A modification in our DNA
Our ancient ancestors were able to make vitamin C from glucose, but we lost this ability millions of years ago. To get vitamin C, we eat vegetables and fruit, just as most people eat animal products to get essential amino acids and fatty acids. We cannot produce these ourselves, but we get them from our diet.
By modifying specific genes in our DNA or inserting new genes from other organisms, it would become possible to develop new functions such as the production of essential amino acids, fatty acids and vitamins.
Genetically reprogramming humans is still a thing of the future but with technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9 scientists can already make very targeted changes to our DNA. For example, this technique is already used on embryos for medical purposes.
What you see is a model of a foetus with a double helix (DNA structure) in which those changes would be made.
Would you choose this solution, which future generations could undergo in the future?
Did you know that
some goats have been genetically modified to produce spider silk proteins? Scientists have inserted spider genes into the DNA of goat embryos so that these goats produce the protein in their milk that can be used to make spider silk. This process produces much more silk than spiders can produce themselves.