What does genetically modified mean?

Genes are the instruction manuals that determine how all living things, from humans to plants to bacteria, look and act. Genes naturally change slowly over time through a process called mutation, and can be swapped between plants or animals during breeding (like dog breeds such as labradoodles – a genetic cross between Labradors and poodles). Sometimes the resulting changes are good and sometimes they prove disadvantageous.

Over the past several thousand years, humans have chosen from their crops and herds those individuals that were most desirable, because they were bigger, easier to harvest, less bitter, etc., and bred them together to make the desirable traits more common.

Today science has progressed to the point that, rather than wait for these slow and often accidental changes to occur, scientists can now work with particular genes in the laboratory. This process involves scientists changing the genes of an organism, or even transferring genes responsible for a particular trait (like colour or size) from another organism.  For example, geneticists could isolate the gene responsible for drought tolerance in plant A and insert that gene into plant B so that in the future, plant B could grow with less water. This is what people usually mean when they talk about the genetic modification (GM) of food.

Why it is important to know about GM foods?

A lot of food and crop industries around the world already use genetic modification to protect them from things such as plagues, diseases or harsh weather conditions, and to increase production by breeding bigger and more effective animals or crops. So GM foods hold economic potential.

Many people also see GM foods as the solution to an underfed and malnourished population. Currently, more than one billion people are malnourished, and the problem will only get worse as the population nears nine billion in 2050. Some hope that GM foods can help to reduce diet related diseases and hunger by enriching foods with certain nutrients, and developing crops that can grow in harsh conditions without expensive farming equipment.

This is not science fiction – some products have already been developed, such as rice enriched with vitamin A to prevent blindness, and corn resistant to pesticides. Australian researchers at the Centre for Plant Functional Genomics recently developed rice that is enriched with iron to combat iron deficiency which affects more than two billion people (30% of the world’s population) and causes poor mental development, depressed immune function and anaemia.

Benefits of genetically modified foods

Pest resistance

Insects can be one of the biggest problems for farmers – for example locust plagues can wipe out entire crops year after year. It is possible to modify crops so they are resistant to pests and insects that might either destroy crops, or need excessive use of pesticides to control. Corn is one crop that has already shown successful resistance to a pest from genetic modification.

Disease resistance

Crops can be susceptible to diseases from fungi, viruses and bacteria just like humans. Wherever a gene is found that provides resistance to a particular disease then with GM it can be copied and used to modify the susceptible crops or animals.

Cold tolerance

Frost is another factor that can affect crops. In one example a gene found in coldwater fish that prevents them from freezing has been introduced into some potato crops so that they can survive unexpectedly cold winter snaps.

Drought resistance

There is only a limited area of arable land in the world – for example 70% of Australia is too dry to be used to grow crops. But by isolating the genes that allows some shrubs and trees to survive in the outback, and incorporating them into other crops, it could allow them to grow in areas with less water and so increase the total arable land and greatly increase food production.

Nutrition

A diet lacking in essential nutrients can have serious effects in the human body such as blindness (lack of vitamin A), scurvy (lack of vitamin C) and brittle bones (lack of calcium) to name a few. As mentioned earlier, some foods can be enriched with certain vitamins or minerals, such as Vitamin-A enriched “Golden Rice”. By enriching staple foods like rice and potatoes with essential vitamins, it could help improve the health of billions of people.

Common Concerns and Responses

Are GM foods unsafe for our health?

One of the main health concerns is the fear that GM foods may cause cancer. Cancer is caused when cells accumulate genetic errors and multiply without control. By fiddling with the genetic makeup of a food or crop, some argue that they may become carcinogenic (cancer-causing). To date, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has no position on the carcinogenic impact of GM foods.

There is also concern that GM foods could cause allergic attacks if the gene from one plant to which a person is allergic (ie peanut) is inserted in a different food (ie carrot). But scientists can make sure they don’t swap allergenic genes and they can even use GM to remove genes of allergenic food components, for example to make a hypoallergenic peanut.

Testing for the effects of GM foods is still continuing, but the Food Standards of Australia and New Zealand assesses every product on the market for its safety before it is available to consumers including GM foods[i].

Are GM crops bad for the environment?

GM foods pose a potential ecological risk because of the ability for crop genes to transfer into weed species. For example, canola has been modified to be herbicide resistant – meaning the canola will not be affected by poisons used to kill weeds. Cross pollination generally only occurs successfully between closely related plant species. However, canola is closely related to a number of weed species so there is a risk that pollen from the herbicide resistant canola crop could cross pollinate one of the weed species, thus making the weeds resistant to herbicide.  Because it is resistant to herbicide, the weeds could then be even more difficult to control and manage.

