How are GMOs and transgenic organisms used in agriculture to increase crop productivity and to provide resistance to insect predation and/or disease?
Also, how do we identify pathogens?
EDIT: Added a question
GMOs and trangenic organisms (transgene is a type of genetic modification) are organisms which contain genetic material from other sources (usually organisms of other species, which makes a GMO a transgenic organism). For plants, this could mean that one can modify a specific section of a gene within the plant to increase its crop yield, which in turn increases their crop productivity in agriculture. Sections of genes which codes for resistance towards pests, weeds and microbes can also be inserted within the genome of an organism (these genes may be expressed and a protein or toxin could be produced to fend off these pests, weeds and microbes).
There are actually a few ways to identify a pathogen (bacteria or virus, in this case)
Bacteria:
- agglutination test (with specific antibodies)
- precipitation test (to see if a bacterial colony precipitates in the blood of an infected person)
- Western blot test (used to separate and identify proteins specific to a bacteria)
- ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, which is used to detect and count substances such as antibodies, hormones, enzymes and antigens, which indicates the type of bacteria we might be looking for)
Virus (these things are smaller, so we have to use more precise techniques to kinda sort them out)
- ELISA
- X-ray crystallography (which is used to determine the atomic and molecular structure of crystals, can be used to identify viruses of specific shapes and sizes)
- Electron microscope (these things let you see really small things so you can see viruses with this)