What is genetic engineering?

 Genetic engineering is the process of using recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology to alter
the genetic makeup of an organism. 
 Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the direct
manipulation of an organism's genes using biotechnology.
 Since ancient times the practice of genetic engineering had begun.
 Artificial selection is done to indirectly manipulate genes focusing on the physical traits among
organisms. Breeders choose which organism to mate and produce offspring with desirable traits. They
maintain this procedure without control of what genes can be passed.
 Selective breeding is a process when animals with desired characteristics are mated to produce
offspring with those desired traits such as Angus cows are bred to increase more meat.
 Hybridizations are when two individuals with unlike characteristics are crossed to produce the best in
both organisms like the disease resistant potato called the Burbank potato.
Mule – The mule is a progeny of a female horse and a male donkey.
Liger – An offspring of a female tiger and a male lion.
Zebroid or Zonkey – An offspring of a female donkey and a male horse.
 Inbreeding is a technique of breeding organisms that are genetically similar to maintain desired traits
found in the pure dog breeds.
As defined, genetic engineering is the process of changing the DNA in living organisms to create something
new. It involves artificial manipulation, modification, and recombination of DNA or other nucleic acid
molecules to modify an organism or population of organisms.
Recombinant DNA Technology

Recombinant DNA is made by mixing DNA from two different sources. Restriction enzymes were discovered in
1968 by Swiss microbiologist Werner Arbe.

 This was used to splice, connect (or ligate), and remove or add nucleotides to sequences of the DNA.
 This process is used in recombinant DNA technology to remove and insert genetic sequences from and
into other sequences of other organisms.
 Inserting the desired gene into the genome of the host involves the selection of the desired gene for
administration into the host followed by a selection of the perfect vector (either plasmid or
bacteriophage) with which the gene has to be integrated and a recombinant DNA is formed.
 The recombinant DNA has to be introduced into the host, maintained and carried forward to the
offspring. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies practice these techniques in working with
medical and research purpose.
Onions that do not make you cry
> A new finding could lead to genetically modified onions that  don't make us cry as we chop them.
Researchers in Japan have identified the enzyme that releases a tear-duct-tickling chemical when an onion is
cut. Onion's tear-jerker is a compound called propanthial S-oxide.

Golden rice is a genetically modified, biofortified crop. Biofortification increases the nutritional value in crops.
Golden rice is genetically modified in order to produce beta carotene, which is not normally produced in rice.
Beta carotene is convereted into Vitamin A when metabolized by the human body. We need Vitamin A for
healthier skin, immune systems, and vision.

Genetic engineering also known as DNA technology. DNA technology is already widely used to engineer the
genes of cultured cells for numerous practical purposes. One remarkable breakthrough of DNA technology is
the genetically engineered bacteria. Bacteria are simple organisms that are easy to reproduce and have a
simple mechanisms of gene transfer.
The three modes of gene transfer between bacteria are:
1. transduction, which is transfer via virus;
2. transformation, which is the uptake of DNA from the surrounding fluid and
3. conjugation, which is the bacterial version of mating.

What is the process of transduction in bacteria?

Transduction is defined as transfer of portion of DNA from one bacteria to another by Bacteriophages.
What is bacterial transformation and how does it work?
> Inserting genes into plasmids
The piece of DNA or gene of interest is cut from its original DNA source using a restriction enzyme and then
pasted into the plasmid by ligation. The plasmid containing the foreign DNA is now ready to be inserted into
bacteria. This process is called transformation.

-Conjugation is the process by which one bacterium transfers genetic material to another through direct
contact. During conjugation, one bacterium serves as the donor of the genetic material, and the other serves
as the recipient. The donor bacterium carries a DNA sequence called the fertility factor, or F-factor.
-The ability of bacterial cell to carry out conjugation is usually due to a specific piece of DNA called plasmid.
-Plasmid is a circular DNA molecule smaller than and separate from the bacterial chromosomes. Plasmid has
the capacity to carry virtually any gene and replicate in bacteria, they are the main tools for DNA technology.

How does genetic engineering work?

