Transcript Frontiers of Genetics

Frontiers of Genetics
Frontiers of Genetics
Recombinant DNA
 Restriction enzymes
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)
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Bacteria
 Plants
 Animals
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Cloning……
Recombinant DNA
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Recombinant DNA technology combines genes
from different sources – even different species –
into a single DNA molecule.
In addition to the many applications in fields
such as medicine and agriculture, analyzing and
manipulating genomes can help ans’wer one of
biology’s most important questions: How does a
complex multicellular organisms develop from a
single cell?”
Cutting and Pasting DNA
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The tools used to cut DNA are called
restriction enzymes.
 In
nature these enzymes are found in bacteria and
protect the bacteria from intruding DNA from other
organisms and viruses (phages)
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In the lab, they are used to move DNA
from one place to another.
Useful Products From Genetically
Engineered Microorganisms
Oil spills
 Mass production of pesticides to theraputic
drugs
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 Insulin
 Vaccines
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Proteins of Hepatitis B virus cloned in yeast cells have
allowed for mass productions
Genetically Modified Plants
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Using recombinant DNA technology,
scientists are able to improve various
characteristics of certain crop plants.
 Improved
nutritional value
 Resistance to spoilage or disease
 By 2000, half of crops of soybeans and corn grown
in the US were genetically modified in some way.
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Herbicide resistance
Pest resistance (insects, fungi)
Genetically Modified Animals
GM animals is more difficult to produce
than GM plants
 Researchers try to make a sheep with
better-quality wool, a pig with leaner (less
fat) meat, or a fish that will mature in
shorter time.
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The GMO Controversy
Could GM crops pass their new genes to
closely related plants in nearby wild
areas?
 Superweeds?
 Unknown risks to humans
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GM proteins in milk of animals, medicines….
Animal Cloning
In cloning an entire animal, the nucleus
from a single cell of that adult animal
replaces the nucleus of an unfertilized egg
cell from another animal of the same
tissue.
 Cloning offers the potential to mass
produce an animal of desirable set of traits
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The End