Question: How can you be sure you wont cause any unwanted mutations to the plant?

Beth Dyson answered on 21 Jun 2010:

We can be sure that we won’t cause unwanted mutations by checking and checking and checking that we have only added certain genes!!!! And if there are any problems, or any sign of the experiment not going well, the whole lot is destroyed.

Using genetic modification (as I explained in the answer to the other question) means

‘You can take genes from one organism, and transfer them directly into another plant. This involves putting the gene into a bacteria, which then infects the plant and transfers its DNA. The plant will then have the gene you want.’

So essentially you have to control which genes go into the bacteria, and you can do this as follows;
1) We use a bacteria called Agrobacterium, which is a natural bacteria that infects plants, but doesnt cause them too much harm.
2) We use DNA techniques to add our gene to the bacteria’s DNA.
3) We then sequence the bacteria’s DNA to check that our gene (and only our gene) has been added.
4) We then infect the plant and let it grow.
5) We check the plant for any growth defects, and then check the plant DNA to see that our gene (and only our gene) has been added to its DNA.

All these steps are carried out in the lab, and the GM plants are kept separately to any non-GM plants. These plants are only EVER used within the lab to look at the effects of certain genes.

So by carrying out rigorous checks at every stage, we can ensure that we add only the genes we want and don’t cause unwanted mutations or other problems!