{{Unreferenced, date=March 2008
A
genetically modified organism
A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, wit ...
(GMO) and all subsequent identical
clones
Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to:
Places
* Clones, County Fermanagh
* Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland
Biology
* Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...
resulting from a transformation process are called collectively a
transformation event. If more than one gene from another organism has been transferred, the created GMO has stacked genes (or stacked traits), and is called a gene stacked event.
Gene stacked events have become an important topic in
plant breeding
Plant breeding is the science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. It has been used to improve the quality of nutrition in products for humans and animals. The goals of plant breeding are to produce cr ...
. Occasionally, researchers wish to transfer more than one trait (e.g. an insect resistance and a herbicide resistance) to a crop. Consequently, they need to transfer more than one gene, and do so either in one or in subsequent steps. This can be achieved either by
genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including ...
or by conventional
cross-breeding
A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...
of GM plants with two different modifications.
Genetically modified organisms