Tag: SCIENTISTS

The Accidental Discovery !

  • An enzyme that produces some mycotoxins less deadly has been discovered by a group of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) researchers at the London Research and Development Centre in London, Ont.

    WHY IT MATTERS?
  • Mycotoxin infection in crops can have a massive monetary impact for farmers and biofuel producers, and consumption by humans or livestock can have serious health concerns, including death.

  • The discovery was an accident as per Dr. Mark Sumarah, a mycotoxin and fungal expert at the London Research and Development Centre.
  • Sumarah and his colleague Dr. Justin Renaud were initially seeking to discover more a few mycotoxin referred to as orchotoxin A and therefore the possible risk of it to contaminate Canadian grapes, and subsequently wine. Sumarah says orchotoxin A may be a significant mycotoxin worldwide, but there was not much data on its effect in Canada.
    Mycotoxins are toxic metabolites generated by fungi that inhabit crop species which prevents them to survive on plants, but when consumed they will put the health of humans and livestock at risk.

  • Long time ago, the investigators were observing the fungus Aspergillus to look for orchotoxin A, and located that Aspergillus produced not only orchotoxin A, but another sort of mycotoxin known as fumonisin. Sumarah says this wasn’t unforeseen, but what was a shock is that the fungus produced varieties of fumonisin that nobody had glimpsed in the past. The most interesting thing about these compounds was that although every formerly known fumonisin contains a nitrogen molecule, these new ones didn’t .
  • This made the scientists curious. Sumarah, and Renaud did further work to decide that nitrogen is the single-most valuable factor in the toxicity of fumonisins.

  • The scientists figured it had to be an enzyme. The team then successfully separated the enzyme responsible for transforming some fumonisins into types that need nitrogen, and began work in partnership with Lallemand Inc. through a Canadian Agricultural Partnership project to commercially create the enzyme for the decontamination of fumonisins.
    Lallemand may be a privately held company based in Quebec that produces yeast, bacteria the main target of the enzyme for the corporate like Deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisins can contaminate crops  and cause infection or develop challenges for livestock, and become concentrated in distillers grains from biofuel production.
  • Sumarah says that fumonisins are a worldwide problem and he has colleagues in areas where corn is a staple in the diet, such as South Africa and Latin America, who are concerned about fumonisins related to human health. Fumonisins are linked to esophageal cancers and there’s suspicion they’re linked to ectoderm birth defects and other cancers
  • Although commercialization of the enzyme is several years away, the research trio have an interest find an enzyme which will tackle DON.

reference- https://www.country-guide.ca/crops/accidental-discovery-could-be-a-mycotoxin-game-changer/

https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/mycrop/diagnosing-fusarium-head-blight-cereals

GENETIC ENGINEERING

Genetic engineering also known as genetic modification is the direct manipulation of DNA to modify an organism’s traits mainly observable physical properties in a specific way. Scientists utilize it to improve or change the features of an individual organism. It may be used to treat anything from a virus to a sheep. For example, genetic engineering can be utilized to create plants with better nutritional value or that can withstand pesticide treatment. It has also been used in animals to create sheep which would generate a therapeutic protein in their milk that can be used to cure cystic fibrosis, as well as worms that glow in the dark to help scientists understand more about illnesses like Alzheimer’s.

Firstly, if we look at the history, it was created to aid in the prevention of disease transmission. With the advent of genetic engineering, scientists may now alter the way genomes are built to eliminate illnesses caused by genetic mutation. today, genetic engineering is utilized to treat diseases including cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and a variety of others.

 Genetic engineering also helps in detecting the problems even before the child is born which in turns help in curing the illness and diseases in unborn children. Humans aren’t the only ones that benefit from genetic modification. We can use genetic engineering to create foods that can endure extreme temperatures such as very hot or very cold while also providing all of the nutrients that people and animals require to thrive. Animals and plants can have their development rates genetically altered to mature more quickly. In order to improve productivity od diary or meat or even wool, animals can potentially be genetically changed. 

However, with advantages comes disadvantages as well. Thus, Allowing scientists to tear down boundaries that should maybe be left alone has a lot of drawbacks.

Many religions, after all, think that genetic engineering is equivalent to playing God, and ban it from being used on their children, for example. Aside from religious issues, there are a variety of ethical concerns such as longer life expectancy is already generating societal difficulties throughout the world, so intentionally extending everyone’s life on Earth might lead to much more problems into the future, ones that we can’t possibly anticipate. Genetic engineering can also lead to genetic defects which scientists really can’t foresee because human body is a complex structure.

Furthermore, Genetic engineering aids in the resolution of a problem by introducing genes to the organism that will assist it in combating the issue. This can have unfavourable consequences. A plant, for example, may be engineered to require less water, but this would make it intolerant of direct sunshine. Also, nature being a complicated web of interconnections, many side effects can be caused as a consequence of using genetically modified genes. 

Therefore, In a world where genetic engineering is advancing at a breakneck pace, the dangers of going too far with it are a constant source of concern because no one can’t really anticipate what consequence will it create  and where it will lead us. Changing creatures’ DNA has definitely raised a few heads. It could work wonderfully, but who knows whether interacting with nature is truly safe. As a result, it appears that genetic engineering is both a mixed blessing, as we stand to gain as well as lose by furthering this field of study.