General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Neil deGrasse Tyson Tells GMO Critics to "Chill Out" [View all]mike_c
(36,281 posts)Genes are nothing more than information storage. Genes store information about how organisms successfully overcame challenges in their evolutionary past.
Information is universal. When we speak of "spider genes" or "bacteria genes" we are really only referring to where specific information is stored, not to any unique property of spiders or bacteria. It's just information.
When hybrids are formed by reproductive genetic recombination, information about the solutions to problems from one organism's history is combined with information from another organism's evolutionary history. That's all. There is no actual requirement that the genes be from the same species, or even similar ones, because information is universal. That requirement is only imposed by the parent organisms' reproductive systems-- NOT their genes.
Genetic engineering "in a lab," as you put it, simply overcomes the problem of reproductive system incompatibility to allow us to use information about desirable characteristics-- pest or pathogen resistance, improved nutrition, etc-- from one organism's suite of solutions to improve another organism. It is nothing more than lateral information transfer, exactly like hybridization.
The only difference is one of technique. What is it about laboratories that the anti-GMO movement is so freaked out about? That's where the anti-science part comes in, I'm afraid. They have an irrational fear of science and technology.