posted
I'm writing a short story about a biotechnology firm that is trying to make drought resistant crops.
If anyone knows anything about what the day-to-day operations in these types of firms might be, please shoot me a link, or email!
Here's the basic setup (If you are a Codex reader, this is your SPOILER ALERT for the Halloween story competition!!!!!!!!!!)
Peter Cafferty is a workaholic genetic engineer. His daughter, Augusta, has just been kidnapped. The kidnapper, a former employee of Peter's company, demands that Peter retreive some of the genetically modified seeds from his workplace in exchange for his daughter's life.
Panic, torture, grief, and death ensue.
Specifically, I need to know how one goes about changing the DNA of a plant. I'll ask more questions as the thread develops.
[ September 27, 2004, 08:42 AM: Message edited by: Scott R ]
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
I haven't seen Bob the Lawyer on in a week or two (hmm, maybe longer?), but maybe try emailing him. While he doesn't work with GMOs, he does work in a biotech lab.
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I think Peter should develope a sub human dthat's 11 feet tall and has the head of some deranged mutant elephant god thing. AND CALL HIM PUMPKIN HEAD! Then have him kill the kidnapper. Because he's pumpkin head... And peter made him To eat pumpkins... and the kidnapper... ... Posts: 529 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I can't help with your resaerch, but I love the idea. I'd like to read the story when you get it written. Posts: 4569 | Registered: Dec 2003
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There are lots of ways to change plant DNA. First, there's the "low tech" way of selective breeding (which can, particularly with the advanced data analysis techniques available to us, result in fast, dramatic changes). Second, there's inserting genes. This is pretty much going to be done in the early stages of plant development, possibly even in the sperm or pre-pollinization egg (probably the egg). Its going to use enzymes, and its going to use very tiny needles.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Where are the seeds stored in biotech firms?
Here's a little more of the project that Peter's working on.
He and the kidnapper were part of a group at work that kept a little garden of the plants that were not commercially viable-- pumpkins being one of them. This was an informal, on the side kind of project. In toying with the pumpkins, they developed one variety that grew very quickly and that as long as the gourd was still attached to the vine, would reseal it's cuts. So, you could cut slice out of a pumpkin, and the cut would seal itself back up in a number of hours.
Comments? I need sleep.
[ September 14, 2004, 09:34 PM: Message edited by: Scott R ]
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I used to work at an Agbiotech firm creating GMO tomatoes, strawberries and raspberries, and now I work for the State of Oregon as one of two technicians testing food products for GMOs (Ironic, eh?. I can probably answer most of your questions. Posts: 173 | Registered: Jun 2002
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The healing of anything but a very small amount is pretty implausible, as to heal requires one thing in particular: material, and acquiring material is very complicated and, well, slow.
As for where the seeds might be kept, you'd probably find a lot of them in specialized refrigerators, to inhibit growth.
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Ditto what fugue said... a pumpkin's a fruit, and (from my experience as a veggie farmer) fruits generally don't heal well when damaged... but especially they don't regrow to fill in their damaged part... more likely would be to have rapid growth of more pumpkins after a harvest happens...
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Okay, so I'm finished with this story AT LAST!
I decided to do a complete about-face with. . . um, everything. There's still a genetically modified pumpkin involved, though.
The POV character is now the kidnapper, who has put his ex-wife in the pumpkin.
It is a very short story-- under 2000 words. That makes it the shortest story I've written to date. WOOO-HOOO for short shorts! I hear their easier to sell.
And the title's changed to, 'There He Kept Her Very Well.'
Here's an excerpt:
quote: “It’s okay, Ev, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you,” and how many times did he have to say that, anyway? He hadn’t hurt her yet, hadn’t even touched her really. He’d had to stick her with a syringe of ketamine to get her down here, but that was all, and that was much less than the pain she’d caused him. One little needle stick when she had cheated on him, and divorced him. What was one little prick compared to adultery and divorce?
One little prick had caused her adultery and their divorce. Luke bit his lip, and continued cutting through the pumpkin. Well, that was behind them now. Like the rhyme—put her in a pumpkin shell, and keep her very well. And he would. Down here, in Mother’s basement, she’d have everything she’d ever wanted. A safe place, a devoted husband. What else could Luke do for her? After the divorce, he’d lost his credibility at work—there was no room for losers at Joachim-Davis Biotechnical, apparently. So now he’d devote his days to living for her. Keeping her safe.
Would anyone like to critique?
[ September 27, 2004, 08:36 AM: Message edited by: Scott R ]
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So I'm curious, what exactly does everyone mean when they ask for critiques? People ask for critiques all the time and I really have no clue what they want, are you talking about copy-editor tpye critiques or just about the flow and style of the story, or ... all of the above?
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Flow and story, and any obvious, serious grammatical errors.
I'm more concerned about content and style than punctuation and spelling. Other writers are different.
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