A Cautionary Tale of Genetic Engineering

NPR carried this story last week - researchers that added in a gene for resistance to a virus found something interesting.

The fear with genetic engineering is that there could be "genetic drift" - the genes spread from the target. So the project added a gene (that is commonly added to squash) to a wild squash.

1. The added gene showed resistance to the virus.
2. But those plants were healthier and therefore attracted more bacteria.
3. And ultimately fared worse because the bacteria ate them!

Not saying this is a nail in the coffin for any genetic engineering, but it does point to the fact that genetic engineering is no more of a silver bullet than conventional genetic breeding programs.