Legislation in Australia mandates that GM crops are surrounded by a buffer zone to prevent this, but there is still a risk of cross-pollination that would need to be addressed.

Will GM foods really solve world hunger?

Malnourishment and starvation is not necessarily caused by a lack of food, rather how it is produced, managed and distributed. In fact, there is enough food in the world right now to feed the entire global population. Today, total world agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough food to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day[ii]. However, it is estimated that up to 50 per cent of the world’s food may be wasted each year. Even in countries with high malnutrition and hunger, around 25-30 per cent of food may be wasted due to inefficient harvesting and storage[iii]. Although GM crops have the potential to increase the amount of food available, and access to certain types of food, it is clear that social, economic, cultural and political factors all play a large role in developing a solution to world hunger as well.

GM foods in Australia

Many foods we can buy in Australia contain imported GM ingredients and some GM foods have also been approved for production in Australia, including corn, soybeans, potatoes and canola. Before any of these products are sold to consumers, they are checked for safety by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand. The law in Australia requires that food labels must show if food has been genetically modified or contains genetically modified ingredients, or whether GM additives or processing aids remain in the final food product.

The Victorian Government’s Better Health Channel state that the main sources of GM foods in Australia include:[iv]

• Imported soya from the United States – this is one of the main sources of GM ingredients in food sold in Australia since 1996. The soya has been genetically modified to be resistant to a herbicide. It can be found in a wide range of foods, such as chocolates, potato chips, margarine, mayonnaise, biscuits and bread.
• Cottonseed oil made from GM cotton – this oil, made from cotton that is resistant to a pesticide, is used in Australia for frying (by the food industry) and in mayonnaise and salad dressings.
• Imported GM corn – this is mainly used as cattle feed at present and has not been approved for farming in Australia. However, GM corn may have entered the Australian market through imported foods like breakfast cereal, bread, corn chips and gravy mixes. If so, it is now required to be labelled.
• Other GM foods available overseas – these may be ingredients in foods imported to Australia including potatoes, canola oil, sugar beet, yeast, cauliflower and coffee.

[i] FSANZ (2011). Genetically Modified Foods. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand. Available: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumerinformation/gmfoods/

[ii]  FAO (2010). The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Addressing food insecurity in protracted crises. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.

[iii] PMSEIC (2010). Australia and Food Security in a Changing World. The Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, Canberra, Australia.

[iv] Better Health Channel (2010) Genetically Modified Food. Victoria Government, Department of Health. Available: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Genetically_modified_foods

The majority of Australia’s coal-fired power stations are several decades old. With no new power stations coming online in the near future, the question remains how existing stations will cope with the added pressure of rising demand.

But Dr Warwick Payten, a materials engineer at ANSTO, thinks he has the solution.

The answer, at least in part, could be Remlife – a piece of software that will enable power stations companies to gauge the wear and tear of their plants infrastructure, and in turn, generate electricity more reliably.

“The software calculates the damage a power plant sustains during its operating cycle, which can then predict how much longer plants can operate safely,” Warwick explained.

“Materials that are subjected to high temperatures undergo changes that limit their operating life. These changes compromise the integrity of the material over time which in turn, limits the life of the power station.  Remlife analysis ensure that the ageing infrastructure that exists now can keep operating safely as long as possible, potentially deferring replacement plant investment in some cases,” he said.

“If plant operators better manage their operating profiles and more accurately identify areas that need pro-active maintenance, then you have the capacity to increase the life of the station and boost the efficiency of the unit. This limits operating costs by getting things up and running a lot quicker,” he added.

 “The Remlife program means that, rather than spending a week to assess a single component within the power plant, we can now carry out that assessment in minutes.”

Current power stations using the Remlife software include:, Eraring NSW,  Wallerawang NSW, Kwinana WA, Muja WA, Stanwell QLD, Tarong North QLD, Gladstone QLD, Loy Yang A, Loy Yang B VIC and Torrens Island SA.

To learn more about Remlife or ANSTO visit: www.ansto.gov.au

As the world gets smaller in the face of increasing trade and travel, Australia’s crops are no longer protected by geographic isolation, with new pests discovered almost daily.

But efforts to protect our agricultural and trade interests have been boosted by digital technology that links the field to the lab, through an initiative of the Cooperative Research Centre for Plant Biosecurity, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and international collaborators.

