Genetically modified crops make up more than 90% of the planted farmland in the

Question

Genetically modified crops make up more than 90% of the planted farmland in the United States. One such crop, Bt cotton, is a commercial variety of cotton which is a transgenic organism. Bt cotton produces an insecticide from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. The boll weevil, an insect which devastated cotton production during the 1800s and early 1900s, cannot eat Bt cotton without dying. Between Bt cotton and normal cotton, which one is more likely to become an invasive species? Explain why. what is the likely evolutionary effect of Bt cotton's widespread adoption on the boll weevil? Is it possible for someone who wears material made from the Bt cotton plant to have Bacillius thuringiensis genes enter their cells?

Explanation / Answer

5. A) Bt cotton will become a more invasive species than the normal cotton. This is because, the boll weevil insect can easily infect the normal cotton species and eventually finish it, but it cannot eat the Bt cotton without dying. Thus, Bt cotton is more likely to survive from the boll weevil insect.

5. B) If the Bt cotton starts to be adopted in a wider number than the normal cotton, then with time, there might be a reduction of the boll weevil species in number .

5. C) No . It is not possible that someone wearing a material made from Bt cotton plant would have the Bacillus thuringiensis gene entering in their cells. This is because  the Bacillus thuringiensis is a soil bacterium and its gene can only be transferred in the plant.

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