4.4.12.B.+-Describe+how+agricultural+science+has+influenced+Biotechnology.

 =Biotechnology = = =

**What is biotechnology?**
Any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.


 * What is genetic engineering?**

Genetic engineering, an area of biotechnology, is (put simply) is the attempt to "perfect" an organism by tinkering with its genes.


 * How did genetic engineering begin?**

Genetic engineering owes its existence to the developments in molecular genetics that were possible after the structure of DNA was determined by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. G enetic engineering is sometimes considered a complex extension of the selective breeding practiced for thousands of years in the domestication of agricultural products and animals (Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology).

**Why use genetic engineering?**
Genetic engineering has become an increasingly common agricultural practice. Introducing genes into a plant aims to make it as useful and productive as possible by acting to protect the crop, improve the harvest, or enable the plant to perform a new function or acquire a new trait. Specific objectives of genetically modifying a plant include increasing its yield, improving its quality, or enhancing its resistance to pests or disease, as well as its tolerance for heat, cold, or drought. Some of the GM traits that have been introduced into food crops are enhanced flavor, slowed ripening, reduced reliance on fertilizer, self-generating insecticide, and added nutrients (Wexler 2005).

There was also the trouble of environmental issues arising from the crop duster planes method of spreading pesticides on crops. Crop duster planes scattered chemical supplements over the land in order to combat pests and aid seed growth. The use of such additives greatly increased production, although critics, specifically the biologist Rachel Carson in her 1962 best-seller, //Silent Spring,// warned of dangerous ecological side effects. Since the late twentieth century, the agricultural sector has looked to biotechnology and genetic modification as ways to maximize crop resilience and productivity, without putting the environment in danger (Wills 2003).


 * How has genetic engineering (specifically) been applied to agriculture?**

Agriculture has been one of the most successful industries in utilizing genetic engineering. Today there are over 1,300 companies involved in genetic engineering , many of which are located in the United States, a clear indication of the rapid growth of the American biotechnology sector and the applicability of the powerful new techniques (Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology).

The Environmental Defense Fund provided much information about a recent case in which corn plants were genetically altered to produce DDT, a pesticide, to keep monarch butterflies away. The monarch caterpillars would drastically decrease, or, sometimes, eliminate the pollen from these plants entirely. These caterpillars impacted production of corn greatly. As a result, genetic engineering was put to use to keep monarchs from destroying the corn supply (Genetic Engineering Kills).

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