Introduction to Genetic Engineering
| Site: | clevaforce |
| Course: | Introduction to Genetic Engineering |
| Book: | Introduction to Genetic Engineering |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Thursday, 28 November 2024, 10:37 AM |
Description
Genetic engineering is the process of modifying an organism's genetic makeup using recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology. This could imply changing one base pair? (A-T or C-G), deleting an entire region of DNA, or inserting an extra copy of a gene. It could also mean extracting DNA from another organism's genome and combining it with another organism's DNA.
Gene therapy is the genetic engineering or modification of human genes to treat or cure disease. Gene therapies can work by several mechanisms:
- Replacing a disease-causing gene with a healthy copy of the gene
- Inactivating a disease-causing gene that is not functioning properly
- Introducing a new or modified gene into the body to help treat a disease
Gene therapy and genetic engineering are two closely related concepts that involve modifying organisms' genetic material. The distinction between the two is intention. Gene therapy aims to modify genes in order to correct genetic defect in order to prevent or cure genetic diseases. The goal of genetic engineering, however, is to modify the genes in order to improve the organism's capabilities beyond what is normal, for example in plants, genetic engineering can be carried out to improve specific characteristics of the seed or fruits.
1. Genomics
What is genomics? Genomics is the field that studies the entire set of an organism’s DNA (the genome), including all its genes, interactions of those genes with each other and as well as with the person's environment.
2. Genetic Engineering
Genetic engineering is the process of modifying an organism's genetic makeup using recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology while Gene therapy is the genetic engineering or modification of human genes to treat or cure disease.
3. Genetic Engineering Techniques
There are several options for making changes to the gene. These include homologous replacement, selective reverse mutation and gene addition. Likewise, a chemical could be used to simply turn off a gene and prevent it from acting.
4. Gene Engineering Steps
Genetic Engineering typically takes place in three steps:
The isolation of DNA fragments from a donor organism;
The insertion of an isolated donor DNA fragment into a vector genome and The growth of a recombinant vector in an appropriate host.
5. Emerging Genetic Engineering Technologies
There are a handful of genetic engineering technologies, a few of the more established ones include: genome editing, synthetic biology and targeted epigenomic modification.
6. Applications of Gene Engineering
Genetic engineering has applications in medicine, research, industry and agriculture and can be used on a wide range of plants, animals and microorganisms. Some of these applications are described in this video.