GENETIC ENGINEERING

What is genetic engineering?

Genetic engineering is the process of manually
adding new DNA to an organism. The goal is to add
one or more new traits that are not already found
in that organism. Examples of genetically
engineered (transgenic) organisms currently on the
market include plants with resistance to some
insects plants that can tolerate her!icides and
crops with modi"ed oil content.
Understanding Genetic Engineering: Basic Biology
To understand how genetic engineering works there are a few key !iology
concepts that must !e understood.
CONCEPT #1: What is N!?
DNA is the recipe for life. DNA is a molecule found in the nucleus of e#ery cell
and is made up of $ su!units represented !y the letters A T G and %. The
order of these su!units in the DNA strand holds a code of information for the
cell. &ust like the English alpha!et makes up words using '( letters the
genetic language uses $ letters to spell out the instructions for how to make
the proteins an organism will need to grow and li#e.
)mall segments of DNA are called genes. Each gene holds the instructions
for how to produce a single protein. This can !e compared to a recipe for
making a food dish. A recipe is a set of instructions for making a single
dish.An organism may ha#e thousands of genes. The set of all genes in an
organism is called a genome. A genome can !e compared to a cook!ook of
recipes that makes that organism what it is. E#ery cell of e#ery li#ing
organism has a cook!ook.
CONCEPT #": Why are #roteins i$#ortant?
*roteins do the work in cells. They can !e part of
structures (such as cell walls organelles etc).
They can regulate reactions that take place in the
cell. +r they can ser#e as en,ymes which speed-
up reactions. E#erything you see in an organism
is either made of proteins or the result of a
protein action.
CONCEPT #%: &o' is N! i$#ortant in genetic engineering?
DNA is a .uni#ersal language/ meaning the genetic code means the same
thing in all organisms. 0t would !e like if all cook!ooks around the world were
written in a single language that e#eryone knew. This characteristic is critical
to the success of genetic engineering. 1hen a gene for a desira!le trait is
taken from one organism and inserted into another it gi#es the .recipient/
organism the a!ility to express that same trait.
&o' is genetic engineering done?
Genetic engineering also called transformation works !y physically
remo#ing a gene from one organism and inserting it into another gi#ing it
the a!ility to express the trait encoded !y that gene. 0t is like taking a single
recipe out of a cook!ook and placing it into another cook!ook.
The #rocess: Once a goal is in $ind(
2) 3irst "nd an organism that naturally contains the
desired trait.
') The DNA is extracted from that organism. This is
like taking out the entire cook!ook.
4) The one desired gene (recipe) must !e located
and copied from thousands of genes that were
extracted. This is called gene cloning.
$) The gene may !e modi"ed slightly to work in a
more desira!le way once inside the recipient
organism.
5) The new gene(s) called a transgene is deli#ered
into cells of the recipient organism. This is called
transformation. The most common
transformation techni6ue uses a !acteria that
naturally genetically engineer plants with its
own DNA. The transgene is inserted into the
!acteria which then deli#ers it into cells of the organism !eing
engineered. Another techni6ue called the gene gun method shoots
microscopic gold particles coated with copies of the transgene into
cells of the recipient organism. 1ith either techni6ue genetic
engineers ha#e no control o#er where or if the transgene inserts into
the genome. As a result it takes hundreds of attempts to achie#e 7ust
a few transgenic organisms.
() +nce a transgenic organism has !een created traditional !reeding is
used to impro#e the characteristics of the "nal product. )o genetic
engineering does not eliminate the need for traditional !reeding. 0t is
simply a way to add new traits to the pool.