To help explain the process of genetic engineering we have taken the example of insulin, a protein that helps
regulate the sugar levels in our blood.
 Normally insulin is produced in the pancreas, but in people with type 1 diabetes there is a problem
with insulin production.
 People with diabetes therefore have to inject insulin to control their blood sugar levels.
 Genetic engineering has been used to produce a type of insulin, very similar to our own, from yeast
and bacteria like E. coli.
 This genetically modified insulin, ‘Humulin’ was licensed for human use in 1982
The genetic engineering process
1. A small piece of circular DNA called a plasmid is extracted from the bacteria or yeast cell.
2. A small section is then cut out of the circular plasmid by restriction enzymes, ‘molecular scissors’.
3. The gene for human insulin is inserted into the gap in the plasmid. This plasmid is now genetically
modified.
4. The genetically modified plasmid is introduced into a new bacteria or yeast cell.
5. This cell then divides rapidly and starts making insulin.
6. To create large amounts of the cells, the genetically modified bacteria or yeast are grown in large
fermentation vessels that contain all the nutrients they need. The more the cells divide, the more
insulin is produced.
7. When fermentation is complete, the mixture is filtered to release the insulin.
8. The insulin is then purified and packaged into bottles and insulin pens for distribution to patients with
diabetes.
Uses of Genetic Engineering
1. To make insulin for use by diabetic person
2. To make growth hormone to treat dwarves.
3. To prepare vaccines.
4. To make plants resistant to disease.
5. To make pigs, cows or fish grow faster.
6. Higher production of milk by cows.
 7. To make pigs with less fat – leaner meat.

LESS-FLATULENT COWS
Scientists have identified the bacterium responsible for producing methane and designed a line of cattle that
creates 25% less methane than the average cow.
GOLDEN RICE: is genetically modified (rich in vitamin A)
DROUGHT-RESISTANT SEEDS
GOATS MAKE SILK PROTEIN IN MILK
Strong, flexible spider milk is one of the most valuable products in nature, and it could be used to make many
products – from artificial ligaments to parachute cords.
This “silk milk” could then be used to manufacturer a web-like material called Biosteel.
TADPOLES WHICH FLUORESCE
Tadpole modified with jellyfish genes show promise as a faster and less expensive way to detect pollution than
traditional method.
FEATHERLESS CHICKENS
Grow better in warm countries.
No need of cooling.
PEST – RESISTANT CABBAGE
Gene that programs poison in scorpion tails was combined with cabbage. These genetically modied cabbages
produce scorpion poison that kills caterpillars when they bite leaves – but the toxin is modified so it isn’t
harmful to humans.
STRAWBERRY WITH ANTI FREEZE
Antifreeze is a chemical found in a fish living in cold water to avoid its blood freezing. Gene able to make
antifreeze was introduced into strawberries to avoid them from mushing up when frozen. But they become
blue.

GM Trees
Grow faster, yield better wood.
Australian eucalyptus trees have been altered to withstand freezing temperatures.
Loblolly pines have been created with less lignin – better to make paper.

POSSIBLE HAZARDS OF GENETIC ENGINEERING

 Risks for human health, e.g. higher chances for cancer.
 Risks for animal health, e.g. higher chances of infection.
 Risk for creating new microbes that are difficult to kill by antibiotics.

BENEFITS OF GENETIC ENGINEERING

Genetic Engineering
 the processes of changing the DNA in living organisms to create something new. It involves artificial
manipulation, modification, and recombination of DNA or other nucleic acid molecules in order to
modify an organism or population of organisms.
 Recombinant DNA technology has applications in various areas like medicine, focusing on the
discoveries of medicine to cure and improve human health and nutrition aimed to produce good
quality and high quantity crops
 Genetically Modified Organism are also called transgenic organism since genes are transferred from
one organism to another.
EXAMPLES OF TRANSGENIC ORGANISMS
 GRAPPLE - taste of grapes but looks like apple
  TRANSGENIC COW - contained human protein per litre of milk and found to be more nutritionally
balance
 VENOMOUS CABBAGE -injected with scorpion venom aimed to kill caterpillars
 BANANA VACCINE - can produce virus proteins against hepatitis and cholera
 ESCHERICHIA COLI insulin gene is injected to bacteria to produce hormone insulin
 SPIDER GOAT - spider enhanced milk that can produce silk stronger than steel
 LUMINOUS CAT produce a fluorescent protein in its fur
 LIGER hybrid of tiger and lion
Planting genetically modified organisms
 The aim of planting genetically modified organisms and its commercial use is to help improve farming
methods efficiently and productively. Some of the most common genetically modified crops are
soybean, maize, cotton, canola, alfalfa, papaya, eggplant, potato, apple, safflower, pineapple, and
sugarcane.
 Genetically modified plants have created resistance to harmful agents, enhanced product yield, and
shown increased adaptability for better survival. Recombinant technology has been widely used in
improving crop varieties. Several transgenic or genetically modified organisms (GMO) have been
produced
 Recombinant DNA technology is playing a vital role in improving health conditions by developing new
vaccines and pharmaceuticals. The treatment strategies are also improved by developing diagnostic
kits, monitoring devices, and new therapeutic approaches.
o Synthesis of synthetic human insulin and erythropoietin by genetically modified bacteria;
o human growth hormones which cure stunted growth;
o tissues plasminogen activator -which dissolves blood clots among patients who had heart attack;
o transgenic pigs- used to produced human hemoglobin;
o human clotting factors have also been produced in the milk of transgenic goats;
o production of “pharm” animals to synthesize such as pharmaceutical products and
o production of new types of experimental mutant mice for research purposes
List of genetically modified organisms:

