Genetic Biotechnology in Agriculture Genetic Biotechnology in Agriculture Beth Wiley, Tucker Hicks, Sunnie Fish Imagine a strain of corn that produces twice as much yield as the current seed used for corn production. Imagine a cow that produces more and better milk. Imagine a species of weeds that is a huge problem on the agricultural land of today, completely eliminated, no longer a pest. These are just some of the amazing promises and ideas of the new age of genetic biotechnology.
Genetic biotechnology is a branch of the study of genes or genetic make-up.
Geneticists have the ability to isolate genes and then discover what traits those genes hold. Scientists can then use that information to implant or splice those genes and their traits into other things. For example, a scientist could discover and splice a photosynthetic gene from a plant and put it into an animal, so animals could use the sun to produce food. So far, no such gene is known to exist but that is just an example of the imaginative thinking that comes from biotechnology. Genetic biotechnology is a hot issue for many different industries.