Gene technology is a new technology that can be used to benefit humanity and benefit our blue planet. In order to let everyone know what benefits these technologies will provide for the material and spiritual civilization of mankind and what future prospects for our future life will be brought forward, this publication has specially edited the relevant content for readers. Wonderful genetically modified foods With the improvement of people’s living standards, people’s dietary requirements are getting higher and higher. As a result, people began to use genetically modified technology to improve the quality of food, including appearance quality, food quality (such as nutrient composition, taste), processing quality and storage quality, etc.. The tomato breed “FlavrSavr†cultivated in the United States was the earliest commercially available transgenic plant. The product, which is a tomato ripened by transgenic technology. In the past, the farmers had to wait until the tomatoes had matured. When the fruit was still green, they were picked. After being transported to the store, the staff used ethylene to ripen them. Such artificial ripening tomatoes were not as tasty as naturally ripe tomatoes. Can we store mature tomatoes well? Scientists have discovered that the skin of tomatoes is becoming soft because there is an enzyme called polygalacturonase that degrades the collagen in the cell wall. The scientists separated the enzyme gene, measured its sequence, and designed a new gene based on this sequence. The new gene was transferred to tomato cells and blocked it from synthesizing "polygalacturonic acid." Enzyme." In this way, the tomato will not become soft after it matures, we can wait until it matures naturally and pick it again, and don't worry about the damage during transportation. Golden rice is a kind of genetically modified rice rich in beta-carotene because of its maturity. Rice is yellow, so it is called golden rice. This kind of rice is rich in beta-carotene which can be converted into vitamin A in the human body. Why should you eat this kind of rice rich in beta-carotene? UNESCO estimates that more than 1 million children die each year from vitamin A in Europe and Asia. According to the World Health Organization, there are 230 million children at risk of clinical and subclinical vitamin A deficiency. People hope that golden rice can meet the needs of hundreds of millions of children around the world for vitamin A each year. This will be a meritorious experience. In addition, rice also contains a small molecule called "phytate," which binds tightly to iron, making it difficult for the small intestine to absorb the iron in the food. It has been estimated that in China, the country with rice as the main food, at least 50 million children are suffering from iron deficiency, and 40%-60% of Chinese children under two years of age are at risk of mental retardation due to iron deficiency. In order to solve the anemia caused by iron deficiency, scientists have also transformed beneficial genes in golden rice. The protein it produces can help people's intestinal absorption of iron. In this way, golden rice is healthier than eating ordinary rice. Coffee is a traditional drink of people in Western countries. It has a special fragrance and it will give people an exciting feeling after drinking coffee. Pure caffeine is a drug that people often say. Excessive intake of caffeine can cause addiction, insomnia, or nervousness, and can cause acute poisoning in severe cases. In order to reduce the content of caffeine in coffee beans, the Japanese research team conducted research on genetically modified coffee trees for about 7 years. Finally, they discovered genes that produce caffeine and used "transgenic interference technology" to suppress the genes. Scientists predict that the caffeine content of coffee beans cultivated by this method can be 70% lower than ordinary coffee beans, but it can still maintain its original flavor. Plant weeds with strong resistance are the enemy of the world’s agricultural production. They compete for sunlight, moisture and nutrients in the fields and crops. Every year in China due to weed damage, the loss of various agricultural products reached 13.5%, of which the grain amounted to 35 billion kilograms. Therefore, the weeds in the field should be regularly removed in agricultural production. However, herbicides often kill crops while removing weeds. To be able to remove weeds in a targeted manner, the researchers screened plants for herbicide-tolerant genes and transferred the genes to crops to grow herbicide-resistant transgenic crops. Farmers applied only a small amount of weed control. The agent can remove weeds without damaging crops. Moreover, reducing the amount of herbicides, it also reduces the pollution of the soil and other ecological environment. Herbicide-resistant transgenic plants that have now been commercially grown are mainly soybean, corn, wheat and cotton. Soybeans are very beneficial to human health. It has been proved that soy can lower cholesterol, prevent heart disease and coronary arteriosclerosis, it can also prevent cancer, including breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer, relieve menopausal syndrome and prevent osteoporosis. So some people think that soybean is a 21st century vitamin. . The increase in people’s demand for soy foods has boosted the growth of GM soya beans. Taking the United States as an example, since 2001, the area of ​​GM soybean cultivation has increased by 1.6 million to 2 million hectares per year. At the same time, the ratio of GM soybean area to total soybean area has also risen from 68% in 2001 to 2004. 90%. In recent years, crop yield losses due to drought, salt damage, frost or cold waves, and poor land have become increasingly serious. If it is not solved in time, it may lead to a food crisis. Many governments have invested a lot of human and financial resources to cultivate genetically modified crops that are drought-resistant, cold-resistant, salt-tolerant and poor-tolerant, and have made considerable progress. In particular, the application of drought-resistant and salt-tolerant genes may completely change the ecological environment of arid saline-alkaline lands, and turn these unproductive lands into fertile land. The cotton plants and animals that gather the best of the United States are not only the source of our food, but also are important raw materials for the production of our daily necessities, such as cotton, wool, and silk. Cotton is the most important raw material for people's clothing. With the advancement of cotton textile technology, cotton can be woven into all kinds of apparel fabrics suitable for spring, summer, autumn and winter seasons. This all-natural fiber warmth, breathability and wearing comfort are all excellent. In the international market, cotton fabrics are one of the most popular fabrics. Cotton is also the second largest crop after grain, and it is the main source of income for more than 100 million cotton farmers in China. It is a commodity