Fighting Mother Nature with Biotechnology - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 439

DNA in its genome. And many examples of gene transfer from one species to oth-
ers can be cited. Different bacterial species do it regularly without any human help,
and Agrobacterium species transfer DNA to higher plants, inserting bacterial DNA
into the plant genome, where it is read and expressed by the plant machinery. Closer
to home, recent research shows that even the human species, Homo sapiens , carries
DNA originally from other species, from viruses to a now extinct relative, Homo
Neanderthalis .
On this latter point, it seems our genetic ancestors, H. sapiens and H. Neanderthalis
met and carried out some early cross species gene transfer experiments shortly after
the great migration out of Africa (Green et al. 2010; Yotova et al. 2011)) some fifty to
eighty thousand years ago. Unfortunately, we have no contemporaneous sociological
data on the social mores or propriety of such early interspecies fraternizations from
either of the species involved. However, some of these early mating experiments not
only disproved the “species barrier” concept (by successfully producing fertile and
fecund progeny) but also they were so successful that virtually all subsequent human
populations still carry genetic remnants—as much as 4 percent—of those early inter-
species trysts. Perhaps even more interesting, the DNA of humans remaining in Africa
was not thusly contaminated with nonhuman Neanderthal genes, so their descen-
dants, modern Africans, are, scientifically, the genetically “purest” of the human races,
a fact undoubtedly disputed by those humans carrying a larger than normal propor-
tion of Neanderthal features.
Many other species analyzed also show the presence of DNA originating in foreign
species. This “horizontal gene transfer,” while not all that common in higher species, is
also not all that rare. Wheat, the “staff of life” and source of “our daily bread,” is itself a
complex hybrid of genes from at least three distinct species. Both Mother Nature and
human plant breeders, even those using “traditional” breeding methods, regularly
transfer genes across the mythical species barrier.
Paradoxically, “sustainable agriculture” cannot succeed if based on pre-industrial
farming practices but must continually change, adapt, and evolve to match the corre-
spondingly evolving challenges. This doesn't mean we should continue the current prac-
tice of industrial agriculture, as that trajectory is clearly nonsustainable as well, with its
reliance on nonrenewable petroleum supplies for so many aspects of modern farming,
from tractor fuel to raw material for synthetic fertilizers. Instead, it means recognizing
current challenges (such as diminishing petroleum reserves) and adopting appropriate
innovations. It means more judicious application of technological innovations, with the
goal not to maximize food production but to optimize food production. Optimizing
production integrates efficiency and sustainability into the calculus, as opposed to
maximizing production, where there is no consideration of any factors beyond vol-
ume. Optimizing food production means deliberative analysis of differing options and
judicious selection of adopting the options giving the best balance of food quality, food
quantity, and preservation of input resources along with minimal environmental and
ecological degradation.