Say GM"NO"s to Our Food

We can all agree tomatoes are one of the most important crops in the world. Available in many forms-- ketchup, puree, and pickled--- the fresh fruit has become a of genetic studies!

So whats the issue?

Fungi, the "forgotten" infectious illness that many of us neglect.(Casadevall, 2017) Not only causing human and animal deaths but in plants and crops. It is not the only fruit or vegetable that is susceptible to fungi. In fact, half of all fruit and vegetables produced globally are lost each year(Gustavsson et al., 2011). In general fruits are more susceptible to fugal pathogens as they grow and ripe.

Pathogenic fungi cause 70-80% of the loss in 10-15% of the world's major crops(Peng et al., 2021). This is the reason why so many farmers use synthetic herbicides. This extensive use has cause such an issue for our soil and water pollution. Another issue that questions the sustainability of traditional agriculture

The potato blight in Ireland during 1845-1847 were in fact caused by the fungal-like organism called hytophthora infestans. Causing more than 1 million people to starve and one of the largest migrations in human history. This is just one example of the destruction fungus can cause. Fungi-- usually spread through soil and stay in the soil for years, Phythium, Phytophthora, Botrytis, Rhizoctonia and Fusarium(Benitez et al., 2004)--- are just some examples. The overall damage fungi does costs billions a year and pose a serious danger to global food security.

Now, plant--fungal interactions are important! Not all fungi are destructive and one example of this is Trichoderma. Trichoderma essentially is a fungi that increases crop productivity up to 300%(Benitez et al., 2004) by increasing nutrient supply to the host. This is just one example of beneficial fungi in the millions of possible species( the known and unknown).

The call for a Solution

Science and farmers are looking to GMOs to combat this existing matter. GMOs is exactly how it sounds like, a Genetically Modified Organism. Genes that are made up of DNA and modified. This involves tweaking the organism such as a crop or an living thing, even bacteria and or fungi! Some technological techniques produce a GM plant through transferring new DNA naturally through a bacterium and the 'gene gun', which injects plant cells with micro particles coated with DNA(Key et al.,2008).

So what does this mean for our crops?

With the rise of genetic editing, GM crops have been commercialized since 1996 and continue to grow. As of 2007, biotech crops planted continue to increase with a growth rate of 12% across 23 countries (Key et al.,2008). In the developing crisis of undernourished people, GM plants are a approach which combat aims to genetically modify plants to increase nutritional content and crop yields. It is also solution to the fungi and pest issue which destroys crops and forests. GM crops basically make the plants more resistant to these fungi and make farming much more easier.

This however does not address the future affects it may have on biodiversity, the human health, and stripping of the soil. Although GMOs have been around for quite some time, it is hard to indicate that the consumption of GMOs are bad for the human health. It may be linked to health issues, but no available solid scientific evidence has come to a consensus in the damage GMOs can cause.

Personal Take

In my opinion, fungi is a huge problem when I grow tomatoes. At home, a couple of my raised beds have fugal issues that will last for the next 5 years within the soil. I must say that GM crops in this situation would be quite helpful. However, I can see the fungi evolving to become more resistant to the GM crop and therefore negatively impacting the ecosystem. It also does not address the issue of how badly stripped our lands are.

That being said, I hope you enjoyed this interesting short deep dive on GMOs! I wanted to research GMOs because I have found out how common fugal diseases are in gardens. Although, the research has shown fruitful and I have found out that hydroponics also has its own set of fungi and bacteria. Even in a controlled setting, there are chances of root fungi, mildew, and other diseases that can take place.

References

1. Almeida, Fausto, et al. “The Still Underestimated Problem of Fungal Diseases Worldwide.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 1 Jan. 1AD, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00214/full#B9.

2. Benítez, Tahía, et al. "Biocontrol mechanisms of Trichoderma strains." International microbiology 7.4 (2004): 249-260.

3. Fisher, M., Henk, D., Briggs, C. et al. Emerging fungal threats to animal, plant and ecosystem health. Nature 484, 186–194 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10947.

4. Giovannoni, James, et al. "NOR gene compositions and methods for use thereof." U.S. Patent Application No. 10/737,164.

5. Key, Suzie et al. “Genetically modified plants and human health.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine vol. 101,6 (2008): 290-8. doi:10.1258/jrsm.2008.070372.

6. Peng, Yan, et al. “Research Progress on Phytopathogenic Fungi and Their Role as Biocontrol Agents.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 1 Jan. 1AD, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.670135/full.

7. Panthee, Dilip R, and Feng Chen. “Genomics of fungal disease resistance in tomato.” Current genomics vol. 11,1 (2010): 30-9. doi:10.2174/138920210790217927.

8. "What Are Gmos?” Purdue University - College of Agriculture, https://ag.purdue.edu/gmos/what-are-gmos.html.

9. Silva, Christian J et al. “Host susceptibility factors render ripe tomato fruit vulnerable to fungal disease despite active immune responses.” Journal of experimental botany vol. 72,7 (2021): 2696-2709. doi:10.1093/jxb/eraa601.