Anyone who knows a bit about biology knows what the mitosis (for the novice, a process in which a cell duplicates its genetic material obtained and then divided two daughter cells with the same genetic make the mother), and since we can imagine what would happen if a set of your chromosomes is different from other game. Not produce a correct mitosis (the pairing between homologous chromosomes in metaphase could not be carried out because these shine by their absence) and the living die, right?
For this is another case where truth is stranger than fiction: Plants have the amazing ability to duplicate the chromosomes without partners and create a mixture of both species and fully viable fertile in most cases. That is, if you mix a plant with a chromosome AA BB CC with a plant that have chromosomes DD EE FF (I put double letters to illustrate diploidy) meiotic products (pollen grains and eggs, so we understand) would be ABC and DEF. The fertilized egg does not know what the hell to do with it without thinking twice and duplicates what is on the loose creating a genotype (genetic code to the untutored) brand new, it would be AA BB CC DD EE FF. Indeed, we have doubled the number of chromosomes, they should walk in the nucleus as immigrants in a patera floor, but it works, throw palante post.
If that scares you, remember that most grains, fruits and vegetables you eat have more chromosomes than their wild counterparts. Many more, indeed. This was achieved Seedless watermelons, strawberries, plump, shiny or ears of corn with many more grains.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is reflected in global food production. Like it or not, GMOs are the future. The human population is growing so fast that sooner or later we need more efficient sources of food, as current as we know resources are finite. With transgenesis can not (unfortunately) make infinite, but we can pick them out a good that could keep more people. At this point I must express my opinion: In the world too many people AND , so the only thing that would be missing would be the increase in population due to increases in food production. However, transgenesis is a double-edged sword: With genetic engineering we can theoretically achieve a more efficient plant resources at their disposal, resulting in a lower ecological impact. Evidence of this are plants genetically modified to resist local diseases and pests, such as rye today, which is resistant to ergot (gone are the days of LSD and factories home of the hippies ... xD) or tomatoes that resist salt water irrigation. Even the most astute could see that it is an advantage not having to use pesticides (Both economic and environmental) or not to waste water in semi-desert areas near the sea (as may very well Murcia).
We are working on researching a lot lately with biofuels, genetically modified plants or bacteria (usually) to produce alcohol or other compounds used as fuel. Result? Less production of greenhouse gases to discard the oil, clean air, and lower transport costs. All this sounds wonderful, but of course, must be further investigated.
But of course, would not be gold that glitters. We will see the other side of the coin in the next (and last) installment of this series. Greetings!
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