Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
In part 1 of this series, I explained how we’ve been using genetic engineering of sorts for nearly half a century to control insects by using radiation to induce sterility or other dominant lethal mutations in insects. In part 2, I explained how we can use genetic engineering to make these projects safer and easier….
Read More “Genetic modification of insects as pest control part 3” »
In part 1 of this series, I discussed the history of genetic modification in insects as pest control. We’ve been creating insect GMOs for the purposes of controlling pests for awhile. If you bombard insects with radiation, it can kill rapidly reproducing cells. High doses of radiation can also damage the DNA in quickly reproducing…
Read More “Genetic modification of insects as pest control part 2” »
Since I’m the resident entomologist on Biofortified, and because the main pests in almost all agricultural systems are insects it only makes sense for me to write something about pests and how they’re managed in agricultural situations. My role here on Biofortified is to write about the basic biology of pests, but I will be…
In Polydnaviruses, Nature’s GMOs, I explained how polydnaviruses disabled host immune defenses through genetic modification. A post after that, I discussed how polydnaviruses use modified insect proteins to interfere with these systems. So if you’re a biologically-minded person, there’s one question you should be asking yourself. It’s a rather important question because it’s answer could…
Read More “Evolution of the Polydnavirus: How Wasps Began Using Viruses to Engineer Their Hosts” »
In Polydnaviruses: Nature’s GMOs, I wrote about how wasps use viruses to disable the immune defenses of their hosts. Braconid and ichneumonid wasps use a system that genetically modifies their hosts in order to shut their immune systems down. So how does this all work? A good system to use to describe how polydnavirus proteins…
The wasps in the video below are most likely from the family Braconidae. These wasps make their living as parasitoids, growing within other animals and eventually eating them from the inside out. Their life starts as an egg which is laid in the caterpillar by a female. This egg may divide into many, many larvae…
My name is Joe and I’m going to be an occasional guest blogger here at Biofortified. The area I write about is going to be a bit different than most of the other writers on this website. Instead of writing about genetically modified plants, I’m going to spend a large portion of my time writing…
