live within the plant or underground where bt spray could not reach.