Herbicide tolerance: “Herbicide tolerance is the inherent ability of a species to survive and reproduce after
herbicide treatment.”
BIOETHICS
o Bioethics is the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine.
Bioethics are multidisciplinary. It blends philosophy, theology, history, and law with medicine, nursing,
health policy, and the medical humanities.
o It is concerned with all the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences and the
cited fields. Bioethics is commonly understood that refers to the ethical implications and application of
the health-related life sciences including biotechnology, such as cloning, gene therapy, life extension,
human genetic engineering. It promotes critic reflection about ethical conflicts, which are caused by
progressing in life science and medicine.
-Genetic engineering is the direct modification of an organism’s genome, which is the list of specific traits
(genes) stored in the DNA.
-Changing the genome enables engineers to give desirable properties to different organisms.
-Organisms created by genetic engineering are called genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

History of GMO Development

1973: created first genetically modified bacteria
1974: created GM mice
1982: first commercial development of GMOs (insulin-producing bacteria)
1994: began to sell genetically modified food
2003: began to sell GMOs as pets (Glofish)

What is the GMO process?

 All genetic changes affect the protein synthesis of the organism.
 By changing which proteins are produced, genetic engineers can affect the overall traits of the
organism
 Genetic modification can be completed by a number of different methods:
o Inserting new genetic material randomly or in targeted locations
o Direct replacement of genes (recombination)
o Removal of genes
o Mutation of existing genes
GMO Bacteria
Bacteria are the most common GMOs because their simple structure permits easy manipulation of their DNA.
One of the most interesting uses for genetically modified bacteria is the production of hydrocarbons (plastics
and fuels) usually only found in fossil fuels.
 Cyanobacteria have been modified to produce plastic (polyethylene) and fuel (butanol) as byproducts
of photosynthesis
  E. Coli bacteria have been modified to produce diesel fuel
Engineering Plants
How might genetic engineering modify plants to solve everyday problems?
GMO crop production in the US (2010):
93% of soybeans
93% of cotton
86% of corn
95% of sugar beets
Example:
 One common modified crop is Bt-corn.
A gene from the Bt bacteria is added so the corn produces a protein that is poisonous to certain insects
but not humans.
Banana Vaccines
Modified virus injected in sapling tree causes the bananas to contain virus proteins

Venomous Cabbage
Scorpion genes added to the cabbage prevent insects from eating it
Other Reasons to Genetically Modify Crops:
 Insect resistant
 Herbicide resistant
 Drought/freeze resistant
 Disease resistant
 Higher yield
 Faster growth
 Improved nutrition
 Longer shelf life
Engineering Animals
Could genetic engineering be used to modify any animals to solve problems?
Bioluminescent Animals
Uses:
 Protein tracking
 Disease detection using bioluminescent imaging (BLI) to identify different types of cells
 Novelty pets (Glofish are available now)
Fast-Growing Salmon
Genes from two other fish cause this salmon to continually produce growth hormones
Less Smelly Cows
Modifying bacteria responsible for methane production in cattle results in 25% less-flatulent cows
Web-Producing Goats
Spider genes in goats enable the production of spider silk in goat milk

GMO Concerns
What are some concerns regarding genetically modified foods and animals?
 Risk to human health; unsafe to eat
 Harm to the environment and wildlife
 Increased pesticide and herbicide use
 Farmers’ health
 Seed and pollen drift
 Creation of herbicide-resistant super weeds
  What about genetic engineering in humans?
Nearly 50 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan and all of the countries in the European
Union, have enacted significant restrictions or full bans on the production and sale of genetically modified
organism food products, and 64 countries now have GMO labeling requirements
Recombinant DNA Application
Production of Gene Products
Recombinant cells and organisms modified by DNA technology are used nowadays to manufacture many
useful products. Bacteria are the best candidate for manufacturing a protein product. Major advantages of
bacteria include the plasmid and the phages that are used as gene cloning vectors and the fact that bacteria
can be grown rapidly and cheaply in large tanks. Bacteria are easy to be engineered to produce large amounts
of particular proteins. Engineered bacteria like the E. coli secrete the protein products in the medium thus, it is
easy for the scientist to collect and synthesize it.
 Despite the advantages of bacteria, it is equally important to utilized eukaryotic cells to produce
protein products. The simplest and the most recommended among the eukaryotic cells are the
Saccharomycetes cerevisiae or yeast. Similarly, yeast also have plasmid that can be used as gene
vectors, it can also take up foreign DNA and integrate it into their genome
 Some protein products require mammalian cells, genes of these products are often cloned in bacteria
as a preliminary step, before it can be transfer. Many proteins that mammalian cells normally secrete
are glycoprotein with chains of sugar attached. Because only mammalian cells must be used for making
these kind of products.
Here are some of protein products of recombinant DNA technology.

