What is Genetically modified organism?
A '''genetically modified organism''' ('''GMO''') is an [[organism]] whose [[gene]]tic material has been altered using [[genetic engineering]] techniques.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/culture-beaker/%E2%80%98gmos%E2%80%99-isn%E2%80%99t-four-letter-word-it-hard-define | work=Science News | first=Rachel | last=Ehrenberg | title='GMOs' isn't a four-letter word, but it is hard to define | date=Feb 5, 2016 | access-date=May 4, 2016 | archive-date=April 12, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412090405/https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/culture-beaker/%E2%80%98gmos%E2%80%99-isn%E2%80%99t-four-letter-word-it-hard-define | url-status=dead }}</ref> Organisms that have been genetically modified include micro-organisms such as bacteria and yeast, insects, plants, fish, and mammals. GMOs are the source of [[genetically modified food]]s, and are also widely used in scientific research and to produce goods other than food. == 1970–1989 == === 1972–1973 === * Modern genetic engineering began in 1972 when United States Biochemists [[Herbert Boyer]] and [[Stanley Cohen (biochemist)|Stanley Cohen]] used enzymes to cut a bacteria plasmid and insert another strand of DNA in the gap. Both bits of DNA were from the same type of bacteria, but this milestone, the invention of recombinant DNA technology, offered a window into the previously impossible—the mixing of traits between totally dissimilar organisms.<ref> Cohen S; Chang A.; Boyer H. & Helling R. 1973. Construction of biologically functional bacterial plasmids in vitro. ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' '''70''' (11): 3240–3244. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC427208/?page=1]</ref> === 1976–1977 === *[[Allan Maxam]] and [[Walter Gilbert]] developed a DNA sequencing method based on chemical modification of DNA and subsequent cleavage at specific bases.<ref name=Maxam77>{{cite journal |author=Maxam AM, Gilbert W |title=A new method for sequencing DNA |journal=Proc. Natl. Aca