[img_assist|nid=170|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=100|height=43]50 years ago the structure of DNA was determined 1 and hailed as the “secret of life”. The determination of the structure of DNA made it seem as if the complete understanding of living organisms was possible, even though fundamental questions regarding DNA function were unanswered, and remain so today. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, the technology to insert genes at random into the genomes of organisms were developed and termed genetic engineering (GE). Genetic engineering was hailed as a “life” science, as a technology to shape and design living organisms as required. Some GE crops have now been commercialised by the GE industry and deliberately released to the environment. Unexpected effects occurring in GE organisms, including commercial GE crops, are regarded as technical problems to be overcome by more research or adapted technologies. However, these unexpected effects may be due to more a more fundamental reason – that the basis of GE is invalid. In the 50 years since the discovery of the double helix, science has shown that gene expression is not nearly as simple as the GE industry would like to believe.

The fundamental basis of GE is the Central Dogma of molecular biology, as stated in the 1950s. Today, however, this Central Dogma is considered a highly over-simplistic model for gene expression. It is now known that, in higher organisms (such as plants), which genes are expressed and when is the result of many reactions and interactions between elements other than DNA (e.g. proteins, RNA). These reactions and interactions were not originally part of the Central Dogma. The original Central Dogma has given way to the concept of complex regulatory networks that controls gene expression in a manner that is far from being fully understood. Therefore, the fundamental basis of GE is an over-simplistic and old-fashioned dogma. GE can never produce an organism that is acceptable to be released into the environment and food chain: it cannot incorporate the complex regulatory networks now known to exist in organisms.
This article details how changes in the understanding of the nature of DNA and the Central Dogma of molecular biology have invalidated the GE paradigm.