On pages 85-87 Moalem talks about how the defense mechanisms of crops can also be poisonous to humans. This relates to big idea #4 (biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions posses complex properties), because while a certain toxin can defend a plant from attack it can also make it inedible.
In the greater view of ecology is it possible to protect crops without making them toxic to humans in some way? Research if this method would be viable in the real world and what effects it would have on the environment.
(Tom Shaw tshaw4@d125.students.org)
It is possible to protect crops without making them toxic to humans, but according to Moalem on page 85, “it’s complicated. And there are consequences.” I agree with Tom that plant defense relates to big idea #4 (biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions posses complex properties). The complex interactions that plants have with their environment make it difficult for us to create protected non-toxic plants, however this is possible.
ReplyDeleteAt Cornell University, researchers have developed a plant defense in the form of a protein called “enhancin.” Enhancin works by breaking down the tough interior lining of a bug’s intestine, but poses no threat to humans because the acidity in the human stomach degrades the protein. Studies are underway to genetically engineer enhancin into plants. (http://filebox.vt.edu/cals/cses/chagedor/97mechanisms.html)
Creating a protected non-toxic plant like the ones researchers at Cornell are trying to make could have detrimental effects on the environment. For example, researchers may unknowingly create a whole new breed of “super bugs” that are resistant to enhancin effects through the evolutionary mechanism of natural selection. In another extreme, the new protected plants could wipe out the entire insect population. This is bad because insects perform a vast number of important functions for the ecosystem like fertilizing the soil and killing other types of unwanted pests.
Plant defense relates to past AP biology course content because it was the topic of my first Bio JAE. (Comparison of the herbivore defense and competitive ability of ancestral and modern genotypes of invasive plant, Lespedeza Cuneata) This JAE discussed some of the defenses that plants employ. It talked about constitutive defense and stimulated defense and the plants’ complex interactions with its environment.
(Ilakkiya Thanigaivelan ithanigaivelan@yahoo.com)
It is possible to protect crops without making them toxic to humans, but according to Moalem on page 85, “it’s complicated. And there are consequences.” I agree with Tom that plant defense relates to big idea #4 (biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions posses complex properties). The complex interactions that plants have with their environment make it difficult for us to create protected non-toxic plants, however this is possible.
ReplyDeleteAt Cornell University, researchers have developed a plant defense in the form of a protein called “enhancin.” Enhancin works by breaking down the tough interior lining of a bug’s intestine, but poses no threat to humans because the acidity in the human stomach degrades the protein. Studies are underway to genetically engineer enhancin into plants. (Transgenic Viral Insecticide)
Creating a protected non-toxic plant like the ones researchers at Cornell are trying to make could have detrimental effects on the environment. For example, researchers may unknowingly create a whole new breed of “super bugs” that are resistant to enhancin effects through the evolutionary mechanism of natural selection. In another extreme, the new protected plants could wipe out the entire insect population. This is bad because insects perform a vast number of important functions for the ecosystem like fertilizing the soil and killing other types of unwanted pests.
Plant defense relates to past AP biology course content because it was the topic of my first Bio JAE. (Comparison of the herbivore defense and competitive ability of ancestral and modern genotypes of invasive plant, Lespedeza Cuneata) This JAE discussed some of the defenses that plants employ. It talked about constitutive defense and stimulated defense and the plants’ complex interactions with its environment.
(Ilakkiya Thanigaivelan ithanigaivelan@yahoo.com)