GMOs: It’s more than what you eat

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are getting a lot of coverage these days because of concerns to human health and their potential environmental impact. However, GMOs include more than just the singular category of ‘Franken foods.’ In fact, GM mosquitoes could put an end to diseases like Dengue fever and even put an end to global warming.

“Dengue fever is transmitted by the bite of the female mosquito. Photograph: Rex Features” Source: Guardian.co.uk

Mosquitoes are commonly accepted as pests and known disease carriers. GM wolbachia bacteria might prevent this mosquito from transmitting deadly dengue fever if tests are successful.

Genetic modification can help scientists co-opt the ingenuity of nature to our advantage by taking an organism and modifying its phenotype – observed characteristics – to better suit our needs. With the ever-increasing rise in population, greater food production is more important than ever. In agriculture, this takes form in salmon that grow faster or corn and tomatoes that are twice as large. Genetics is universal however. The same G’s, A’s, T’s, and C’s serve as a blueprint, the architectural design, of all life and can be modified in a similar manner. While we associate GMOs with agriculture because that is its most prevalent form the average consumer encounters. It also has the most direct impact on our lives given the fact that we eat daily. However, a GMO can be any type of organism that was genetically modified using modern techniques.

People have linked mosquitos and disease since our first understandings about microbial transmission of disease. Particularly dangerous in the tropics where concentrations of mosquitoes are high, current efforts to combat disease, and the mosquitoes that harbor them ranges from mechanical means such as using mosquito netting around beds, to the biological with preventive malaria pills and treatment, to plain overkill with the spraying of DDT – a notorious pesticide because of its contamination of the ecosystem - once present in the environment it stays for a long time. However, GMOs offer a new solution to one of our oldest problems by targeting the problem specifically and at a greatly cheaper cost.

Discovered by UC Davis scientist and Professor Michael Turelli, wolbachia is a bacterium that resides in about “28 percent of mosquitoes” according to Zhiyong Xi of Michigan State University. When introduced, the bacteria will cause embryo death in males, but leave females unaffected. What makes this a potential cure for dengue is because, when modified, wolbachia can produce mosquitoes that are viable (they will live and produce offspring) but shorter lived. Since dengue fever resides in old mosquitoes, the shorter-lived flies will not get dengue – removing the disease from the population.

The world Health Organization (WHO) estimated that dengue fever related illnesses caused $440 million in 2009 with over 50 million cases each year and 25,000 deaths. The WHO estimates that at least 2.5 billion people are at risk each year. Currently there is no known vaccine or treatment for dengue fever putting an even greater importance on preventative measures. The use of modified wolbachia in mosquitoes is a perfect example of targeted control and disease prevention. Currently, there are field tests in the Cayman Islands and Australia in addition to the laboratory studies at the University of Michigan, UC Davis, and Oxford. If successful, this method could not only drastically reduce the rates of Dengue fever, but the same techniques could be applied to combat the deadliest disease known to man in terms on number of deaths, malaria.

In addition to protecting our personal health, GMOs can contribute to the health of our environment as well. The leading cause of climate change in the opinion of many scientists is due to the rapid increase of CO2 emissions. Carbon dioxide is not dangerous in of itself being an inert gas. However, when atmospheric concentrations of CO2 get too high they create a greenhouse effect. Much like a greenhouse where the glass (or plastic it you’re cheap) traps hot air, CO2 traps solar heat that increase overall global temperature. While there are many programs, plans, and proposals on the table to reduce CO2 emissions – a process that would allow the sequestering (capture) of atmospheric CO2 would be a great benefit in the fight against climate change.

“CO2 To Bricks Carbon dioxide is bubbled into water and then added to a solution of mineral ions. Genetically engineered yeast help turn the dissolved CO2 into solid carbonates. Patrick Gillooly/MIT” Source: Popular Science

Fortunately, there is through GMOs. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing a method to sequester atmospheric CO2 into bricks through genetically modified yeast. According to Popular Science magazine, “Belcher and her graduate students modified baker’s yeast to express genes that are normally found in sea creatures like abalones, which make hard carbonate shells. Carbon dioxide is bubbled into water, and then combined with mineral ions to make solid carbonate materials.” Not only would this method, once perfected, help reduce CO2 emissions, but it will provide a new building material. Yeast work well in this scenario because their digestive system is actually external – that is they secrete enzymes to break up their food. This method of bio recycling, of converting unwanted products into more useable ones via biological processes is not new, but GMOs could potentially enhance the process; in this case a gene commonly found in mollusks that produce carbonate shells.

Unfortunately, this method of using yeast to sequester CO2 “Has not been achieved on a large scale” according to the MIT researchers; nevertheless, the future is as promising as it is necessary to combat environmental calamity. Non-agricultural GMOs are as important as their crop counterparts, if not as visible. Their potential benefits to both the health and the environment

Works Cited

Boyle, R. (2010, September 22). New Process Uses Genetically Modified Yeast to Turn Carbon Dioxide Emissions Into Bricks for Construction. Retrieved November 22, 2010, from Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-09/new-process-turns-co2-carbonate-bricks

Michigan State News. (2010, April 14). Bacteria block spread of deadly dengue. Retrieved November 29, 2010, from Futurity.org: http://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/bacteria-block-spread-of-deadly-dengue/

Sample, I. (2010, November 11). Genetically modified mosquitoes lined up to tackle dengue fever: Scientists use sterile males to mate with infected females in fight to curtail spread of disease that kills 25,000 people a year. Retrieved November 29, 2010, from The Guardian Online: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/nov/11/genetically-modified-mosquitoes-dengue-fever