Susie Kiene/DN
Jennifer Graebner takes a break from the days’ seminars outside of
. Hamilton Hall. Graebner was in town from Missouri on Tuesday for the
Thespian Festival.
DNA research can make food cheaper, healthier
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Staff Reporter " '
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Unless you happen to be O.J. Simpson, you
may wonder how DNA technology could possi
bly affect your life, especially here in Nebraska.
The Institute of Agriculture and Natural
Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln is striving to study this basic building block
of life to enhance crops and livestock in the
Heartland.
The IANR is conducting basic and applied
DNA research in a wide variety of agricultural
areas, from cheese bacteria to swine
pseudorabies virus.
Dr. Steve Baenziger, head of agronomy,
said, “It can make food cheaper and healthier,
and agriculture more productive.”
Dr. Anne Vidaver, head of plant pathology,
said, “People have to remember that everyday
they are consuming the products of genetic
material.”
Since the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
strand is too small to see, scientists must use
indirect chemical methods to analyze and alter
it. Baenziger said, “DNA technology makes our
research more precise.”
IANR scientists can insert altered DNA into
plants using a gene gun.
“The first challenge is to get it into the DNA
of the plant, then to have it expressed, then to
have it expressed from one generation to an
other,” Vidaver said.
Often, plants are resistant to the newly al
tered DNA. This is similar to a human’s ability
to resist disease.
“We’ve evolved so that it’s not easy for
something either good or bad to get into us. It’s
the same thing with plants,” she said.
The IANR also applies DNA technology to
livestock.
Dr. Jack Schmitz, head of veterinary and bio
medical sciences, said, “It contributes to trying to
hold down the cost of the food supply because of
reducing the cost of animal diseases.”
In DNA research, a key difference between
animals and humans is that people carry many
more genetic diseases than animals.
This is because obvious genetic flaws are
removed from the animal population through
breeding, Schmitz said.
What about fears of possible public backlash
from DNA technology?
Schmitz said, “There have been thousands of
examples of things that people have argued
were not moral at the time they started, yet now
they are commonplace.”
Will DNA technology eventually replace
traditional breeding methods?
Perhaps, but not in the present. Vidaver said,
“The relative cost is at least 10 times what
traditional breeding is. It’s a big investment.”
Possible future applications of DNA tech
nology are manifold, from larger fish by hor
mone manipulation to an all-purpose vaccine
for major viral illnesses.
It's HOT out there!
_
Just 5 minutes from campusjmwest 'Vstreetin the Westsate Shopping Center
Discover Nebraska Repertory Theatre This Summer!
Whodunit! Have you seen Edwin Drood? ^
Rupert Holmes' musical mystery
THE MYSTERY OF
EDWIN DROOD
July 6,7,8 & 11,12,15 at 8 pm
July 9 & 16 at 3 pm UPC Night July 13
Special Family Night Preview July 5 at 8 pm--AII Seats $5 j
Box Office: 472-2073 Howell Theatre 12th & R streets
fA[ezufheatre festival 95
Sweetwater
a staged reading of a funny new script by
playwrights Ron Hansen & Jim Sheperd
Sunday, July 9 at 8 pm & Monday, July 10 at 6:30 pm L
Studio Theatre-Third Floor-Temple Building-Adults $2/Chlldren $ 1 |
Parking Problems?
Need a Place to Park?
Park by
Day $1.00
Park by
Month
$25.00
Don't Fight For Parking!
Enter at 8th & S Streets, 1 Block West of Memorial Stadium
Contact: 1033 "O" St., Suite 120,474-2274
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