Pharmaceutical Industry and Medicine

DNA technology has already had a major impact on the pharmaceutical industry and on human medicine.
Recombinant DNA establish its influence in the different field of medicine such as: therapeutic hormones;
diagnosis and treatment of disease and; development of vaccines.
A. Therapeutic Hormones
Insulin and growth hormone (GH) were the first pharmaceutical products made using recombinant
DNA technology. Before 1982, the main source of insulin were pigs and cattle tissues obtained from
the slaughterhouse. Insulin extracted from the animals are chemically similar but not identical to
human insulin, thus it causes harmful side effects in some people.
Genetic engineering solved this problem by developing bacteria that actually synthesize and secretes
human insulin. Growth hormone(GH) was harder to find, children with GH deficiency had to rely on
 human cadavers to acquire such hormones. In 1985, scientist made an artificial gene for GH by joining
human DNA fragment to a chemically synthesized piece of DNA. Using this gene, they were able to
produce GH in E. coli.
Other hormones produce because of the development of recombinant DNA technology are the;
Blood Clotting Factor VIII
 Blood clotting elements assume a fundamental part in the administration of patients that experience
the ill effects of hemophilia, a draining issue including the absence of capacity to deliver sufficient
blood clotting component VIII for blood coagulation to work as ordinary
 The capacity to make recombinant blood coagulating factor VIII permits bigger amounts to be utilized
by and by and diminishes the requirement for blood gift to get the factor normally
 The promising effect of blood clotting factor VIII enables the scientist to see the brighter future for
people who are suffering from this kind of disease through recombinant DNA technology

B. Diagnosis and Treatment of Disease

DNA technology is likely to be used increasingly in disease diagnosis. Recombinant DNA has been
utilized in the advancement of the most well-known analytic procedures for HIV and to recognize the
presence of HIV in an individual. The neutralizer test utilizes a recombinant HIV protein to quantify
antibodies in the body that multiply when there is an HIV contamination.
The DNA test utilizes turnaround record polymerase chain response (RT-PCR) to identify the presence
of HIV hereditary material. This method was created utilizing the rDNA of atoms and investigating the
genome successions.
C. Vaccines
 DNA technology is also helping medical scientist develop vaccines.
 A vaccine is a harmless variant of a pathogen that is used to prevent an infectious disease.
 When a potential host is inoculated, the vaccine stimulates the immune system to develop
lasting defences against the pathogen. Especially for the many viral diseases for which there is
no effective drug treatment, prevention by vaccination is virtually the only medical way to fight
the disease.
 This method has been used to make the vaccine against hepatitis B virus. Hepatitis B is a
disease of the liver that can be forestalled with the hepatitis B antibody. Recombinant DNA of
the hepatitis B infection surface antigen is created in yeast cells to be remembered for the
antibody. This is gainful as the hepatitis infection doesn't multiply in vitro and recombinant DNA
gives a technique to make the DNA expected to control hepatitis B.

Agriculture and the Genetically Modified Organism

 A growing concern of most people nowadays is the shortage of supply of food around the world.
Scientist concerned with feeding the growing human population are using DNA technology to make
genetically modified organisms for use in agriculture.
 Researchers can manipulate the DNA of a single somatic cells and then grow a plant with a new trait
from the engineered cells. Already in commercial use are a number of crop plants carrying new genes
for the desired traits like delayed ripening, and resistance to spoilage and disease.
 Many of the genetically modified(GM) plants have received genes for herbicide resistance. For
example, a number of varieties of soybeans and cotton carry a bacterial gene that makes the plants
resistant to herbicides. Currently, the most common crops are the Bt cotton, Bt soybeans, Bt eggplants
and Bt corn that contains genes from Bacillus thuringiensis which makes the crops resistant to certain
insect pest.
 The nutritional value of crop plants is also being improved. ‘Golden rice,” a transgenic variety with
daffodil genes produces grains that contains beta-carotene, which our body uses to make vitamin A.
 Today, scientist is also exploring the possibilities of making transgenic farm animals, though at present
only on an experimental basis. The goals tend to be the same as those of traditional breeding to
improve the quality of farm animal products. However, the development of transgenic farm animals is
proceeding slowly due to some encountered problem with the animals such as increased susceptibility
to disease and low fertility