gmos

Plants Do Division http://news.jic.ac.uk/

I thought that only humans can do arithmetic, but plants do division as well. I guess a brain with a neocortex is not required. New research shows that arabidopsis plants perform an arithmetic feat to know how to distribute stored energy during the night when there is no light, preventing starvation.

Plants get their energy from light through a process called photosynthesis. This involves breaking down carbon dioxide compounds into sugars. And we all know what awesome byproduct that gives us; oxygen! So during the day they store sugars, and during the night plants do division in order to distribute the sugars at a steady rate. This insight comes from new research done by the scientists at the John Innes Centre and found through the open access journal eLife.

It is vital that plants do division in order to be able to grow properly. Learning more about this process has some implications, such as possible plant hacking in order to achieve higher crop yields. This is already being done with GMOs.

Plants do division during night time. There are certain “mechanisms” in the leaves that measure how much of the starch is stored and how much time will pass until the sun rises. Plants also have a sort of an internal “biological clock” which allows them to guess when dawn will come. There are three clock genes that work together like a seesaw. When dawn comes, these genes instruct the plant to make two proteins, CCA1 and LHY. These proteins tell the plant that it is daytime. During the day these are destroyed, which allows for the third protein, TOC1, to be made. This tells the plant that it is night time. That last protein also tells the plant that it’s time to make the first two, so the whole process cycles again.

According to Professor Alison Smith,

the calculations are so precise so that plants prevent starvation but also make most efficient use of their food.

Using up the starch too fast will induce starvation, while using it up too slow will waste the unused starch. Scientists predict that there are two molecules that encode the information about how much starch is stored at a given time and time until dawn breaks. Let’s call these molecules S and T for the time being. The rate at which starch is consumed is set by the ratio of S molecules to T molecules. Because a ratio is actually a fancy way to say division, scientists are confident in the claim that plants are division experts.

Sources:

http://elife.elifesciences.org/content/2/e00669

http://news.jic.ac.uk/2013/06/plants-do-sums-to-get-through-the-night/

http://arabidopsis.info/InfoPages?template=arabidopsis;web_section=arabidopsis

http://www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/research/webb/plantTime/clock.html

http://dgchaacicgqa5.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/labeling-required-in.jpg

GMO Labeling World Map

GMO labeling finally got itself a small yet big win. Last week, Connecticut became the first state in the U.S. to pass a bill through the senate that would require mandatory labeling of all GMOs. There will be some understandable exceptions that would not have to label their food as a GMO, such as fast food restaurants and farmer’s markets. But come on, that’s not at bad start.

We’re not banning anything, we’re not restricting anything, we’re not taxing anything,

Senate Republican leader John McKinney said at a press conference.

We’re just saying let moms and dads know what’s in the food they’re buying for their young kids… That’s not a lot to ask.

Would the US food industry really suffer from this type of labeling?

If you were to complain to a fast food restaurant manager that you found a hair in your hamburger, they would probably say that’s impossible, because they don’t use any natural ingredients! Joking of course, but you get the picture.

http://justlabelit.org/state-initiatives/

GMO Labeling Initiatives

Fortunately, there are other states in the union that are taking initiatives to make some sort of legislation for GMO labeling. As of this writing there are 29 states with initiatives for labeling of GMO products. You are able to find your own state group fighting for this initiative.

According to the polls taken from MSNBC in 2011, Reuters and Washington Post in 2010, Consumer Reports in 2008, and ABC News in 2001, 93-96% of Americans support GMO labeling. Also, according to justlabelit.org, GMO labeling is required in 64 countries worldwide. This includes most of the developed nations, exceptions being the United States of course, and Canada.

Related Article: The Senate is Useless and Should be Dismantled

If you are interested in seeing the whole world map of where GMO labeling is required, head over to the Center For Food Safety website.

There are only five countries in Europe that do not require labeling of GMOs. Those are Bosnia, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, and Moldova. Serbia, however, is the exception in the group because it actually has an official ban on GMO imports and cultivation! Benin and Zambia, two countries in the African continent, are the only other countries in the world that have an official ban on importing and cultivation of GMOs.

Related Article: Don’t Fear Anti-GM Hysteria (Nor the Reaper)!