Venomous Cabbage
By Raj Mehta, Andi Raci, and Albert Hamilton
Bio 1
About the GMO
History
Development
- Took gene that codes for poison in scorpions and planted them in cabbage cells
- Poison is toxic to insects like caterpillars but harmless to humans
- Reduces the need for pesticides
- Poison was made through extracting a genome that codes for the toxin
(GM Cabbage with Scorpion Poison Coming Soon, 2013).
- Created as an attempt to save cabbage yield and profit for farmers
- Cabbages were being eaten by caterpillars and other insects
- Farmers lost profit because of so many of cabbages being eaten up leading to few cabbages being sold
- Scientists came up with solution in 1994 through several tests
("Scorpion Poison Used in GMO Cabbage", n.d.)
References/Other
References
Other
Controversy/Stance
- The virus is poisonous to over 100 species of butterflies and 75 species of moths in its natural form ("Scorpion Poison Used in GMO Cabbage", n.d.)
- Many "fascinating" names for GMO, including "Frankencabbage" and "Cabborpion"
- There is corn that is also crossed with a toxin in order to kill incects and has been sold since 2012
- Head of the tests was Professor David Bishop, who was absent for trials. He created even more controversy by stating that GMO was safe, not being a witness to events.
- Recombinant scorpion insectotoxin AaIT kills specifically insect cells but not human cells. (2002, April 20). Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/cr/journal/v12/n2/full/7290120a.html
- Stevenson, H. (2013, June 29). GM Cabbage with Scorpion Poison Coming Soon. Retrieved from http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/gm-cabbage-scorpion-poison-coming-soon
- Scorpion Poison Used in GMO Cabbage. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.thealternativedaily.com/scorpion-poison-in-this-vegetable/
- Moss, L. (2010). Venomous cabbage. [Online Image] Retrieved February 5, 2017 from http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/photos/12-bizarre-examples-of-genetic-engineering/venomous-cabbage
- Stewart, D. (2014). Mad Scientists Produce Scorpion Cabbage. [Online Image]. Retrieved February 4, 2017 from http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/End%20of%20the%20World/Genetics%20Nightmare/coming_genetics_nightmare.htm
- Marr, B. (2014). What The Heck is... A Business Experiment? [Online Image]. Retrieved February 5, 2017 from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140806095508-64875646-what-the-heck-is-a-business-experiment
- McRae, M. (2015). Fat Guy Hazmat Suit. [Online Image]. Retrieved February 3, 2017 from http://www.macmcrae.com/fat-guy-hazmat-suit/
- Jones,A. (2013) GM Cabbage Special Ingredient, "Scorpion Poison". [Online Image]. Retreived February 5, 2017 from
What We Believe
Is It Safe To Eat?
Venomous Cabbage
(Moss, 2010)
- GMO should exist because:
- Reduces the need to use pesticides.
- Some are dangerous towards humans
- Scorpion venom is engineered to only be dangerous towards insects
- Many cabbages should be produced but are hard to produce
- Venom has to be injected into each and every cell
- Only problem we have with the GMO is the distribution of the venom
- A new way of distibuting the venom should be created (GM Cabbage with Scorpion Poison Coming Soon, 2013).
- The first expirements using the cabbage had the scientists in full body hazmat suits
- The original testing also used breast cancer cells instead of normal human cells
- Pesticide use is suppose to be lowered as the actual gene for the scoripion poison would be injected into each of the cell, turning humans into "pesticide sinks" if consumed
- Large conspiracy theorists would claim that this is all untrue and that this is harmful, causing their followers to boycott the GMO
(GM Cabbage with Scorpion Poison Coming Soon, 2013).
GM Cabbage Special Ingredient, "scorpion poison" (The Alex Jones Channel, 2013)
Fat Guy in a Hazmat Suit
(McRae, 2015)
How it Was Created
Purification
Creation of the Venom
- Used a Denaturing buffer to purify the toxin so that it only affected insects, not humans
- It denatured or changed the shape of the protein by changing the nucleotide sequence
- Used a buffer to keep the pH constant
- Expressed the new DNA into E. Coli Bacteria
("Recombinant scorpion insectotoxin AaIT kills specifically insect cells but not human cells", 2002).
- Scientists first obtained the nucleotide sequence from the insect toxin, AaIT
- Comes from the highly toxic scorpion, Androctonus australis Hector
- Used Restriction Enzymes to extract the DNA
("Recombinant scorpion insectotoxin AaIT kills specifically insect cells but not human cells", 2002).
Experimenting
- Carried out experiments to verify the toxicity of the purified sequence
- Used Moth larvae as test subjects
- Distributed the toxin into each and every cell
- After twenty four hours, sixty percent of the moths had been killed
- Further experiments were carried out comparing Sf9 insect cells and MCF-7 human cells (breast cells)
- Proved that toxin had specific effect on insect, but none on human cells
- Only 0.13 micrometer killed fifty percent of the insect cells
- 1.3 micrometers had no effect whatsoever on the human cells
("Recombinant scorpion insectotoxin AaIT kills specifically insect cells but not human cells", 2002).
Experiment Kid
(Marr, 2014)