Likewise, the application of gene editing in humans has raised ethical concerns, particularly regarding its potential use to alter traits such as intelligence and beauty.
The use of neuroscientific treatment can be justified partly through arguments about freedom of choice; an individual born with genetically altered traits has no choice in the matter.Georg BlahaBerlinSIR – As a neurologist (with a special interest in neurodegenerative disorders), I am concerned about the freedom of scientific inquiry being curtailed.
Both nuclear and plastid genomes have been genetically engineered to alter traits in plants.
Crop domestication is often accompanied by changes in metabolite compositions that alter traits such as flavor, color, or other beneficial properties.
It should be pointed out that in all these examples, the altered traits could be explained by either direct transfer and/or allelic or non-allelic genic interactions (e.g., epistasis) between the two parental species.
In our recent study, we used a virus vector and succeeded in inducing heritable TGS of the endogenous CHS-A gene, thereby produced a plant that does not carry a transgene but has altered traits [ 21, 22].
Here we consider the potential for RNA-guided gene drives based on the CRISPR nuclease Cas9 to serve as a general method for spreading altered traits through wild populations over many generations.
Exploiting the existing natural diversity and using techniques such as mutagenesis, protoplast fusion, breeding, genome shuffling and directed evolution to generate artificial diversity, or the use of genetic modification strategies to alter traits in a more targeted way, have led to the selection of superior industrial yeasts.
The basic conclusion of this paper is that the genetic architecture of a quantitative trait that is, the size and topology of the underlying network interacts with the rate of environmental change to alter trait heritability, which in turn effects persistence times.
Thus, following their initial identification in genomewide scans, putative positively selected loci should be examined for associated phenotypic effects and the altered trait(s) placed in the context of a biological hypothesis in which they could be, or have been, of benefit.
