Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Hybrid corn

Wolves
Lee — (archived)

The original canine stock. Strong, intelligent, healthy, and uniform.

What you fail to realize Tom, is that most purebred dog strains were developed at a time before the gene was even discovered. Most of them are descended from fewer than ten individuals. All of the Shih Tzus living in America are the result of 4 individuals imported from China in the early 20th Century. Whatever defective genes those few individuals had were passed on to the entire breed.

Modern genetic engineering is not selective breeding. Defective genes can be screened for and removed from the genome. Desired traits can be brought in without any bad traits sneaking in. It's no longer hit and miss. Genetic engineering is to selective breeding what laser weapons are to a WWII bomber. The control and precision are unparalleled.

Here's a story of how modern genetic science is improving the genetic stock of a purebred.

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