How do we genetically modify plants?
Robes is referring to traditional plant breeding. Genetic modification of plants occurs in a number of ways but the main point is inserting foreign DNA into a plant nucleus and having that DNA be incorporated into the cell so that it can be reproduced. Target DNA which confers a trait (i.e. for herbicide resistance) is isolated and incorporated into a plasmid vector (a circular strand of DNA) with a promoter which ‘turns on’ the target DNA in the cell. Then the plasmid is inserted into the plant cell either by attaching it to a bacteria which can naturally insert DNA into plant cells, or the plasmid is shot into a plant cell by something called the ‘gene gun’. The plasmid can also be directly inserted into the plant cell nucleus with very fine instruments and microscopes, but this is rarely used since it is so difficult. Once the plasmid is inside the cell’s nucleus, the plant is ‘tricked’ into reproducing the new genes and expressing the traits that they confer. Once all that has happ
