GMO

"El lenguaje es el vestido de los pensamientos" (Samuel Johnson)

Hi! I'm Samira Medellin. Today we're going to talk about: Genetically Modified Organism. I hope you like it.

Genetically Modified Organism 

A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques (i.e., a genetically engineered organism). GMOs are used to produce many medications and genetically modified foods and are widely used in scientific research and the production of other goods. The term GMO is very close to the technical legal term, 'living modified organism', defined in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which regulates international trade in living GMOs (specifically, "any living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology").

A more specifically defined type of GMO is a "transgenic organism." This is an organism whose genetic makeup has been altered by the addition of genetic material from an unrelated organism. This should not be confused with the more general way in which "GMO" is used to classify genetically altered organisms, as typically GMOs are organisms whose genetic makeup has been altered without the addition of genetic material from an unrelated organism.

The first genetically modified mouse was created in 1974, and the first plant was produced in 1983.

Uses 

GMOs are used in biological and medical research, production ofpharmaceutical drugs, experimental medicine (e.g. gene therapy and vaccines against the Ebola virus), and agriculture (e.g. golden rice, resistance to herbicides), with developing uses in conservation. The term "genetically modified organism" does not always imply, but can include, targeted insertions of genes from one speciesinto another. For example, a gene from a jellyfish, encoding a fluorescent protein called GFP, or green fluorescent protein, can be physically linked and thus co-expressed with mammalian genes to identify the location of the protein encoded by the GFP-tagged gene in the mammalian cell. Such methods are useful tools for biologists in many areas of research, including those who study the mechanisms of human and other diseases or fundamental biological processes in eukaryotic or prokaryoticcells.