Re: [DIYbio] Re: Uptake of food transgenes by guy bacteria

Not to mention that, meta-level, the fact that they're concerned about
HGT in the gut sort of proves the point that transgenics isn't a
man-made phenomenon but rather something entirely natural.

Put another way, if HGT absorption of genes-for-stuff in the gut is a
problem, then worry about all those entirely natural genes that would
kill you if overexpressed there, instead of things like Bt or even
ampicillin resistance. Plants are full of natural pesticides far more
toxic than the ones we use in agriculture, yet we've never heard of a
gut bacterium cloning those genes and killing us, yet.

On 13/11/14 06:55, Patrik D'haeseleer wrote:
> Also keep in mind that the Bt toxin is just a protein, and it's a
> protein that is highly specific for certain ranges of insects. So even
> if there is horizontal transfer to you gut bacteria, those gut bacteria
> are not going to get any benefit from it, so they'll probably just lose
> it again. And any Bt toxin that does get produced will likely get
> digested along with all the other proteins passing through your gut. And
> of course, the "toxin" itself is entirely non-toxic to humans, which is
> why organic farmers are allowed to spray purified Bt toxin on their crops!
>
> You also have to look at this against the background of what other genes
> are undergoing horizontal transfer all around us every single second. Bt
> is a common soil bacteria, and it is far more likely that wild type Bt
> bacteria would be swapping genes with other wild type soil bacteria on
> food, than that your gut bacteria will take up the genes from engineered
> plants. Also, your gut bacteria get bombarded with DNA from billions of
> other genes, including ones that could be far more useful to those
> bacteria than a narrow-spectrum insecticide from a soil bacteria.
>
> So yeah, in theory there's a minuscule chance that your gut bacteria
> will take up this foreign gene, but you probably wouldn't even notice if
> they did and you should be far, far more worried about aquiring a
> bacteria with a multidrug resistance gene.
>
> Kinda like how there is a minuscule chance of aquiring Ebola in the US,
> but your chance of dying from the flu this year is about 10,000 times
> higher...
>
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