Could the Sahara be planted with genetically altered seed?
969942
There are many plants that can grow in deserts, but if you are talking about non - desert species, this is more difficult.\n\nDrought resistance (the ability to grow in deserts for example) is described as a complex trait. This means that it is affected by many genes. Genetic modification usually focuses on one area of the genome (in simple terms, one gene), so making a GM plant that's drought resistant would involve not just changing one piece of DNA, but changing heaps of it. For example, to make a wheat plant as drought resistant as a cactus would involve changing so much of its DNA it would be fundamentally changed so much that it would probably be no longer identifiable as wheat!\n\nThere is a huge amount of global research about improving drought resistance in crops, but even if we could do this using genetic engineering, we are a really really long way from making it happen; if it could be done I'm sure you can imagine the consequences - the 23,000 people who die from starvation every day would still be alive, climate change would (arguably) be less of an issue, world economics would be dramatically changed - I'm sure you could think of more; although I guess the question would then have to be, if we could make even more of a global food surplus, would it be any more likely to reach the people who need it?
233182
There is not a lot of information out there on GE foods. Some of the testing has been stopped because the results were not what the GE companies wanted. You could start by looking at "Seeds of Deception" by Jeffery M Smith.(copywrite 2003) It does not talk about fruits specifically, but does discuss some potential effects of genetic engineering. There is also an extensive bibliography with some references from 2002.
688444
In addition to the oxygen, water, issues previously discussed, the surface is under constant attack by radiation and high energy particles due to the lack of a sufficient atmosphere.  We would have some mutated DNA after too long on the surface.  That's not too good.
252686
Transgenic maize (corn) has been deliberately genetically modified to have agronomically desirable traits. Traits that have been engineered into corn are resistance to herbicides and incorporation of a gene that codes for the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin, protecting plants from insect pests. Hybrids with both herbicide and pest resistance have also been produced. Transgenic maize is currently grown commercially in the United States.\n\n>>>>>>>The European corn borer Ostrinia nubilalis, destroys corn crops by burrowing into the stem, causing the plant to fall over.\n>>>>>>>The best way to determine the resistance corn borer has developed to BT corn is see if it survives after eating BT corn. If it has no resistance it will starve to death upon consumption.
868429
No, science cannot feed the world, we are already overpopulated and technology can only take us so far. There will always be starving countries unfortunately. All foods that we eat have been modified, and yes, despite scares genetically modified foods are generally ok.
343907
The first seed that should be planted should be to have all people in the first world start asking themselves this very question.\n\nSociologists around the world should be working on this because planting seeds for a positive change is the only way things are going to change in Africa.\n\nEducation (Non religious).  I know it sounds cliche, but when families in Afghanistan left to seek safety in Iran when the Taliban were being ousted, many people saw (for the fist time in their lives) a functioning society with proper infrastructure.  When those families returned they sent all of their children to school.  In fact, twice the expected number of students showed up for class.  Afghanistan is still trying to accommodate all of the eager-to-learn kids.\n\nPeople need to see what life is like in other parts of the world so they can open their eyes to what could be.  This could be said for all people in the world.\n\nChange comes slowly with patience.  Lets hope that aids doesn't make it an impossible task.
882128
I can't be sure, but I think oatmeal would work. That's what the stuff we were growing them on in genetics lab looked like, anyway.
1082999
No.\n\nFirst off chlorphyll is just a tiny part of an incredibly complex system of pigments and enzymes needed to harvest light. It is really akin to asking whether you could glue a carburettor to the side of a cardborad box and turn it into an airplane.\n\nA more plausible route would be to implant entire chlorplasts into an animal cell line. That has potential, but only for narrow range of animals.\n\nSee, the thing about chloroplasts is they need light to work. And the thing about most animals is that they have evolved pigments to stop light penetrating their cells. The two conditions are mutually exclsuive. You could implant or the chlorplasts you like into a human and they won't do anything because they will be permanently in the dark.\n\nWith transparent animals like jellyfish or glass fish or similar you probably could achieve some level of autotrophic activity.\n\nIn the case of a highly active animal like a human the payoff wouldn't be worth the cost. Chlorplasts require energy to build and maintain and active animals can't afford to laze around int he sun all day. That's why the ancestors of animals abandoned their chlorophyll in the first place (did you know that all animals are descended from photosyntheic organisms?)\n\nBut with slow moving animals like jellyfish it becomes more plausible. Some jellyfish already utilise symbiotic algae to harvest sunlight, so for those species the addition of inherent chloroplasts could be a major boon.