Dangerous pests are one of the biggest threats to Australia’s most valuable crops but until recently, pest controllers often had no way of determining types of bugs or whether they were harmful – essentially fighting blind folded.

Now, a network of more than 50 digital microscopes across Australia is putting these stealthy bugs well and truly in the spotlight. The microscopes are linked to the online Pest and Disease Image Library (PaDIL), and the eyes of biosecurity experts around the world, providing pest identification almost immediately.

Remote Microscope Support Officer Michael Thompson manages the implementation of the project and knows the importance of instant identification for Australia.   

“Australia’s plant industries are valued at more than $18 billion and contribute more than $12 billion to export income so it’s crucial that we have the best biosecurity measures in place, which includes these remotely accessible digital microscopes,” Thompson said.

“If we don’t know what we’re up against, whether it’s dangerous, whether it’s new or whether it’s manageable, then we don’t know how to control it. Identification is crucial.”

Using the microscopes, found in 58 locations across Australia, New Zealand and regional Asia, the CRC network will enable users to upload pictures of unknown pests directly from their laptops and even mobile phones to PaDIL.

Within 48 hours, taxonomy experts around the world will receive the pictures and identify the pests, letting biosecurity experts respond appropriately, thus preventing damage to our crops. Through PaDIL, experts also have access to a range of response strategies to contain the pests if necessary.   

The system is especially relevant for quarantine processes in protecting Australia’s large borders.

“Every single day there are unknown pests being intercepted at our ports,” Thompson said.

“Prior to our system, a boat could spend three days sitting in port not knowing whether the pest was dangerous, whether it was introduced or whether it was completely harmless,” he said.

“Often it was more expensive to sit in port than to fumigate so they would treat products without knowing if they were dangerous or not just to save time and money.”

This year, the CRC’s remote microscope network has expanded to seven locations in South East Asia, with interest also coming from Canada and the US.

“International collaboration makes the network so much stronger and the biosecurity efforts much more effective,” Thompson said.

“They learn how to keep pests out of their countries, we learn how to keep pests out of ours and we learn more about treatment options and the distribution of pests around the world,”

PaDIL is also proving to be one of the most valuable taxonomic resources for pests worldwide. There are very few taxonomists in Australia, but by engaging the few experts in the world in identification processes and through the incorporation of social networking features, PaDIL allows academics to stay on the cutting edge of new pest identification and discovery while mutually benefiting response teams around the world.

To learn more about plant biosecurity in Australia visit: http://www.crcplantbiosecurity.com.au/

Image: A banana aphid from the Pest and Disease Image Library

These tiny bones are located in the fish’s skull just below the brain and help with hearing and balance (just like the bones in our ears) and can reveal an amazing amount of information about the life of a fish.

Because they continually grow along with the rest of the fish’s body, the tiny bones have growth rings – just like a tree trunk – that can be counted to determine how many years a fish has been alive and how much it grew each year.[1]

Due to the nature of the crystals that help to form them, otoliths have a lattice structure that can also trap elements from the water the fish is living in. In this way, the bones act as a time capsule which scientists can examine to reveal where the fish grew up.[2]

Essentially, the ear bones let us learn the age and movements of fish over the course of their lives – crucial to effective monitoring and protection efforts.

This type of testing means the survival of Australian Bass, released into the Snowy River in an effort to revive the dwindling population, is not left to chance.

Over 200,000 hatchery-raised Bass were released between 2007 and 2009 as part of a restocking program. Scientists are now studying juveniles they have captured in different regions of the river to monitor the success of the program.

By comparing the chemical make-up of the otoliths of the fish they can find out how many are the hatchery-raised fish they released and how many started life in the river. This allows them to monitor survival rates, growth and the preferred habitat of the fish.

The information collected will help scientists to plan the best time and place to carry out future releases which should give them a big advantage in their efforts to revive Australian Bass numbers in the Snowy River.

[1] www.reef.crc.org.au/research/fishing_fisheries/fishage.htm

[2] www.marinebiodiversity.ca/otolith/english/home.htm

Whether fresh from animals (including humans) or in fossilised form from birds and bats (called guano) manure is one source of Nature’s wonder macronutrient phosphorus.

Phosphorous is an essential nutrient for plant growth because it helps transform solar energy into the chemical energy that enables the plant’s growth by creating oils, sugars and starches.

It is also forms a part of the structure of human DNA and is an important element in our bones and teeth.  Without it, no plant on earth could survive.

