Sweet Potatoes Genetically Modified? Yes, But Naturally

What do you get when Mother Nature does her own genetic tweaks? It’s the good old sweet potato.

Yes, this sweet-tasting root vegetable, a distant relative of the potato, does contain something peculiar in its genes: ‘foreign’ DNA sequences found in Agrobacterium. The researchers who identified the genes stumbled upon the discovery while they were mapping the entire genome of the sweet potato for an entirely different purpose, particularly, for viral diseases.

Ruling out material contamination, the researchers began a detailed study on these DNA sequences. After testing 291 Sweet potato cultivars -- wild varieties included -- researchers found out that these genes are really a part of the sweet potato genome and not just a result of bacterial contamination. In addition, the sequences are actively expressed in the vegetable crop, giving sweet potatoes attractive qualities that many farmers consider for domestic cultivation.

The discovery suggests that genetic modification can be possible even without human intervention. But what gives man-made GMOs the edge is that we have full control over whatever qualities we add to a particular plant -- something we cannot do when Mother Nature takes its own course.

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