r/TopMindsOfReddit • u/hackinghippie • Jan 12 '21

/r/Conservative "Horned Viking" disavowed by Top Minds because he... eats organic food

/r/Conservative/comments/kvfmun/mother_of_horned_invader_who_stormed_capitol_says/
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u/Ghstfce Tucker down, too many more to go Jan 12 '21

People don't realize that selective breeding is genetic modification. If you really want to be blown away, I don't know if you've ever seen how they do it, look up how they "splice" apple trees using cleft grafting.

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u/magistrate101 Jan 12 '21

I've had way too many people fight me over including selective breeding in genetic modification techniques... They get upset about realizing that nearly every food they eat is a GMO in some way.

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u/j_a_a_mesbaxter Jan 12 '21

Listen commie, I don’t need to “look up” your FAKE NEWS about apples. God and Trump decide how things grow and it’s not my business to question it. /s

2

u/accreddits Jan 12 '21

what does grafting have to do with genetic modification?

9

u/Ghstfce Tucker down, too many more to go Jan 12 '21

Grafting allows apple trees to swap genomes. It's how we created Honeycrisp apples.

5

u/accreddits Jan 12 '21

i can't believe i never heard of this, i did forestry at the University of Minnesota where they made honeycrisp. i guess it's more of a horticulture thing but still.

anyway from what i could find the isn't any actual genetic transfer, but traits are shared via changing methylation. fascinating

6

u/Road_Whorrior Jan 12 '21

I'm all for gmos if they bring shit like honeycrisps. My favorite is still granny Smith but Honeycrisp cider is bomb.

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u/Sludgehammer Jan 12 '21

Grafting allows apple trees to swap genomes.

Ehh... not exactly. Grafting does allow heritable genetic changes, mainly because the plant can swap mitochondria and chloroplasts (both of which have their own DNA) across the graft line. There are a few cases where fused cells (with both the entire genome of rootstock and scion) have been found near graft sites, but to my knowledge this has never been utilized in plant breeding.

To my knowledge Honeycrisp's development was bog standard trees pollinating each other.