WHAT IS GENETIC ENGINEERING?
Genetic engineering is the process by which piece of DNA are transferred one organisms to another. This is also called recombinant DNA technology.
First recombinant DNA molecule Was made by Paul Berg in 1972 by combining DNA from monkey virus (SV40) with lambda virus. The new DNA can be targeted to a specific part of the genome.
A organism that is generated through genetic engineering or Recombinant DNA technology is considered to be genetically modified (G. M) and the resulting entity is a GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS (G. M. O).
First Genetically modified organisms was a bacterium generated by Herbert Boyer and standly cohen in 1973.Rudolf jenisch created the first Genetically modified animal when he inserted foreign DNA into a Mouse in 1974.
TOOLS OF GENETIC ENGINEERING
Here is a list of Genetic engineering or recombinant DNA technology tools / enzymes most commonly used in genetic engineering experiments.
- POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (P. C. R).
- RESTRICTION ENZYMES
- GEL ELECTROPHORESIS
- DNA LIGASE
- PLASMIDS
- TRANSFORMATION
- IDENTIFYING TRANSGENIC ORGANISMS
PROCESS OF POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (PCR)
- Find an organism that have the desired gene
- Extract the DNA from that organism
- Locate and copy the one desired gene(recipe) from thousand of genes that were extracted. This is called gene cloning.
- Modify the gene to work in a more desirable way once inside the recipient organism.
- Deliver the new gene is called a transgene into cells of the recipient organism. This is called transformation.
