Imagine that as a farmer (who also has an excellent educational background) you
ID: 148521 • Letter: I
Question
Imagine that as a farmer (who also has an excellent educational background) you can partner with genetic engineers to design the perfect crop for the changing climate of the region that your chose. Begin by choosing a crop that is common in the region in which you have decided to live. Then describe how you would genetically engineer your crop to deal with projected future climate change for that region with an emphasis on photosynthetic pathways. For this answer you should consider ways in which you might make your crop more efficient within the context of future atmospheric CO2 concentrations, temperature, and precipitation. But you must choose a definitive pathway or pathways for your crop – you cannot design a ‘smart’ crop that can sense climate and adjust accordingly.
I'm doing potatoes in the Northwest region, I know it usually uses C3 pathways, I'm not sure what an ideal genetically engineered one would look like!
Explanation / Answer
in the future, the temperature and CO2 levels will rise. The ideal crop would be one the would exhibit the most efficient photosynthesis in these conditions.
We know that C4 plants are more efficient than C3 plants w.r.t photosynthesis.
Here are the steps you would take to make the ideal crop -
1) Identify the genes that are responsible for the C4 pathway. there are five annotated genes encoding for enzymes of the C4 cycle. two genes encoding carbonic anhydrases (CAs) and one gene each for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), malic enzyme (ME), and pyruvate-inorganic phosphate-dikinase.
2) Identify an organism from which it is easy to extract these genes ( any C4 plant)
3) design a protocol for the extraction of this DNA. usually, various enzymes are used to degrade the cell walls and other proteins, finally the dna is extracted with an agent ( ethanol is used at times)
4) The tricky part is isolating the desired genes.
5) Incorporation of the desired gene in the target cell. Various methods can be used such as gene gun, electroshock, or heat shock.
6) screening of the recombinant cells. There will be some cells that have the new dna and some that don't. You need to separate these two.
7) Use the recombinant cell for growing the desired plant. The best method is protoplast culture, and micropropogation.
8) Enjoy your ideal-genetically-engineered potato fries. ( not important xD)