The initiator and the person who headed the project is Prof. Danny Zamir from the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University in Rehovot
Genomes of two varieties of the tomato plant were deciphered: the cultivated variety and its wild relative Solanum pimpinellifolium. These two varieties were first planted by a large group of scientists led by Prof. Danny Zamir, a researcher at the Hebrew University.
The decoding of the genetic sequence allowed the most in-depth look so far of the tomato genome and revealed the order, direction, types and relative positions of about 35 thousand genes. Decoding the sequence will allow researchers to reveal the connections between the genes in the tomato and its properties and expand their understanding of how genetic and environmental factors interact with each other to determine the health status of a plant in the field and its vitality.
The achievement carried out by over 300 members of the Tomato Genome Consortium (TGC) was reported in the May 31 issue of the journal Nature and was even included on the cover of the magazine.
The consortium included Prof. Danny Zamir from the Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot and researchers from Argentina, Belgium, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, South Korea, Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain and the USA participated in it.
When Columbus brought the tomato seeds from America to the Old World about 500 years ago, he did not imagine that it would contribute so much to nutrition, health, culinary pleasure and international cooperation. The leap in knowledge about the tomato's genetic code (35 thousand genes) provides a means of matching the DNA sequences to specific traits important to human well-being or taste such as smell, aroma, color and yield.
The tomato is a member of the Solanaceae family, and the new sequence is expected to provide reference points that will help locate genes in the tomato family, including the potato, pepper, eggplant, and petunia, and in some of the food plant families in terms of economic value and production volumes. Beyond the improvement of the tomato itself and even coffee that all have large sets of identical genes, but despite that they look different.
The question of why plants with similar genetic patterns externalize completely different traits is a challenge that must be investigated by comparing the biological diversity and traits of the tomato and its relatives.
The consortium began work on the tomato genome in 2003, when scientists analyzed the plant's DNA sequences using the most modern equipment available at the time. Fortunately, with the current equipment the speed of information generation is 500 times greater and allowed the project to continue efficiently to its end.
By the way, the tomato used by Heinz ketchup producers was chosen as a representative variety of the cultivated tomato.
5 תגובות
Peace
Genetic engineering is apparently the key to feeding billions of people in the future, therefore it will improve the quality of people's lives and add up to thousands of people to the earth, who will be of all species and of all types, the direction should be encouraged and of course international treaties should be created that will prevent the use of the field in an immoral manner
Good luck to everyone
I agree that genetic engineering in humans is dangerous to humanity.
But what has been done cannot be undone.
The atomic bomb is also very dangerous for humanity.
But there is no possibility of returning to the days when it did not yet exist.
If humanity wants to continue living a decent life, then actions must be taken right now to prevent the situation from deteriorating.
The company starts by designing tomatoes as it wants and will end by designing humans as it wants.
It's a very slippery slope... Of course, genetic engineering on humans has clear advantages such as curing many diseases (such as diabetes for example) for which a genetic expression can be found... but this is a package deal and an alliance with the devil that must be thought about and discussed about its consequences and dangers even if you agree to it...
Think of Ritalin and Prozac that were developed for people in a truly extreme situation that requires medical help, but their use slowly moved to more and more people who were helped by them to adapt to the demands of the system and society around them (to be focused in a boring class, to remain happy and satisfied ( = productive) in a reality that in itself puts you for depression)…
Genetic research to control human behavior is not so far away because the tools are already available and the public's attitude is basically (between typical indifference and) in favor, if the scientific-industrial complex guarantees them the immediate benefits (genetic motivation treatments for rapists, murderers, pedophiles, maybe Even in Russia, parents will buy their baby anti-homosexuality treatment?)…
And suppose the research progresses further? What about genetic therapy that pre-empts behaviors such as rebelliousness or political thinking of one kind or another? (There is a correlation between people with political attitude X and anatomical patterns Y in the brain and if I'm not mistaken, they also published about it once...)
In a situation where such technology will be available, it seems quite reasonable to me to see entities like the Chinese or North Korean government requiring every baby in the country to undergo such treatment (if it will be cheap enough of course, but this is only a technical problem and a matter of time)...
Even when genetic control of human behavior will not be cheap and will be limited to only a small number of people (like today's space flights, which are the private pleasure of a few oligarchs), we will actually find humanity splitting into the old classical branch consisting of people like us and a new branch of the children of the capitalists who will be in advance Smart, beautiful, creative, they are slower than us in a way that we have absolutely no ability to compete with them and therefore they are the ones who will create science, art and all other culture and our relationship with them will be like the relationship between Igor and Dr. Frankenstein...
I'm not presenting here an orderly plan of what the future will look like (I'm not pretending to be a great prophet of truth like Michio Kaku), I'm just giving you directions to think about.
If from a socio-economic point of view the accessibility of the product genetic control of behavior will be like that of psychiatric pills today, we will see parents who choose in advance for their baby to be genetically engineered in a way that will equip him with behavior that will help him "get by in our world" - and this means in other words that the baby will be genetically engineered to be by indirect order of the industry (I want my child to get along in the world—>I want him to pass job interviews—> I engineer him in advance to fit their ever-hardening criteria. All of course for his benefit.)... For me personally, this is the most disgusting scenario of all :S
Scientists, like all human beings, tend towards worldviews that put themselves in the most positive light possible, and therefore unfortunately some of them tend to ignore the dangers to society that their work entails (see for example Edward Teller)...
You have no idea where I fell on you in the middle of your article about the tomato genome, huh? Sorry but I'm thinking ahead.
Continue a magical day