GMO: Get More Output (testing genetic modified organisms)

Background:
With the rise of the world's population, more food is needed to satisfy the human race. Not only do our crops need to yield more, but they must fight infection and pests, last in extreme weather, and grow faster to meet demand. This is where genetic modification has its role. People opposed to GM foods have concerns that geneticists can create a super-weed or super-bugs that are resistant to toxins. Also, the concern about the general populations having individuals that can be allergic to the new proteins that are added. Although valid points, GM foods supply more benefits than harms, such as helping the environment by lowering chemica use and utilizing land that does not have enough nutrients for normal crops.GMOs are made by taking an organism that has plasmids that can be manipulated. Using a tumor inducing plasmid with a gene that expresses a desired trait, the plasmid is placed in an agrobacteria to grow. Then, the bacteria is placed into the plant cell, which will grow into a genetically modified plant. GMOs can be identified through the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA, which identifies proteins. This process is very specified according to crop, but it is inexpensive, accurate, and easy to use. The other process, which will be used in this lab, is the polymerase chain reaction, which identifies sequences of DNA that have been inserted into GM plants. PCR tests can be applicable to many crops rather than one. The PCR process uses a primer to target the specific genes. Genetic modification is a controversial subject because on the opposing side, the argument is made that genetic modification can create "superweeds" from cross-pollinating normal plants with GM plants. "Superbugs" could evolve and become resistant to chemical toxins in GM crops as well. If genes are taken from other organisms, some fraction of the population will be allergic to the GM crop. On the side for genetic modification, GM production lowers pollution through pesticide and herbicide use and utilize land that would be previously insufficient to sustain crops.
Purpose:
Our purpose for this lab is to test if the foods that we consume are genetically modified. These tests can be used to see if a farmer's crop is really organic.
Procedure:
We must first get to the DNA within plant cell by grinding up the food with a mortar and pestle to break down the thick cell walls. Eukaryotes do not want foreign DNA within the cell, so they have DNAse that kills them. Since we want to protect our 'broken out' DNA, we add the instaGene matrix which kills DNAse. Then, we put the slurry of our food into a hot water bath to break open the nuclear membrane. The lab will put non-GMO material as a control and a variable food that could or could not be a GMO. Guarding against contamination, non-GMO food will be provided that gives false positives results. If it tests positive, that means the sample was contaminated. We will use a red primer to detect GMO-specific sequences and a green primer that detects all plant DNA. This way, we either get two results, the food is not a GMO or that DNA was not successfully extracted.
Hypothesis:
Our variable is our food that we bring in for testing. My hypothesis is that our food and most foods in the classroom will be GMOs
Results:
After viewing our gel, we found that our test food (broccoli) was genetically modified. We know this is true because the brocolli with gmo primers had the same band width as the GMO control and the genetically modified corn starch. If it was not a GMO, then lane 1, having plant primers, would have a band instead. The plant primers are looking for specific DNA codes that are unmodified, therefore, our broccoli was genetically modified.
Sources of Error:
The hot water bath was left open for some time because of other lab tables. Pipetting into the lanes proved to be messier than anticipated, but we still put a sufficient amount in each well. Otherwise, all the controls seemed to do their jobs, and since they showed positive results, we executed the lab sufficiently.