Genetic Modification of Food

For a long time the search was going on to explain the chemical trigger of  neurodegeneration by food. Spencer, Fry and Kisby present the fascinating story which started examining the toxin of the cycad plants used for food on Guam. The toxin [cycasin: methylazoxymethanol (MAM)-β-d-glucoside]  was the cause of a complex neurodegenerative disease, a combinations of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), parkinsonism (P), and/or a dementia (D) akin to Alzheimer's disease (AD). [1]

The PTEN gene is the cause of increased sensitivity to the hormone insulin. Aparna Pal et al. 2012 write that the PTEN gene may become a target for drugs to fight insulin resistance, the cause of type 2 diabetes. The PTEN gene encodes for an enzyme that is part of the insulin signalling pathway in the body. It is known to have a role in controlling the body's metabolism, and to play a part in cell growth. [1]

 A study of Séralini et al 2012 found that NK603 maize and Roundup may cause hormonal disturbances in the same biochemical and physiological pathway with mammary tumours, diseases of the pituitary gland and kidneys. Death in male rats was mostly due to the development of severe hepatorenal insufficiencies, confirming the first signs of toxicity observed in 90 day feeding trials with NK603 maize in 2009. [1]

Russia's consumer-rights regulator Rospotrebnadzor asked the Russian Institute of Nutrition to review the study on GM corn NK603 which is reported to have caused cancer  and early death compared to control rats. Russian authorities placed a temporary ban on imports of genetically-modified Monsnto corn. [1]

The environmental group Friends of the Earth and the French government asked the European Union to ban the Monsanto GM corn. France will maintain its ban of GM crops in its country.

The Monsanto GM corn NK 603 is authorized by the EU Commission to be grown and fed to animals in Europe. French scientists leaded by Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen report in September 2012 that rats developed  mammary tumours and multiple organ damage if fed on the Monsanto's corn or exposed to its weed killer Roundup (0.1 ppb Roundup in water) at levels permitted in the USA. [1]

The researchers said 50 percent of male and 70 percent of female rats died prematurely, compared with only 30 percent and 20 percent in the control group.

Due to complicated global trade of foods and religious believes, reliable and specific methods of species determination in a variety of food items are needed. During Ramadan 2012 Brazilian hot dogs mixed with pork meat and fat were sold by several restaurants in Kuwait before laboratory tests were completed, violating the law. [1]

The bacterial canker on kiwifruit caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae is a severe threat to production of green-fleshed kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) and yellow-fleshed kiwifruit (A. chinensis). Renzi et al. 2012 describe the kiwi disease spreading in Italy. [1]

Defining the human being as an individual developed out of a fertilised egg containing genes from father and mother is insufficient to describe an individual. Microbiologists increase the scope of the definition by including the notion of  an  ecosystem which also embraces bacteria, fungi and archaea. This aggregate of microorganisms  resides on the surface and in deep layers of skin, in the saliva and oral mucosa, in the conjunctiva, and in the gastrointestinal tracts and is known as  human microbiome. [1]

Plastids are organelles found in the cells of plants and algae. Plastids are responsible for photosynthesis, storage of products like starch and for the synthesis of many classes of molecules such as fatty acids and terpenes which are needed as cellular building blocks and/or for the function of the plant.
Plastids may differentiate into several forms:

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) are nucleic-acid-based adaptive immune systems in bacteria and archaea. These small RNAs (crRNAs) in bacteria find and silence invading foreign nucleic acids, such as viruses and plasmids. Wiedenheft et al. 2012 point to the similarity to the RNA interference (RNAi) pathways in eukaryotes but differences in the silencing must be further studied. [1]