Genetic engineering the artificial manipulation, modification, and recombination of DNA or other nucleic acid molecules in order to modify

an organism or population of organisms. The term genetic engineering initially meant any of a wide range of techniques for the modification or manipulation of organisms through the processes of heredity and reproduction. As such, the term embraced both artificial selection and all the interventions of biomedical techniques, among them artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization (e.g., test!tube babies", sperm ban#s, cloning, and gene manipulation. $ut the term now denotes the narrower field of recombinant DNA technology, or gene cloning. %teps involved in the engineering of a recombinant DNA molecule.", in which DNA molecules from two or more sources are combined either within cells or in vitro and are then inserted into host organisms in which they are able to propagate. &ene cloning is used to produce new genetic combinations that are of value to science, medicine, agriculture, or industry. DNA is the carrier of genetic information' it achieves its effects by directing the synthesis of proteins. (ost recombinant DNA technology involves the insertion of foreign genes into the plasmids of common laboratory strains of bacteria. )lasmids are small rings of DNA' they are not part of the bacterium*s chromosome (the main repository of the organism*s genetic information". Nonetheless, they are capable of directing protein synthesis, and, li#e chromosomal DNA, they are reproduced and passed on to the bacterium*s progeny. Thus, by incorporating foreign DNA (for e+ample, a mammalian gene" into a bacterium, researchers can obtain an almost limitless number of copies of the inserted gene. ,urthermore, if the inserted gene is operative (i.e., if it directs protein synthesis", the modified bacterium will produce the protein specified by the foreign DNA. A #ey step in the development of genetic engineering was the discovery of restriction enzymes in -./0 by the %wiss microbiologist 1erner Arber. 2owever, type 33 restriction enzymes, which are essential to genetic engineering for their ability to cleave a specific site within the DNA (as opposed to type 3 restriction enzymes, which cleave DNA at random sites", were not identified until -./., when the American molecular biologist 2amilton 4. %mith purified this enzyme. Drawing on %mith*s wor#, the American molecular biologist Daniel Nathans helped advance the technique of DNA recombination in -.56!5- and demonstrated that type 33 enzymes could be useful in genetic studies. &enetic engineering itself was pioneered in -.57 by the American biochemists %tanley N. 8ohen and 2erbert 1. $oyer, who were among the first to cut DNA into fragments, re9oin different fragments, and insert the new genes into :. coli bacteria, which then reproduced. &enetic engineering has advanced the understanding of many theoretical and practical aspects of gene function and organization. Through recombinant DNA techniques, bacteria have been created that are capable of synthesizing human insulin, human growth hormone, alpha interferon, a hepatitis $ vaccine, and other medically useful substances. )lants may be genetically ad9usted to enable them to fi+ nitrogen, and genetic diseases can possibly be corrected by replacing bad genes with normal ones. Nevertheless, special concern has been focused on such achievements for fear that they might result in the introduction of unfavourable and possibly dangerous traits into microorganisms that were previously free of them!!e.g., resistance to antibiotics, production of to+ins, or a tendency to cause disease. The new microorganisms created by recombinant DNA research were deemed patentable in -.06, and in -.0/ the ;.%. Department of Agriculture approved the sale of the first living genetically altered organism!!a virus, used as a pseudorabies vaccine, from which a single gene had been cut. %ince then several hundred patents have been awarded for genetically altered bacteria and plants.