Biotechnology Genetically Engineered Soybeans Essay

Biotechnology Genetically Engineered Soybeans - Essay Example This alleviates the need for same species to induce the genetic changes which can be transmitted in the subsequent progenies. The other specific feature of this technology is possibility of ignoring reproductive compatibility within the species with an accelerated generation of new progenies with the induced phenotypic and genotypic characters. It is to be considered that genetic engineering enables scientists to introduce the DNA fragments of a foreign organism into a plan through an entirely artificial way, which could be naturally imprecise and has all probability of being unpredictable, despite being unique (Stacey et al., 2004). The soybean is considered a major source of protein in human and animal nutrition, and it is also a source of vegetable oil. Soybean is also considered to be an economically important legume, However, naturally there are many variations in the phenotype of the seed, and this is prominent in seed weight. The bean in soybean is unique since it accumulates high levels of protein and oil, and a typical soybean seed has been reported to contain 40% of protein and 20% of oil by weight. Therefore the propensity of a larger size of seed and weight would ensure that protein and oil per seed can be considerably increased if the weight of the seed could be increased by any means (Clemente and Cahoon, 2009). To start with genetic modification of soybean was accomplished to achieve herbicide tolerant soybeans since these led to improved yields and reduced use of pesticides. Specifically, the advantages of herbicide tolerant soybeans were improved weed control, significant reduction of soil erosi on the crop fields, reduction in injury to the crop, and reduced cost on fuels. Therefore, the intention of this genetic modification was to lead to improved crops. Historically, crop varieties that resist diseases have been preferred by cultivators due mainly to their improved quality characteristics. One such example is genetically engineered soybeans that are tolerant to nonselective herbicides such as glyphosphate. Foliar administration of herbicide glyphosphate can kill soy plants, and as a result genetically engineered glyphosphate tolerant soybeans was a choice immediately since during growing season, glyphosphate may considerably reduce the yield (Qin and Lynne, 2007). This specific breed would allow the farmers to use glyphosphate to control weeds yet not lose on the crop yield. Specific Alteration The specific alteration involves introduction of a single gene in the commercial soybeans. This resulted in high level of glyphosphate tolerance to the soybean plants. A single gene encoding the glyphosphate tolerant 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase was introduced in the soybean genome. This was derived from Agrobacterium Sp. Strain CP4. 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase is known to be present in plants and bacteria as a component of shikimate pathway to synthesize aromatic amino acids. Glyphosphate tolerance locus could be identified in the glyphosphate tolerant locus in GTS 40-3-2, which had been studied to be a stable and simple dominant trait that can be transferred across generations through