What is genetic Engineering all about?

Answer 1

What is Genetic Engineering?
Genetic engineering is a laboratory technique used by scientists to change the DNA of living organisms.

DNA is the blueprint for the individuality of an organism. The organism relies upon the information stored in its DNA for the management of every biochemical process. The life, growth and unique features of the organism depend on its DNA. The segments of DNA which have been associated with specific features or functions of an organism are called genes.

Molecular biologists have discovered many enzymes which change the structure of DNA in living organisms. Some of these enzymes can cut and join strands of DNA. Using such enzymes, scientists learned to cut specific genes from DNA and to build customized DNA using these genes. They also learned about vectors, strands of DNA such as viruses, which can infect a cell and insert themselves into its DNA.

With this knowledge, scientists started to build vectors which incorporated genes of their choosing and used the new vectors to insert these genes into the DNA of living organisms. Genetic engineers believe they can improve the foods we eat by doing this. For example, tomatoes are sensitive to frost. This shortens their growing season. Fish, on the other hand, survive in very cold water. Scientists identified a particular gene which enables a flounder to resist cold and used the technology of genetic engineering to insert this 'anti-freeze' gene into a tomato. This makes it possible to extend the growing season of the tomato.

At first glance, this might look exciting to some people. Deeper consideration reveals serious dangers.

Answer 2

genetic engineering, as the name implies, is the use of and modification of the DNA, the basic structure that carries all the information on how an organism becomes as it is.

organisms have a specific set of genes in their DNA. these genes control what an organism's characteristic would be. for example, a plant will photosynthesized because it has chlorophyll and the mechanism for photosynthesis. all the characteristics and processes involving photosynthesis are controlled by the genes.

thus, by the use of genetic engineering, or modifying the genes of an organism, it allows the organism to produce a different kind of product or action control by the modified DNA.

the processes of genetic engineering can be an insertion of a foreign DNA into a DNA of a target organism. for example, the Bt corn is a genetically modified crop, where a gene that produces toxin for the corn borer is inserted into the corn DNA by the use of a carrier, the Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis).

thus, genetic engineering is the technique of modifying the set of DNA of an organism in order to produce a desirable characteristics that benefit humans.

Answer 3

Genetic engineering, genetic modification (GM) and gene splicing are terms for the process of manipulating genes, usually outside the organism's normal reproductive process.

It involves the isolation, manipulation and reintroduction of DNA into cells or model organisms, usually to express a protein. The aim is to introduce new characteristics or attributes physiologically or physically, such as making a crop resistant to a herbicide, introducing a novel trait, or producing a new protein or enzyme. Examples can include the production of human insulin through the use of modified bacteria, the production of erythropoietin in Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, and the production of new types of experimental mice such as the OncoMouse (cancer mouse) for research, through genetic redesign.

Since a protein is specified by a segment of DNA called a gene, future versions of that protein can be modified by changing the gene's underlying DNA. One way to do this is to isolate the piece of DNA containing the gene, precisely cut the gene out, and then reintroduce (splice) the gene into a different DNA segment. Daniel Nathans and Hamilton Smith received the 1978 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their isolation of restriction endonucleases, which are able to cut DNA at specific sites. Together with ligase, which can join fragments of DNA together, restriction enzymes formed the initial basis of recombinant DNA technology.

Answer 4

In simple terms, genetic engineering is the manipulation of genes of an organism. It is done to produce desired characteristics in that particular organism.
Eg.
There's this bull which is resistant to climatic conditions, but produces less milk. There's another breed which produces a lot of milk but is sensitive to climatic changes. by crossing these we can get a cow that produces a lot of milk and is climate-resistant.
But this can be achieved only through trial and error. You can never predict when things may go wonky.

Answer 5

Restricting a Dna using restriction enzymes and inserting our gene of interest into it using ligase, then inserting it into a host gives rise to recombinant Dna with our dna of interest. This is done is recombinant technology which is also called genetic engineering .. (simply engineering something into something to get an efficient product)

Answer 6

Genetic Engineering is the study of human genes, thier formation , origin and what they are made of , etc.

Answer 7

genetic engineering is the deliberate modification of the characters of the organismsby the manupulation of the genetic material.

Answer 8

well... genetic engineering is combining genes and engineering to cure diseases, to improve minerals and vitamins in the food that we are eating.

Answer 9

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