3 ms·
I presume the RNAi described here targets regions of DNA of about ~20 nucleotides. Off-target effects are par for the course, but if you pick your 20 nucleotide
by mjt0229 13y ago
I presume the RNAi described here targets regions of DNA of about ~20 nucleotides. Off-target effects are par for the course, but if you pick your 20 nucleotides carefully, you can get pretty precise. Common off-target effects also come from an orthogonal RNAi pathway that would would affect particular endogenous RNAs sharing the first ~7 nucleotides in that sequence.
Your argument about "toe-to-toe with evolutionary biology" is a little misguided. Everything about agriculture and pest control is going toe-to-toe with evolutionary biology. You either let evolution run all over you, or you try to keep up. Monoculture is a problem, but crop diversity wouldn't eliminate the evolutionary challenge - it's just another mitigating strategy.
- mjt0229 13y agoFar be it from me to defend Monsanto, though. They're a horrible, horrible corporation.
- lublublub 13y agoI'm sure there are some people in Monsanto who mean well, however, I'll agree.
- lublublub 13y agoInformative! thanks! Though I never ment to suggest that the evolutionary challenge would be eliminated--it just changes the approach to the problem, rather than looking at specific pests and targeting them individually, (which is actually an endless fight--but may provide continued revenue for Monsanto) look at the systemic relationships and the patterns they create as they persist. If you eliminate one pest, you still have broad homogenous crop, which is a natural draw for all sorts of similar 'pest' problems. In any case I see it as being symptomatic of our highly optimized food system--which has problems in all sorts of places (input/output and stderr), as I think we are optimizing for the wrong thing in the long term. Slightly circular, and OT--sorry.
- mjt0229 13y agoYou're absolutely right about that.