Evaluate GMO implications by balancing benefits such as yield and resistance against environmental, health, ethical and socioeconomic risks in Cambridge A Level Biology questions.
In 1973, a technique for genetic engineering was used for the first time. Recombinant DNA was made using a plasmid and this was successfully transferred into an organism.
In 2012, a new technique for genetic engineering, called gene editing, was developed.
Camelina sativa is a fast-growing plant with oil-rich seeds.
C. sativa grows in dry and poor soils and so it may be important as a food crop in the future. The oil from its seeds has a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids. This shortens the time that the oil can be stored for, which is a disadvantage.
Scientists used gene editing to develop two types of C. sativa with different genetic changes. The gene edited C. sativa seeds produced oil with longer storage times.
Fig. 4.1 shows the percentage composition of fatty acids in the oil extracted from seeds of gene edited and wild type (not gene edited) C. sativa.
Fig. 4.1
With reference to Fig. 4.1, discuss the social benefits of this example of gene editing.