1005574
Yeah, we can manupulate plant genome as per our requirement.  we can inoculate plant with  gene responsible for producing fruits for all months.....its called "gene manupulation" which makes impossible to possible.
519495
Theoretically yes, but there would be so many mutations required that it would take decades of manipulation and the result would end up being of one species or another.  \n\nLast year, scientists finally succeeded (reportedly) in the birth of a mouse with two mothers and no father.  It took them many long years, and although published in Science magazine the method is still questioned.
580832
Firstly, genetically modifying a human is *very* difficult. Scientists had just finished mapping the human genome, and there're are a lot of genes that they don't understand. Without fully understanding how each gene works, it is difficult and dangerous to alter it this drastically. Even if we can successfully incorporate the animal genes into human genes, we don't know if there is going to be any bad side effects.\nSecondly, the human and animal genomes are quite different. Scientists may know which genes can make birds fly, but they won't know where to insert these genes into the human genome.\nThirdly, genetics is still an extremely touchy subject. Many people can't even accept test-tube babies. Genetically modifying the human body? Those scientists would be condemned by millions of people, won't get government fundings, get hate mails etc. Now who would want to risk something like that?
1027186
GM- genetically modified\n\nthese plants have their genes altered and there are many possible mutations that can occur.  also, not much research has been done on the long term effects GM food has on our body.  Why do you think Zimbabwe and Angola rejected our maize offer? because they felt that they were the guniea pigs.  anyway, if you look at how a gene is inserted into a plant using the recombinant DNA method, it is actually very dangerous and unstable.  Scientists are making use of bacteria' plasmids to act as a truck to insert the gene.  Although viral causing genes are removed, what makes scientists so sure that they wouldn't remain, mutate and form a super bug?\n\nAlso, there are religious ethics violated, e.g. some people believe we shouldn't play God and Muslims, they cannot eat pork.  What if the pork gene was inserted into maize? and they eat the maize??? also, some people might be allergic to peanuts, if the peanut gene were to be inserted into a crop, and starts expressing itself, would the person die?
391269
I've never heard that, but small seeds are moved about by ants, so it is possible.
1090365
Yes subject to Nat. Sel. as u can still see on Sudan swamps, tallest community of humans an the world, or Peruvians living high on the Andes where they have extra coding capacity for Hemoglobin.\n\nThe conditions you describe were studied theoretically by Hardy and Weinberg, so these conditions are called "Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium" and you can search it on almost any college level ecology text.\n\nWhat happens to the gene pool on such conditions? with no nat. sel., all "expensive" genes, ones that take a lot of energy to work, disappear or reduce strongly their presence, and a proff is that Capsicum annum or chili as you call it, when taken to spain from Mexico, lost its cappacity to produce capscin, the spicy oil that gives chili its strenght and in nature is a defense versus herbivorous insects not present on spain. And so on.
386832
RECOMBINANT OR better TRANSGENIC is the answer,  not GMO because definitely not all GMO have recombinant DNA inside! Example: some GMO can have their own DNA altered or deleted and no recombinant DNA inserted
455197
I think that the Garden of Eden was once located where the Sahara Desert is today.  I also believe that Eden was  or was moved to a differnt dimension beyond the veil of this world.  An angel of fire guards the entrance to the Garden against any attempted "return" and that is why the area is now a desert.
735244
Asexual reproduction is cloning. A piece of a plant may root or sprout and grow into a new plant which is genetically identical with the parent.  \n\nSexual reproduction results in a new plant which contains genetic material from two parents, but which is not genetically identical with either one.   These new plants may be able to adapt more successfully to environmental changes than their parents could.\n     To live and multiply on land, plants needed to evolve new structures and methods for reproduction.  An important advance was the development of the flower, a structure which allowed widespread scattering of its pollen and yet provided a stable, nurturing environment in the ovary for developing seeds.  Pollen could be carried from flower to flower by insects, the wind, or, sometimes, birds.  \n\n     The seed was another important innovation, as significant for plants as the amniotic egg was for land animals.  Seeds would form when the chromosomes of the parents were united in the ovary.  A seed is a compact package made of a cell capable of growing into a plant, food to help the plant get started, and, in angiosperms, a seed coat that protected the seed from dehydration  and  damage in the environment.  Properly protected seeds could survive until conditions favored their development.  In the deserts today, some seeds may lie dormant for many years until the rains come and provide conditions in which the seeds may germinate and grow into plants.  Some seeds also are contained in, or attached to, structures which help the seeds to be carried to other places that may be suitable for them.