that involves two major industries of agriculture and textile industry. Therefore, cotton is a strategic material that affects the national economy and the people's livelihood. Since the 1990s, due to the continuous occurrence of cotton bollworm disasters in most of China's cotton regions, it has brought a huge threat to cotton production. Cotton farmers talked about the “bug†discoloration and the direct economic losses caused by cotton bollworm in 1992 alone. It has reached more than RMB 6 billion and indirect losses have exceeded RMB 10 billion, which has had a great impact on the development of the entire national economy. At the same time, due to the outbreak of the cotton bollworm, pesticides used in pest control and pest management not only increased farmers' planting costs, but also killed other beneficial insects, destroyed ecological balance, and repeatedly caused human and animal poisoning accidents. With pests and diseases seriously affecting cotton production and the ecological environment, governments around the world are trying to find effective ways to control cotton bollworms and other diseases and pests. In 1990, the United States introduced Bt insecticide genes into cotton to obtain insect-resistant transgenic cotton, becoming the first country in the world to have transgenic insect-resistant cotton. In 1998, China also developed Bt-transgenic insect-resistant cotton, becoming the second country after the United States that has independently developed and planted insect-resistant cotton. Insect-resistant cotton is currently the only large-scale planting and preliminary industrialization of transgenic crops in China. In 2003, the planting area reached 450,000 hectares, which increased the profit by 2.2 billion yuan. Insect-resistant cotton has solved the huge losses caused by cotton pests to cotton production, and it also helps to protect the environment and ecological balance by reducing the use of chemical pesticides. In addition to genetically modified insect-resistant cotton, the researchers also improved the quality of cotton fiber through genetic modification. For example, scientists in our country have transferred keratin genes contained in rabbit hair and wool into cotton. To increase the keratin content in cotton fibers. This GM cotton fiber not only maintains its original natural nature, but also has the characteristics of rabbit hair, wool, good elasticity, strong warmth, more slender fibers, better handle and gloss. In improving the quality of cotton fiber, colored cotton is also a major highlight in transgenic cotton. You may not believe that cotton actually has natural colors. This is really amazing! With genetic engineering technology, people can rapidly transfer the colored genes of wild colored cotton to high-quality common cotton varieties to produce colored cotton with excellent fiber quality. Now, brown, green and other colored cotton varieties have been cultivated, and the cultivation of transgenic pink cotton, blue cotton and black cotton varieties has also made great progress. At present, colored cotton on the market is tight commodity, its price is 4-8 times that of ordinary white cotton, and a color cotton garment is priced at more than 100 US dollars. The current color cotton production is less than 1% of the world's cotton production. It is estimated that 30 years later, colored cotton will account for 30% of the total cotton output, reaching 4 million to 5 million tons. Conquering the desert is not an ideal way to solve the problem of the earth's pollution. Transgenic technology has also brought potential benefits to the environment while successfully improving animals and plants themselves. Wood is an important building material and papermaking raw material for people. The number of deforested trees in the world is about 37 million hectares each year. As the population grows, the amount of logging is still rising year by year. However, deforestation will have a destructive effect on the ecological environment of the earth. Although many countries and regions have taken corresponding measures, such as setting logging quotas, protecting natural forests, and developing fast-growing forests, due to the relatively long cycle of timber production, they still cannot meet market needs. The rapid decline in forest area is already a globally serious ecological problem. Israel and the United States discovered a cellulosic bundling gene (CBD) in the research and development of transgenic poplar. After transferring this gene into plant cells, the cellulose synthesis rate and growth rate of plants have been greatly improved, and the growth rate of trees has also increased. Increased by 50%. The United States also cooperated with Sweden to transfer Arabidopsis leafy gene (LFY) with a life cycle of only 4-6 weeks to European poplars. The transgenic poplars obtained grow faster and can blossom into small woods in one year. In general, it takes 10 years or more for such trees to form. At the same time, applying the transgenic pest-resistant technology to the cultivation of fast-growing trees can make the trees grow healthier and further ensure the survival of forest trees. Land desertification is a global environmental disaster. At present, the global desertification area accounts for 1/4 of the total land area of ​​the Earth. It has affected more than 100 countries and regions on six continents. About one-sixth of the world’s population lives in these regions. There are more than 100 countries in the world affected by desertification, and about 900 million people are affected and threatened by desertification. For example, the desert areas of Saudi Arabia and Egypt account for more than 90% of the country's land area. Australia's desert and semi-desert areas account for 35% of the country's total area. Desertification land in China also accounts for 27.46% of the country's land area. In order to make the desert look green, people have been looking for desert tree species. Poplars can survive under harsh conditions such as drought and salinized soils, and therefore have always played the role of the stormtroopers in the greening of the desert. According to this characteristic of poplar, people continuously researched and gradually unveiled the mystery of plant drought resistance. Researchers at Hebrew University in Israel have isolated special proteins in poplar cells that ensure their survival under harsh conditions. The researchers used transgenic technology to further increase the content of this protein in poplars so that they can be cultivated according to local conditions. A desert green tree species with greater resistance. Researchers in China are also transferring drought-resistant and cold-resistant genes suitable for desert survival, such as seabuckthorn and red willow, to conventional tree species to cultivate trees suitable for the western climate. The cultivation of genetically modified desert tree species will undoubtedly find a new way for the comprehensive transformation of the ecological environment in the desert.