If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, you will only see one color, pink. If you stare at the black + in the center, the moving dot turns to green. Now, concentrate on the black + in the center of the picture. After a short period of time, all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see a green dot rotating if you're lucky! It's amazing how our brain works. There really is no green dot, and the pink ones really don't disappear. This should be proof enough, we don't always see what we think we see.

Recombinant DNA

Microbiology 2314

California 2003

• In Sacramento, a group of scientists have genetically altered fish. Basically they took ordinary zebra fish, added genetic jellyfish stuff, and made pet fish that glow in the dark, when placed under a blacklight. They hit the shelves in 2004 to be sold as pets.

• They will be on sale, just about everywhere except California (which bans lab-engineered species.) So…We can genetically engineer all the animals we want, just can’t sell em.

What is Genetic Engineering?

• Genetic engineering (GE) is the transfer of genes from one organism to another through means that do not occur in nature, but through human intervention. This involves isolating and then moving genes within and without different species by recombinant DNA techniques and other manipulation of the genetic construct outside the traditional practices such as sexual and asexual breeding, hybridization, fermentation, in-vitro fertilization and tissue culture.

Introduction

• Biotechnology - The use of microorganism cells or cell components to make a new product.

• Idea More than 60 Years Old • Delay Due to Technology 1. Cut 2. Combine 3. Reinsert

Advent of Recombinant DNA

• Closely Related Organisms Can Exchange Genes • Labs Can Facilitate Transfer Between Unrelated Species • DNA Transfers Genes

Tools and Techniques

• Restriction Enzyme Makes Cuts • Cuts at Specific DNA Sequences • Accurate • 75 Known Restriction Enzymes

Sticky Ends/Blunt Ends

DNA Ligase

• Vectors - Called Chimeras • Shuttle Vectors - Plasmids that can exist in several different species.

• Transformation - Process by which a new gene is inserted into a cell

Process

• Isolate the Source and Vector DNA • Use Restrictive Enzymes to Make Cuts in Both • Mix Plasmid and Vector DNA Together and Bond Via Ligase • Clone

Overview of Process

Why Genetic Engineering?

• 3000 Known Genetic Diseases

Crop Improvement

• The improvement of crops with the use of genetics has been occurring for years. Traditionally, crop improvement was accomplished by selecting the best looking plants/seeds and saving them to plant for the next year’s crop.

DNA Extraction

• DNA extraction is the first step in the genetic engineering process. In order to work with DNA, scientists must extract it from the desired organism. A sample of an organism containing the gene of interest is taken through a series of steps to remove the DNA.

Gene Cloning

• The second step of the genetic engineering process is gene cloning. During DNA extraction, all of the DNA from the organism is extracted at once. Scientists use gene cloning to separate the single gene of interest from the rest of the genes extracted and make thousands of copies of it.

Gene Design

• Once a gene has been cloned, genetic engineers begin the third step, designing the gene to work once inside a different organism. This is done in a test tube by cutting the gene apart with enzymes and replacing gene regions that have been separated.

Transformation

• The modified gene is now ready for the fourth step in the process, transformation or gene insertion. • Since plants have millions of cells, it would be impossible to insert a copy of the transgene into every cell. Therefore, tissue culture is used to propagate masses of undifferentiated plant cells called callus. These are the cells to which the new transgene will be added.

Backcross Breeding

• The fifth and final part of producing a genetically engineered crop is backcross breeding. Transgenic plants are crossed with elite breeding lines using traditional plant breeding methods to combine the desired traits of elite parents and the transgene into a single line. The offspring are repeatedly crossed back to the elite line to obtain a high yielding transgenic line. The result will be a plant with a yield potential close to current hybrids that expresses the trait encoded by the new transgene.

Common Terms (FYI Only)

•

Agbiotech

= the agricultural arm of the biotechnology industry •

Biotech

• •

GE GM

= the biotechnology industry = genetic engineering/genetically engineered • = genetically modified

GMO

= genetically modified organism •

Pharm crop

= a GE crop that creates its own pharmaceutical byproducts in virtually all parts of the plant •

Transgenic

= another name for GE

GMO / Genetically Modified Organism

• A GMO is a plant, animal or microorganism (e.g., bacteria) that is created by means that overcome natural boundaries. • Genetic engineering involves crossing species which could not cross in nature. • For example, fish genes have been inserted into strawberries. • The most widely grown GE crops are soybeans, corn, canola (rapeseed) and cotton. Nearly all GE crops grown today are one of two varieties: "insect resistant" and "herbicide tolerant" crops.

Good Reasons Do Exist

• For example, the splicing of a specific flounder gene for producing a unique blood "antifreeze" protein into tomatoes, to render them frost resistant; splicing insect proteins into zucchinis to create a taste and fragrance that is repugnant to other insect pests; or growing potatoes endowed with built-in pesticides.

According to the FDA

• While the Food and Drug Administration insists that foods produced by genetic engineering are the same as foods from traditional breeding, their own scientists reported that, "the processes of genetic engineering and traditional breeding are different and... they lead to different risks."

GENETIC ENGINEERING: A CAUTIONARY APPROACH

• The Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy has taken a strong precautionary stand on genetic engineering. In collaboration with leading scientists and other public service organizations, it has launched a nation-wide public awareness campaign to alert the public about the dangers of genetically engineered foods, and is calling for rigorous safety testing and mandatory labeling of such foods.

Humans?

• The biotech industry's rationale for the genetic engineering of humans is the predisposition of human beings to certain diseases. If such human frailties could be fortified by genetically transplanting traits of other animals, insects, bacteria or viruses, then it might be possible for biotechnologists to improve upon our species.

The Argument

• Genetic surgery performed on fetuses would, with high probability, infect the germ line (egg or sperm) cells. • As a consequence, any such genetic defects would be passed on to future generations, causing irreversible gene pollution and the potential for new genetic diseases. • In addition to the immediate and long-term gross health risks posed by irreversible gene pollution, we have no idea what the subtle effects of incomplete or mutated human DNA will be on the human race.

The Fact Exists That There Are Some Diseases Out There We Cannot Cure Without Genetic Engineering. Take a Stand. Have a View. But Ask Yourself…Would That View Change If It Were Your Child?

Real Life Example SCID

Babies born without immune systems quickly become ill during weaning when the protection of their mother's milk – which contains maternal antibodies – begins to wear off. Without transplant medicine of some kind, the only way of keeping these children alive is to cocoon them in a sterile environment free of potentially lethal microbes.

In the Sixties and Seventies, hospitals put babies with severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) in plastic "bubbles" where the the air is filtered and direct contact with the outside world is minimized.

Paul Simon Boy in the Bubble

Rhys Evans (April 2002 UK)

• Gene Therapy used to cure a toddler of SCID • Took Bone Marrow from the child, then used a virus to carry a new version of the gene into the immune cells from the marrow.