Mutagenic chain reactions are currently used only in the highest security facilities. While they could be incredibly dangerous they could also help us destroy the biggest threats to grains.
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Mutagenic chain reaction is not a new technique. It was developed five years ago by American geneticists Ethan Bier and Valentino Gantz. They developed a molecular tool that first makes a precisely targeted change in the DNA of a given organism which is then present in all the descendants of the organism.
While genetic changes that occur normally can disappear over the but in the case of carriers of the mutagenic chain reaction it the number of its carriers increases until it totally dominates. Bier and Gantz tried their method on flies – giving them an uncommon gray color. When they were added to a flock of normal flies the single percent of “mutant” flies turned the normal flies into all gray “mutated” flies in just ten generations.
Incredibly Dangerous Genetic Engineering
Changing the DNA of a whole population opens up unheard-of possibilities for humanity. Just a few examples: we already have mutant mosquitoes ready that would not be able to transmit malaria. Releasing these mosquitoes in sub-Saharan Africa would make these mosquitoes spread their resistance to Malaria onto all mosquitoes in the area and have millions from catching the deadly disease and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
The thing is, nobody has had the balls to release the mutagenic chain reaction into the wild. And understandably so. The results could be catastrophic if we found out the change has unpredicted serious repercussions and fixing it would be complicated, to say the least. For the same reasons, scientists are not fast with the plans of changing the DNA of ticks so they would not be capable of transmitting encephalitis or spreading the chain reaction that would severely handicap the rats that are devastating the unique nature of the Galapagos.
Mold Mutated Three Times
Now, an Australian geneticist Donald Gardiner comes with a plan to use the mutagenic chain reaction to protect wheat from the destructive mold Fusarium graminearum. This mold attacks wheat and barley in several different ways. Apart from drastically reducing the possible harvest it also creates a problem with the substances that enter the plants from the mold called mycotoxins.
Fusarium graminearum produces mycotoxins that are a risk for the development of embryos and fetuses and also mycotoxins that disrupt the hormonal balance. These poisons then get through the contaminated wheat into humans and pose a health danger.
For the time being, wheat growers have been trying to grow wheat and barley that would be resistant to the mold but it proved to be harder than anyone expected.
Gardiner and his coworkers recently published a method that takes a different way to achieve it. They added three mutagenic chain reaction genes into the mold. These genes are important as they allow the mold to damage the wheat and barley and also produce the mycotoxins. If they released the mutated mold into the wild the mutations would spread and make the mold harmless.
But most experts do not share Gardiner's optimism. They are afraid the mutated mold will not be a strong enough competitor for the unmutated mold and will not be successful. Another problem could be the fact that molds like to breed in asexual ways making the method not work as you need the exchange of genes to spread the mutation. But the experts do agree that it is an interesting and promising idea that should get more research.
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Very interesting. Indeed the methodology sounds like too much risk :\
It also sounds as being probably too narrow: afaik the mutant mosquitoes weren't so effective in the end, as all it took was one mutation of malaria.
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