Plants are genetically modified to produce abundant, healthy food
products that are pest resistant. As large quantities of such genetically
modified food products are grown, consumers are wary of them at the same time.
There is a constant demand for monitoring and labeling them. Scientist have
developed a convenient test that detects genetic modifications in food.
Li-Tao
Yang, Sheng-Ce Tao and colleagues took a note that by the end of 2012, farmers
were growing GM crops on more than 420 million acres of land across 28
countries. That's 100 times more than when commercialization began in 1996. But
still doubts are there about the possible effects on the environment and human
health of these modified crops which are created by changing the plants' genes
to make them more healthful or more able to resist pests.
In
response to the growing demand for regulation, policymakers, mainly in Europe, have
instituted certain regulations to monitor GM products. Inspite of efforts of researchers
, who have come up with many ways to detect genetic modification in crops, no
single test existed to do a comprehensive scan.
Li-Tao
Yang, Sheng-Ce Tao and colleagues developed a test they call "MACRO,"
which stands for: multiplex amplification on a chip with readout on an oligo
microarray. It combines two well-known genetic methods to flag about 97 percent
of the known commercialized modifications, almost twice as many as other tests.
It also can be easily expanded to include future genetically modified crops.