Outside of manure, phosphorous can be delivered back into the soil through ash and smoke, an approach used by Indigenous Australians who used ‘fire-stick farming’ to regularly burn vegetation.

Unfortunately, these methods of recycling phosphorus have been interrupted by our modern lifestyles.

As Earth’s population has increased, so too has the global demand for food, causing rapid depletion of natural phosphorus in soils through intensive agriculture.

An ongoing cycle that removes phosphorus from the soil in one location through farming, to be consumed by humans or animals as food thousands of kilometres away, then transported to sewage or landfill means our natural phosphorus is being removed from its original location and never replaced.

This cycle, combined with increased demand for food means fertilizers have become an essential part of modern farming. The mining of phosphate rock and the subsequent manufacture of phosphate rich fertilizers provides the boost of phosphorus needed to help increase food production [i].

But phosphate rock is a finite resource. It takes 10-15 million years to form and much like oil is non-renewable. Scientists are not sure how much viable phosphate rock is left in the world, but demand is expected to climb as the world’s population increases[ii].

To preserve our phosphorus resources, we must find ways of using less phosphorus in the first place, as well as increasing the recycling of phosphorus back into the soil.

Farmers and scientists are already working on ways to use phosphorus resources more efficiently.

This ranges from relatively simple measures like returning unused crop parts (such as inedible roots or stalks) back into the soil, to the more technologically intensive like finding ways to make the phosphorus in soil easier for plants to absorb [iii] and investigating ways to recover struvite (phosphorus rich ammonium magnesium phosphate crystals) from wastewater.

Countries such as Sweden are trialling urine diverting toilets which can return phosphorus rich urine to agricultural areas without contamination from other waste [i]. In Australia, Sydney Water also has a program to produce fertilizers from sewage.

Action is also possible on an individual level.

Reducing waste and composting food scraps instead of throwing them away means any unused phosphorus is returned to the soil.

This is even more effective if the fruit and vegetables were grown in the back yard in the first place. Also using natural fertilizers like manure, instead of the artificial variety helps to maintain the natural phosphorus cycle.

[i] Cordell D, Drangert J-O and White S, (2009) The story of phosphorus: Global food security and food for thought. Global Environmental Change: Volume 19, pp 292-305. http://www.agci.org/dB/PDFs/09S2_TCrews_StoryofP.pdf

[ii] Cordell D, White S, (2010) The Australian story of phosphorus: sustainability implications of global phosphate scarcity for a net food-producing nation. Academic manuscript. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-53767

[iii] Guppy CN, and McLaughlin MJ, (2009) Options for increasing the biological cycling of phosphorus in low-input and organic agricultural systems. Crop and Pasture Science: Volume 60, pp116-123. http://www.publish.csiro.au/issue/5243.htm

We live in an era of connections.  The far reaches are a plane trip away; the virtual world is at our fingertips; and we amplify our own intellectual powers through an increasing connectivity with artificial intelligence.

The big issues in the agricultural sector can only be addressed by multi-disciplined research teams working with industry to better understand the critical connections between productivity and sustainability.

At the G8 summit on Food Security in July 2009, the statement noted:

Food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture must remain a priority issue …. Effective food security actions must be coupled with adaptation and mitigation measures in relation to climate change, sustainable management of water, land, soil and other natural resources, including the protection of biodiversity.

Productivity is critical to sustainability because it’s  improved productivity that underpins the sector’s ability to compete internationally; and it’s only a viable and productive sector that can support the science needed to understand how best to use less resource and leave a smaller footprint for each unit of production.

Science improves productivity by first addressing the causes of inefficiencies in existing production systems which mean that biological yield potential is rarely reached.  Think about the impact that a serious new wheat disease would have on food security if it suddenly emerged in an important food bowl like the Indo-Gangetic plains or in the Australian wheat crop.  Wheat feeds two billion people, or a third of the world’s population.

Take the example of Ug 99, a new strain of stem rust identified in Ethiopia in 2007. It was characterised at the genomic level and its spread tracked across northern Africa and the Gulf states.  Using this information, scientists modelled its future spread, and identified sources of resistance from ancestors and wild relatives of wheat.  This resistance will now be included in breeding programs using conventional approaches, accelerated through the use of genetic markers.  The whole process will take about 10 years and is a great example of science is being deployed now to protect productivity and food security in the future.

