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Biotechnology

This subject guide is to help students in the Biotechnology area.

AI and Information Credibility

AI & Credibility Activity

Each group will be given / assigned one generative AI tools. On 25 Sept. 2024, each tool was fed the prompt: “Provide a summary of how biotechnology can be used with plants to make plants virus resistant. Please provide evidence and sources when applicable. The audience is college students in an entry-level biotechnology course.” (Two tools had modified prompts.)

Each group will evaluate the credibility of the text generated by their assigned tool. Pay special attention to:

  • Purpose - Why does this information exist in the way it does?

  • Verifiability (Accuracy) - Can you verify this information? Is the generated summary factual? Is there any way for you to know where the information originally came from?

    • If it provides references or suggested resources, check them against Google Scholar. Do they exist? Or were they hallucinated?

  • Newness - If it provides references or suggested resources, is the currency of those sources appropriate?

Please be prepared to share your thoughts on these four factors for your assigned tool.

Access the shared chat for each tool

Claude (Anthropic) AI Chat Text (9/25/24)

Prompt:

“Provide a summary of how biotechnology can be used with plants to make plants virus resistant. Please provide evidence and sources when applicable. The audience is college students in an entry-level biotechnology course.”

Claude's Generated Response:

"Here's a summary of how biotechnology can be used to make plants virus-resistant, suitable for college students in an entry-level biotechnology course:
Biotechnology offers several approaches to developing virus-resistant plants:

  1. Coat Protein-Mediated Resistance: This technique involves introducing the gene for the viral coat protein into the plant's genome. When expressed, this protein interferes with the virus's ability to replicate and spread within the plant.
    1. Evidence: In 1986, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis developed tobacco plants resistant to tobacco mosaic virus using this method. This work, published in PNAS, was a groundbreaking demonstration of the concept.
    2. Source: Powell-Abel, P., et al. (1986). Delay of disease development in transgenic plants that express the tobacco mosaic virus coat protein gene. Science, 232(4751), 738-743.
  2. RNA Interference (RNAi): RNAi is a natural defense mechanism in plants that can be enhanced through genetic engineering. By introducing sequences complementary to viral genes, plants can produce small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that target and degrade viral RNA.
    1. Evidence: A study on cassava plants engineered to express siRNAs targeting cassava brown streak virus showed significant resistance to the virus.
    2. Source: Vanderschuren, H., et al. (2012). Transgenic resistance to Cassava brown streak disease in East African cassava cultivars. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 10(3), 343-352.
  3. CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing: This newer technique can be used to modify plant genes to enhance natural resistance or to target viral genomes directly.
    1. Evidence: Researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 to engineer resistance to bean yellow dwarf virus in Nicotiana benthamiana plants by targeting the viral genome.
    2. Source: Ali, Z., et al. (2015). CRISPR/Cas9-mediated viral interference in plants. Genome Biology, 16(1), 238.
  4. Antimicrobial Peptides: Some plants can be engineered to produce antimicrobial peptides that have antiviral properties.
    1. Evidence: A study showed that tobacco plants expressing a synthetic antimicrobial peptide exhibited resistance to tobacco mosaic virus.
    2. Source: Tripathi, S., et al. (2006). Expression of a synthetic antimicrobial peptide in tobacco confers resistance to plant viruses. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 19(7), 792-798.

These biotechnological approaches have shown promise in developing virus-resistant plants, potentially reducing crop losses and the need for chemical controls. However, it's important to note that each method has its own set of challenges, including regulatory hurdles and public acceptance of genetically modified organisms.

For students interested in learning more, I recommend exploring review articles on plant biotechnology and virus resistance in journals such as "Trends in Plant Science" or "Annual Review of Phytopathology" for more comprehensive coverage of these techniques and their applications."