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50 SEEDWORLD.COM JUNE 2016 TO DATE scientists have engineered bacteria that produce medication-grade drugs crops with built-in pesticides and bea- gles that glow in the dark. While these are all relatively recent advances in scientific technology humans have been altering the genetics of organisms for thousands of years. How did the original practice of selective breeding evolve into the con- cept of genetically modified organisms as we know it today Innovators motivated by some of the worlds most critical problems have paved the way for GMOs a path that leads to an unimaginable array of benefits but also raises extremely important questions. The concept of genetically modified organisms or GMOs has received a large amount of attention in recent years. Indeed the relative number of Google searches for GMO has more than tripled since late 2012. However humans have been genetically modifying organisms for over 30000 years Clearly our ances- tors had no scientific laboratories capable of directly manipu- lating DNA that long ago so how did they do it and how have GMOs become such a popular topic Ancient Genetic Modification While our ancestors had no concept of genetics they were still able to influence the DNA of other organisms by a process called selective breeding or artificial selection. These terms coined by Charles Darwin describe the process of choosing the organisms with the most desired traits and mating them with the intention of combining and propagating these traits through their offspring. Repeated use of this practice over many generations can result in dramatic genetic changes to a species. While artificial selection is not what we typically consider GMO technology today it is still the precursor to the modern processes and the earliest example of our species influ- encing genetics. The dog is thought to be the first organism our ancestors artifi- cially selected. About 32000 years ago when our ancestors were hunters and gatherers wild wolves in East Asia joined groups of humans as scavengers. They were domesticated and then artifi- cially selected to increase docility leading to dogs that are closely related to what are known as Chinese native dogs. Over millennia various traits such as size hair length color and body shape were artificially selected for altering the genetics of these domesticated descendants of wolves so much that we now have breeds such as Chihuahuas and corgis that barely resemble wolves at all. Since this time artificial selection has been applied to many different Explore the long history of GMO technology. Gabriel Rangel species and has helped develop all sorts of animals from prize-winning racehorses to muscular beef cattle. Artificial selection has also been uti- lized with a variety of plants. The earliest evidence of artificial selection of plants dates back to 7800 BCE in archaeologi- cal sites found in southwest Asia where scientists have found domestic varieties of wheat. However one of the most dramatic and prevalent alterations in plant genetics has occurred through artificial selection of corn. Corn or maize began as a wild grass called teosinte that had tiny ears with very few kernels. Over the hundreds of years teosinte was selectively bred to have larger and larger ears with more and more kernels resulting in what we now know as corn. A similar process has given us large heads of broccoli bananas with nearly unnoticeable seeds and apples that are sweet and juicy. Although artificial selection is an ancient process that is still used today most current conversations regarding GMOs refer to a much more modern pro- cess of altering the genetics of organisms. The Birth of Modern Genetic Modification A breakthrough came in 1973 when Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen engi- neered the first genetically engineered GE organism. The two scientists devel- oped a method to very specifically cut out a gene from one organism and paste it into another. Using this method they transferred a gene that encodes antibiotic resistance from one strain of bacteria into another bestowing antibiotic resistance upon the recipient. One year later Rudolf Jaenisch and Beatrice Mintz used a similar procedure in animals introducing foreign DNA into mouse embryos. FROM CORGIS TO CORN Herbert Boyer Stanley Cohen Todays corn does not look like the original teosinte with tiny ears and few kernels.