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The technique used to ‘genetically modify’ organisms by transferring genes from one organism into another is called GM technology. Organisms, which are modified (altered) by this technology are called GMO’s, or genetically modified organisms.
GM technology is capable of creating organisms that would never occur in nature. Natural breeding occurs within the same or related species but GM technology allows scientists to transfer genes between different species. For instance, they can remove a gene from a bacteria, virus, fish, animal, even human and insert it into a plant.
The purpose of GM technology is to alter the traits or characteristics of an organism. For instance, if scientists wish to create a frost resistant tomato they could insert a gene from an arctic fish, which produces an antifreeze protein.
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