no, simply by eating plants an animal will not be "converted". That doesn't mean though that interesting associations cannot occur, although I am hard-put to think of one involving an animal and a plant at the moment. Certainly some plants that cannot photosynthesize use others that can and form a frequently but not always mutually dependent or beneficial permanent bond.
Another question is of course COULD it occur.... never say never. There are some odd examples (or in the view of some, odd theories) that show that a coming together of two organisms at the cellular level can or could result in one single independent organism from then on. Margulis's Endosymbiotic Theory is a nice example of that. Might not seem much, two cells but... those cells multiplied together make you and me, animals, plants.... if she was right (she was very pretty and married to Carl Sagan but that isn't quite enough evidence..
Monday, February 22, 2010
That green plants can produce their own food by photosynthesis using sunlight is common knowledge. But if someone claims that an organism can acquire the ability to photosynthesizes simply by eating plants one would laugh at it. Is it true?
Why is Fluoride Bad for You?
Friday, February 19, 2010
Recombinant DNA technology is one of the advanced strategies of the Biological science
The term Biotechnology was coined by the scientists “Carl neuberg” in 1919.
The origin of biotechnology can be traced back to prehistoric times, when microorganisms were already used for processes like “Fermentation”.
First Discovery: In 1920, “Clostridium acetobutylicum” was used by “Chaim Weizmann” for converting starch into butanol and Acetone. The latter was an essential component of explosives during World War-I.
Second Discovery: During Second World War (1940s), the production of Penicillin (as an antibiotic discovered by “Alexander Flemming” in 1929) on a large scale from cultures of “Pencillium notatum”
Third Discovery: The third discovery of Biotechnology is its recent reincarnation in the form of “Recombinant DNA technology”, which led to the development of a variety of gene technologies and is thus considered to be the greatest scientific revolution of this century.
An early demonstration of the transfer of DNA from one cell type to another concerned drug resistance of certain strains of E.coli could be transformed to a phenotypic bacterium such as “Salmonella”. The explanation of this phenomenon led to the discovery of the plasmid, where by the gene conferring antibiotic resistance residues in a form of extra-chromosomal DNA. The resistance is due to an enzyme that causes the degradation of the antibiotic.