فصلنامه ایمنی زیستی
سال چهارم شماره 1 (پاییز 1390)

With the advent of genetic engineering techniques, GMOs appeared on the market in the world. Foods drive from GMOs are of higher quality and their production is cheaper. Informed trade of GMOs in international market and importation of GMOs with the consent of the importing country is emphasized in Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and several other national, regional and international instruments. Therefore, rapid, cheap and sensitive methods for detecting and monitoring GMOs are required. One of the important factors to confirm transformation is the diagnosis of genetic elements transferred to transgenic organisms. To date, two groups of techniques are used for detection of GMOs: the PCR-based and non-PCR based techniques. Although there are more advanced non-PCR-based techniques for the detection of GMO, but since the required equipment is expensive and the detailed analysis is not necessary, the PCR-based GMO detection techniques such as multiplex PCR, real time PCR, NASBA and LAMP seems to be more sufficient for developing countries. These methods have been more recently used due to their high efficiency, low cost and availability.

The financial losses of agricultural products caused by plant parasitic nematodes are estimated to be US $100 billion worldwide. Because of the increasing restrictions on using nematicide compounds, such as high costs and high level of toxicity, now a need for cultivating and using of resistant varieties is presumed. Although, genetic engineering for producing of nematode resistant crops is less developed compared to other similar fields, but nowadays, modern plant biotechnology has resolved the problem and a large number of plant parasitic nematode resistant crops have been produced with the help of genetic engineering and their resistance has been confirmed. A number of transgenic approaches hold promise, the role and the ability of plant-derived enzyme inhibitor and lectin genes have been evaluated. Early indications are that these are likely to be effective; the best described being the expression of proteinase inhibitors to disrupt nematode digestion. Gene pyramiding could not only increase the plant general resistance at field level, but also to control a broad spectrum damage caused by variety plant parasitic nematodes.

One of the landmark results of the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 was the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Biodiversity Convention calls upon parties to conserve and sustainably use biological diversity while equitably sharing the benefits of the use of genetic resources. These goals are key elements of sustainable development. Biodiversity in general means the variation in all kind of life around us. The life of human beings and other creatures and even next generations somehow depends on the biodiversity conservation. Hence, the conservation and understanding the ways to suitably utilize this diversity is crucial for sustainable development and well-being of all societies. Biodiversity was considered as a valuable source of income in economy for long time. Nowadays, in addition to its traditionalusage (hunting, fisheries), biodiversity is widely being used in agriculture, industry, medicine and even for amusement and eco-tourism. Biodiversity conservation is one of the main concerns for most of the countries. It is anticipated that in future, the direct pressure (over exploitation, habitat destruction …) and indirect effects of human activities on natural ecosystems will be the main threats for biodiversity, resource renovation, and even for life on the Earth. Identification, conservation, and use of genetic resources are crucial for better utilization of biodiversity toward sustainable development. Today, public awareness about the importance of identification and conservation of biodiversity and its important role in health of biosphere is increasing. World’s population is increasing; supplying food for this increasing population is very important and this has to be done through sustainable agriculture. In this review, with emphasis on the importance of biodiversity for human health and next generations and introducing its threats, we tried to show the importance and vital role of biotechnology and genetic engineering in identification, conservation, sustainable exploitation and even increasing biodiversity.

Cloning is asexual reproduction from of some selected individuals in such a way that the newly produced offspring is like their parent in genetic content. The base of cloning is transferring nucleus (somatic or stem cell) into enucleated oocyte. Considering the purpose, there are two types of cloning: reproductive cloning with purpose of having an offspring that is similar to his parent in genetic content and therapeutic cloning whose main purpose is to useembryo stem cells for curing some diseases especially degenerative ones. This is a multistep process and its steps include: donor cell, the recipient oocyte, nuclear transfer process, embryo culture, and embryo transfer. Cloning can be applied in different areas including genetic engineering, protecting a special species, domestic animal cloning, and therapeutic cells through embryo stem cell nuclear transfer. One of the main purposes of cloning is producing transgenic animals. Transgenesis is the process of transferring the sequence of forign DNA to multicellular organism and making sure that theses sequences will be transferred to the offsprings. Genetic engineering technology has provided a more efficient way for gene transfer in cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, and fish. Transgenic animal reproduction has many different advantages. Some of them include: producing more efficient animals for the purpose of studying about human related diseases, producing animals for the purpose of using medical protein, using their organs for transplantation, producing animals for the purpose of regulating gene expression and the coding sequence. Right applications of gene transfer in farm animals improve the quality and quantity of yield, disease resistance, production of valuable proteins in the milk glands or other organs, genetic modifications of pigs for xenotransplantation and production of new animal models for the time when the rodent cannot be applied for the problem of interest. This paper reviews the recent advances and applications of transgenesis in livestock and their derivative products. We also analyze here some emerging applications of livestock transgenesis in the field of pharmacology, meat and dairy industry, xenotransplantation, and human disease modeling.

This study was conducted to evaluate the public attitudes towards Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Bushehr city in south-west Iran. For this purpose, 295 questionnaires with 39 items were randomly distributed among people in Bushehr in 2009. These questionnaires had three parts including personal information, perception levels and public attitudes in the field of GMOs. Results showed that education level and age were the most influential factors on the public perceptions about these organisms. The results also showed that the public awareness about GMOs is limited. Only 3% had enough knowledge and around 25 percentages had no information in this filed. Nevertheless, less than 33% of participants were disagreed with the conception of GMOs. Participants with 18-25 years old and people with more than 45 years old were the most and the least knowledgeable group of people about GMOs, respectively. Around 45% of people had previous exposure and had studied at various levels about these organisms. Based on our results, 34% and 40% of participants had no information whatsoever about the application of biotechnology in plant and animal sciences, respectively.

Biotechnology-phobia is a stream through which superficial and pseudo-scientific claims are made against biotechnology and claims are made about biotechnology being dangerous with the goal to hold back the nations advanced and development in this field and preventing the nations access to advanced technologies. Inspired by the technology-phobic discussions of Marks and Heidegger at the academic level and through wide dissemination of pseudoscience and false allegations at the media level, the stream provides the public with an attitude against biotechnology. This venomous environment itself would be effective on the outcome of the institutions responsible for policy and decision making. But there are also some direct attempts seeking to influence the decisions of some officials in Iran by Green Pease and its allies. In this article attempts is discussed the origins and methods of this complex.

Since 1990s transgenic foods are available in the market and food basket. Soybean, corn, cotton and canola has been the most important transgenic crops developed for resistance to herbicides and plant pests. Increased cultivation of transgenic plants from 148 million hectares (m ha) in 2010 to 160 m ha in 2011 shows the importance of attention to issues surrounded these products. Although development of different traits has been facilitated using transformation methods, acceptance of these plants has faced oppositions and/or agreements in different countries. The side effects of transgenic materials on organisms and environment is the biggest concern claimed by opponents. The concerns about safety of transgenic foods have resulted in establishment of regulations about different aspects of these materials. The future of transgenic plants is considerably influenced by the required regulations for their growing and processing. It seems that advances in transgenic technology and related sciences decrease the concerns about transgenic products and establishment of international regulations has improved their release and marketing acceptability in different societies.