The genotecnia is the part of genetics that studies and uses production techniques and genetic bases itself for the improvement of individuals and populations.
These techniques enable the identification and preservation of assets that will be put at the service of future human generations. The variability that is inherited is very useful for living beings, when it comes to meeting social and economic requirements.
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It is known that the use of genetic resources through genetic engineering has its limitations and that a crop improvement plan should only make use of specimens that have been previously tested and improved.
The use of this genetic material guarantees that the performance that stimulates the use of genetic bases of a limited genetic variation will be obtained.
A resource is everything that allows the satisfaction of economic, social and cultural needs, among others, of human beings. The preservation of genetic resources includes all the strategies with which a significant sample of genetic variation in a population is placed in safekeeping for the use of future generations.
The use of preservation strategies favors the production of a genetic sample or library. Thus, genotechnology arises as responsible for the conservation of genetic resources.
Genetic improvement of plants
This modality involves the procedures used to obtain an evolved population in which the specimens offer characters of interest based on their parents. It is for this reason that the first stage of genetics consists of identifying the parents.
In plant species, genetic engineering is applied to enrich genetics, using procedures depending on the type of plant. This technology is called plant breeding or plant breeding and it postulates that each corn grain is a different hybrid and, at the same time, similar to all those that are part of a variety or type.
Cultivars
These techniques are aimed at obtaining new cultivars, which are groups of plants selected, artificially, to fix in them important characters that are maintained after reproduction.
These cultivars provide great benefits to the population, an achievement that translates into multiple gains to be evaluated through econometric techniques such as: total gain, net benefit, annual return, among others.
Genetically modified crops for commercialization have provided great economic benefits in many countries, but at the same time they have caused a great controversy around this technology.
At the scientific level, there is an agreement according to which foods that are produced with transgenic methods, without generating a great risk to health compared to foods produced in a conventional way.
However, the food safety of conventional products is a source of concern for many. Some of the problems raised are: control of food supply, gene flow and its impact on organisms, intellectual property rights.
These concerns led to the creation of a regulatory framework for these procedures, and in 1975 it was specified in an international treaty: Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in 2000.
Germplasm
One of the ways to use genetic assets is to manage them as germplasm, from which new genetic options will be generated, based on heritable variation. Germplasm is all that living material (seeds or tissues) that is conserved for reproductive purposes, preservation and other uses.
These resources can be collections of seeds stored in seed banks, trees grown in greenhouses, breeding lines of animals protected in breeding programs or gene banks, among others.
A germplasm sample includes from collections of wild specimens to classes considered superior, breeding lines that have been domesticated.
The collection of germplasm is of great value for the conservation of biological diversity and the guarantee of food security.
genetic engineering
It is the methodology by which recombinant DNA is made and used, including any procedure that involves manipulation of DNA. Hybrid DNA is created by artificially joining pieces of DNA from various sources.
The field of action of genetic engineering is very broad and has been included within the biomedical sciences. It is also known as genetic manipulation or modification and its work focuses on the direct management of an individual's genes through biotechnology.
Technological strategies are used to modify the genetic composition of cells, including the transfer of genes within the margins of species to obtain new, novel or improved individuals.
Genetic engineering is applied in two large fields: diagnosis and treatment. In diagnosis, the application can be prenatal or postnatal. In treatments, it is applied to parents who carry genes for fatal genetic mutations including predisposition to cancer.
Genetic engineering is used in many areas: medicine, research, industry, biotechnology, and agriculture. Apart from the development of drugs, hormones and vaccines, this technology is capable of allowing the cure of genetic diseases, through gene therapy.
At the same time, the technology applied to the manufacture of medicines can also be used industrially to produce enzymes for cheeses, detergents and other products.
References
- Aboites M., G. (2002). A different look at the green revolution: science, nation and social commitment. Mexico: P and V Editores.
- Alexander, D. (2003). Uses and abuses of genetic engineering. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 249-251.
- Carlson, PS and Polacco, JC (1975). Plant Cell Cultures: Genetic Aspects of Crop Improvement. Science, 622-625.
- Gasser, CS and Fraley, RT (1989). Genetically Engineering Plants for Crop Improvement. Science, Genetically Engineering Plants for Crop Improvement.
- Hohli, MM, Díaz, M. and Castro, M. (2003). Strategies and methodologies used in wheat improvement. Uruguay: La Estanzuela.