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Citrus Greening Essay

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Taylor LeesnitzerHS301 Plant PropagationCitrus Greening AssignmentFall, 2014Candidatus liberibacter asiaticus, commonly known as “citrus greening disease”, is a bacteria that is rapidly affecting citrus tree production. The disease is carried by insects and, once introduced, sours citrus fruit and leaves them green. This is a serious problem for citrus growers. While no other varieties of trees have been found to have natural immunity, this epidemic emphasizes the risks of monoculture. There are two primary varieties of orange trees currently grown for production – Hamlin and Valencia. This small pool of genetic variability in such a widely relied upon product could be wipedout entirely with a single disease. This implies devastating economic consequences for these massive industries relying on the product. It also leaves the public without oranges. Once C. liberibacter infected the groves of Southern Gardens Citrus, the company’s president began looking for a solution. Since finding that conventional pesticide application does not work, some have begun looking for a solution in genetic engineering. By introducing genes from other organisms’ DNA, citrus growers might be able to find resistance to the disease and save their industry. Mr. Ricke Kress of Southern Gardens has looked at genes from pigs, spinach, a virus, and even a synthesized compound. With all of these potential solutions, there will be an unprecedented amount of public backlash against “contaminating” the purity of their early-morning orange juice with GMOs, regardless of the potential benefits. Personally, I believe that there is incredible value in GMO technology. I am entirely in favor of reaping the benefit of this incredible innovation. I do agree that products containing genetically modified components should be labelled, so the consumers can choose to make informed decisions. Most of the backlash seems to be from those that are uneducated about the actual process and implications. As mentioned in the article, using DNA from spinach will not make oranges green, as some might believe. The DNA that scientists are isolating involves disease resistance, not taste or appearance. In my opinion, the public already consumes spinach and pork – what is the difference if it is in our orange juice as well? Practically all of the food we consume today is a result of longstanding genetic engineering and human manipulation, to some extent.As mentioned in the article, people will either have to accept GMOs or drink apple juice. If the spinach gene grafted into orange trees is not accepted, citrus growers will have to keep trying pesticide application. They have been authorized to increase the applicationof pesticides more than ever before, which implies its own set of risks. After a while, the disease will develop resistance to the pesticides that do manage to work. Then we willTaylor LeesnitzerHS301 Plant PropagationCitrus Greening AssignmentFall, 2014either not have oranges, or have new and potentially unsafe pesticides developed to keep trying to fight off the disease. This outlines the importance of using genetic engineering instead of risky chemicals.This entire process is relevant to plant propagation. From growing the original orange trees, to figuring out how to combat the disease, to grafting the potential solution, this allrelates. Disregarding that we probably wouldn’t have the type of oranges or technology that we do today, without the science/art of plant propagation, there would be practicallyno hope, besides the possible long-term evolution of natural disease resistance. Scientists would not think of isolating bacterium resistant genes from an entirely different plant onto an orange tree. They would not know how, or that it is actually possible. Issues such as this put into perspective the true importance and significance of plant


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