GMO:yes or no???

Intoduction: (a) Genetically Modified Organisms or GMO, argued by proponents, are believed to solve the problem of the overuse of pesticides and herbicides on crops that may have long term effects on the environment and human health. GMO's are used to genetically manipulate crop plants to have specific traits. This technique is not new, but what is new is the option to take the genes out of another organism (doesn't have to be from a plant species) for a specific trait and directly place it into crop plants. Some examples include GMO's that are resistant to pests or drought, improved appearance, and increased crop yield. GMO's can be identified by and antibody based test (enayme-linked immucosorbent assay) which can spot the proteins that are made by the GM crops. Another way to detect GMO foods is by a process called the polymerase chain reaction that searches for the specific DNA sequence of a GM food. Today, there is much controversy over GM crops and the absence of the requirement to label GM foods in the US by the government. People who oppose GMO's say that there is the potential for "superweeds" that would occur by the cross pollination of natural weeds and herbicide resistent crops. Also "superbugs"could arise due to the toxins in pest-resistent crops. There is no diversity in the crops (monoculture) which makes them suseptable to a massive wipeout. People could have allergic reactions to certain proteins of the GM crops. Many say there isn't even enough reasearch done to forsee and understand the tinkering of plant diversity and manipulation. (b) The purpose of this lab is to test and see if the food item brought in is genetically modified. Since a label for GM foods is not required in the US, we are unable to identify them. With this experiment, we are able to find out if a favorite food we have been eating is genetically modified or not. (c) DAY 1-The first step will be to extract DNA from food samples. The sample which would be turned into a slurry will then be combined with instagene, the same will be done with the certified non-GMO food product(this will act as a control to test if the lab worked properly). The samples will then be put into a waterbath for five munutes and then refridgerated. DAY 2-Master mix is added to each pcr tube which will be iced. Then DNA template will be added to the pcr tubes but avoiding the pellet from the instagene. The pcr tubes will then be set in a thermal cycler which rapidly heats and cools. This allows the template strands to seperate or denature and the primers to anneal to the denaturated template strands. While in the cycler the DNA polymerase also extends the primers and makes complete copies of each DNA strand. DAY 3-After the pcr tubes have been in the microtube adaptor, loading dye will be added to each sample. The samples will be loaded into the agarose gel. Results are seen after stained in fast blast DNA stain.