Should Genetically Modified Flar-Svr Tomatoes Be Available...

Investigation into Genetically Modified Flavr-Savr Tomatoes, should they be available for human consumption. Technology has been advancing at an increasingly high rate; as a result scientists have used this development to create genetically modified foods. Biotechnologies used to genetically modify foods have contributed to the controversial statements, whether or not genetically modified foods should be available for human consumption. Genetic Modified plants and foods such as the â€Å"Flavr Savr Tomato† enhanced through the use of biotechnologies have sparked arguments in favour and against. Those in favour consider that they are advantageous for humans, those against believe that it is detrimental for human consumption and altering the†¦show more content†¦Conversely, The Flavr Savour tomato possesses supressed activity of the enzyme polygalacturonase. The suppression contributes to the fruits ability to stay harder for longer allowing it to stay on the vine. This suppression allows the tomato to develop its natural flavours and ripen as it stays on the vine for a longer time period. This flavour saving process lead to the products name â€Å"The Flavr Savr†. The Flavr Savr tomato is created through the use of antisense gene technologies to decrease the polygalacturonase activity. The kan(r) is a gene from the bacteria Escherichia coli, alongside with the gene from the Flavr Savr tomato they are inserted into a plasmid that resembles a round ring of DNA. These plasmids are further inserted into a group of normal tomato cells in a medium growth that contains the kanamycin antibiotic Engel 7. This process produces the APH (3’) II substance that allows the cell to become resistant to the antibiotic. This process is used to identify the genetically transformed genes. The gene of the Flavr Savr initially coded for a strand of RNA, which was the reverse strand of RNA that occurs in a natural tomato plant. The original RNA strand contains the enzyme polygalacturonase degrading the cell wall, making the fruit soft. The RNA strand made from the Flavr Savr gene binds to the polygalacturonase RNA in a process to cancel each other out as demon strated in figure 1. The antisense gene is a