Science also works to facilitate productivity through incremental increases in the biological potential yield.  Examples draw on many disciplines but include changing crop architecture to increase the harvest index, the proportion of the biomass which is the valuable harvested product.  The “dwarf” cereals of the green revolution are an example of this.  It also includes increasing the efficiency of water use.  The recent substantial increases in the yields of marketable product per mega litre of water for both rice and cotton, is a great example.  In aquaculture, scientists have worked to select more rapidly growing and maturing prawns from naturally occurring populations.

A third area of research looks at transformative steps to create new products, new industries or new forms of value from agricultural production.  This research sees agricultural scientists connecting with other specialist disciplines to address issues such as major global human health problems caused by nutrient deficiencies.  Working in partnerships with human nutritionists, this research aims to increase essential nutrient levels in forms able to be absorbed from staple foods.

Techniques to efficiently extract waste materials from agribusiness processing for conversion to new products for energy and pharmaceutical uses are being developed in partnership with chemical and environmental engineers.  Agricultural scientists are working with the spatial sciences to improve the ability to assess soil production potential by looking into the soil profile using satellite remote sensing.  This will enable industry to better identify areas of risk and opportunity as climate change progressively shifts productive land suitability.

And finally close to my heart is the research to understand the chemical basis of the sensory appeal of wine and to find out how this appeal can be accurately reproduced through the right selection of genetic, management and processing approaches.  This work builds on understanding the design principles of the sensory systems of insects.

Not quite turning water into wine; but the contribution of science to growing agricultural productivity is a miracle which depends on attracting and resourcing talented scientists to connect with colleagues across disciplines to address some the big issues of our time.

This article was written by Professor Beth Woods, Assistant Director-General, Innovation; Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation.

Professor Beth Woods, OAM

Prof Beth Woods worked in North Queensland before completing her D Phil in Agricultural Economics as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.  She then worked with DPI as an agricultural extension officer in southeastern Queensland and North Queensland in the dairy, broad acre cropping and potato industries, as Manager Farming Systems, and as Acting General Manager Horticulture. She was the inaugural director of the Rural Extension Centre (UQ) and became the Suncorp Metway Professor of Agribusiness at the University of Queensland Gatton Campus in late 1997.

Beth Woods’ academic interests include the concept of supply chain management as a tool to improve innovation and competitiveness of agribusiness, and the rapid change occurring in supply chains of developing countries with which Australia has major trade interests. In May 2004 she took up a secondment as Executive Director R&D Strategy in the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.  She has served on committees of the Grains R&D Corporation, the Policy Advisory Council of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the CSIRO Board, the Gatton College Council, the Rural Adjustment Scheme Advisory Council and the Queensland Planning Group for FarmBis.  She was Chair of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and ACIAR, and chaired the National Drought Review in 2004.  She has been on the Board of the International Rice Research Institute since 2005 and was elected Chair from January 2008.  She is currently President of the ACIAR Policy Advisory Council, and a member of the Australian Rural Research and Development Council.  Her current position is Assistant Director-General, Innovation, in the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation.

With the population exceeding 6.7 billion and growing by over 6 million a month, the need to protect agricultural land and to increase food production has become critical. Does sustainable agriculture have the answers?

Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs is the key principle behind the concept of sustainability.  If natural resources such as soil, nutrients and water are used up at a rate faster than they are replenished, then the farming system is unsustainable.  Sustainability is also dependent on maintaining a high level of biodiversity, especially in the soil and the surrounding environment.

Some of the biggest threats to sustainable agriculture are loss of biodiversity, dryland salinity, acid soils and pests and weeds.  Farmers, scientists and agricultural authorities are working together on approaches to deal with them.

Sustainable agriculture is a simple concept that embraces a complex web of scientific and economic issues.  Developments in information technology will play a key role in managing the complexity.

To achieve sustainable agriculture we must deal both with issues involving environmental impacts and productivity of the land. The farmer-focused agricultural organisations in Australia are working with researchers to develop farming systems that are both sustainable and profitable.
More information on this topic is available on the Australian Academy of Science’s Nova: Science in the news at Feeding the future – sustainable agriculture. This topic is sponsored by the CSIRO.

This author of this article is Nova Science in the News.

Nova covers the science that makes news — the exciting, and often controversial, research that has the potential to revolutionise the world we live in.

Nova, developed by the Australian Academy of Science, is a website you can trust to provide accurate and up-to-date information on science, health, the environment, mathematics and technology. You can register free of charge on Nova’s home page to receive an email whenever a new topic is added.

Nova can be used by teachers planning lessons, students doing assignments, parents helping children with projects, librarians answering reference queries, journalists researching stories – and anyone who wants to keep up-to-date in science and technology.