Genetic Engineering and Developments in Biotechnology
WHAT IS GENETIC ENGINEERING Glow in the dark kittens foods with extra nutrients and bananas that contain vaccines are the types of things designed and produced by genetic engineers These engineers work with a wide range of plants animals and microorganisms They add or improve desirable characteristics and remove or reduce unwanted characteristics by changing what goes on inside the organism's cells Genetic engineering has immense potential It holds the promise of feeding the world curing disease and fixing pollution Engineering and science Engineers often work with the information discovered by scientists putting it to practical use to design things that people want Scientists work to find out how genes affect the way organisms including humans grow and work Genetic engineers then use this information to change organisms so they grow and function in ways we want them to For example medical scientists discovered a chemical associated with development of the disease Alzheimer's which leads to damage in the brain Genetic engineers worked out which gene leads to production of the chemical then put it into a transparent worm By studying the way the disease develops in worms medicd scientists hope to understand better how it develops in humans Golden rice is genetically engineered rice that helps to provide vitamin A to people in areas where their diets are poor The rice is yellow while ordinary rice is white
EIGHT STEPS TO SUCCESS Steps in the development process Define the problem Genetic engineers follow an eight step process to develop their projects right It covers designing implementing testing and improving solutions In other types of engineering engineers design a prototype of their solution But in genetic engineering they implement part of the project and test it Identify criteria and constraints Brainstorm ideas Engineers at work Genetic engineers can work in any of these fields Agriculture farming changing the characteristics of crops plants or animals so they produce more food and are easier to keep or grow Select a solution Implement the project Modify the project Test the project Medicine working to fix or prevent diseases that are inherited passed down through families and using microorganisms such as bacteria to produce medicines Environmental management changing crops to reduce the need for pesticides chemicals that kill insect pests Share the solution Research developing new techniques to use in genetic engineering Conservation working to save endangered animals and even bring back extinct organisms Some areas of genetic engineering raise issues people disagree about particularly those that involve working with humans and animals Many people are excited by the prospects offered by genetic engineering But some object to what genetic engineers might do either on purpose or by accident Genetic engineering involves precise work in the laboratory
HOW GENES WORK All organisms inherit characteristics from their parents You can probably see that you share some features with your parents and any brothers or sisters you have These characteristics are carried in genes chemical codes carried in most cells in the body Every gene holds a recipe for a single protein that the organism can produce Together these proteins produce the organism's characteristics and control how it works For example there are proteins that make a hair black and proteins that help you digest food If a protein is changed or not made that will produce a change in the organism It can be a good change a bad change or a change that doesn't make much difference an eye works just as well if it is blue or brown for instance When genetic engineers make changes to organisms they change the proteins that are being made by the organism Passing it on Many plants and animals reproduce sexually meaning they have two parents Half of the new organism's genes come from each parent mixing characteristics from each Microorganisms such as bacteria reproduce asexually there is only one parent Ordinarily each new organism is an exact copy of the parent with all the same genes Members of a family share genetic similarities but there are differences between individuals
Genetic engineers can add remove or change genes to alter how an organism looks behaves or functions To know which genes to change it is necessary to work out what each gene does They do this by knocking out removing genes from a developing organism and seeing which feature is affected They can do this with microorganisms plants and laboratory animals such as mice The mouse on the left has had a gene relating to hair growth knocked out and has less fur Cell Chromosome DNA Genes chromosomes DNA Each gene is a specific area of a long strand of a Complex chemical called DNA The strand is called a chromosome Chromosomes Nucleus are the genetic material of the organism and carry all the information needed for the organism to grow and function There are complete copies of all the chromosomes in nearly every cell of the body contains important parts of the cell including DNA Gene Genes are strung together in a sequence on chromosomes THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT Humans have 46 chromosomes The Human Genome Project aimed to discover and list all the genes on these chromosomes The entire Collection of an organism's gene is called its genome The project was officially completed in 2003 Simply listing more than 20 000 human genes is very different from knowing each gene's function Scientists are still working to find out what each gene does
