www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Two of the hottest areas of science and technology today involve
agriculture ? the genomic mapping of plant and animal species and the
transition from fossil fuels to renewable fuels, February 2006 by Stewart
Truelsen.

What does this say about the future of U.S. agriculture? For starters,
agriculture is right at the forefront of important research and stands to
benefit tremendously.

While genomics (the study of genes and their functions) and renewable fuels
are two distinct fields, there are some connections. At Iowa State
University, a $1.25 million IBM supercomputer labeled BlueGene is being used
to sequence the corn genome.

The genome is a complete set of an organism?s genetic material ? the sum
total of all the information in cells that determines whether we are human
or a corn plant. All that information is derived from studying the
arrangement of DNA and genes.

Even with the aid of this supercomputer it will take scientists about three
years to sequence the corn genome. The results could lead to the development
of corn varieties that yield more ethanol or produce better biodegradable
plastics or tolerate drought better.

Iowa State researchers consider the corn genome one of the most complex
sequencing projects to date. In 2005, the rice genome was mapped and
projects are under way to sequence soybeans and sheep.

One of the most recent announcements was a project to map the swine genome.
Two University of Illinois researchers will head it up, and like the Iowa
State project, it is a collaborative effort with researchers at other
universities.

Mapping the swine genome will lead to better animal health and management
and more nutritious meat products, but it could yield much more. According
to the University of Illinois, ?Because the pig and human genomes are
similar in size, complexity and organization, researchers expect comparisons
will lead to biomedical advances, including pig-to-human transplants and
disease treatments.?

Obviously, genomics brings up a number of moral and ethical questions that
must be dealt with, many of them concerning the use of information from the
human genome which was sequenced a few years ago. Most people would agree
that human cloning is off-limits. But genomics could lead to cures for
cancer and heart disease and will probably be the key to humans living much
longer.

In agriculture, we have witnessed the reluctance of the European Union to
accept biotech crops while the United States and most of the rest of the
world recognize their value to producers and consumers.

The Genomics Age is here, whether some like it or not. And, any effort to
impede potential benefits that genomics offers humankind ? from more and
better food to breakthroughs in health and life-saving medicine ? should
raise moral and ethical questions that are even more serious than those
surrounding the science itself.

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