Biotech

• Biotechnology produces many products that are part of our daily lives, from simple uses like growing mold for penicillin to advanced forms like genetic engineering.
• Genes are segments of DNA that code for a specific protein, such as insulin, enzymes, and proteins that are fatal to pests and can act as natural pesticides.
• All cells within an organism have the same DNA, but not all genes are expressed, depending on the cell’s function.
• Viruses and bacteria have naturally occurring enzymes and proteins that can manipulate DNA, leading to the discovery of many of our latest biotechnologies using these microorganisms as vectors to modify DNA.
• Scientific research and development can make new information, techniques, and knowledge available.
• A person who has her genome sequenced for the sake of curiosity may learn that she is going to develop an incurable, late-onset genetic disease, such as Huntington's.
• Science alone cannot answer questions about how these techniques should or shouldn’t be used.
• A couple may learn via prenatal testing that their baby has a genetic disorder.
• It's important for all members of society to have their voices heard in the conversation about biotechnology inventions and products that can affect our everyday lives.
• DNA Fingerprinting is a biotechnology used in forensics to compare known DNA samples to a sample in question using a technique called gel electrophoresis.
• Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms that have had their DNA modified to express a desirable trait, sometimes containing DNA from two species (transgenic), which can be achieved using bacteria and/or viruses as vectors to cut and paste DNA.
• Transgenic organisms have had their DNA manipulated somehow to express a foreign gene, and are GMOs, but not all GMOS are transgenic.
• Gel electrophoresis is used in genetic engineering, which involves the manipulation or changing of DNA within an organism to express a gene, resulting in a genetically modified organism (GMO).
• In gel electrophoresis, the DNA travels in the opposite direction to the electric current.
• Gel electrophoresis is used in forensics as a means of DNA fingerprinting, where bands of DNA can have patterns specific to an individual person, which comes from the size and sequence of the DNA in question.
• Another method of genetic engineering is transgenesis, which involves introducing foreign DNA from another species into an organism’s genome.
• Gel electrophoresis can also be used to analyze PCR (polymerase chain reaction) results, as seen in COVID tests.
• Genetic engineering techniques include gene silencing or introducing a gene from the same species to modify an organism, as seen in turning off a gene in golden delicious apples so that they do not brown as quickly.
• Gene Therapy involves replacing a defective gene with a healthy version using viruses as vectors to deliver DNA.
• Gel electrophoresis is a laboratory technique used to distinguish DNA fragments of different lengths, separating and pushing DNA by an electrical field through an agarose gel.
• The principles of gel electrophoresis can be used for other biomolecules, such as RNA and proteins.
• DNA molecules are negatively charged (-), so they can travel across a medium (gel) carried by electrical currents, with larger molecules not being pushed as far as smaller ones.
• PCR can be used in fields like forensics, to identify DNA at a crime scene.
• Selection in gene cloning involves growing bacteria on an antibiotic plate to select for the bacteria that can successfully produce copies of the gene/protein.
• The more copies of a particular DNA segment you have, the more accurate detection (or test results) will be.
• Retroviruses have an RNA genome and when they infect a host cell, they synthesize complementary DNA from their RNA, a process called reverse transcription.
• The DNA copy is inserted into the host cell and the host cell then starts making viral proteins.
• PCR can also be used in fields like amniocentesis, to test for chromosomal abnormalities.
• Gene Therapy typically uses retroviruses or adenoviruses to deliver genes, in what are known as “viral vectors”.
• In order to use retroviruses in gene therapy, a version of healthy DNA for a particular gene is transcribed into RNA.
• The retrovirus will make a copy of DNA from the RNA with the healthy allele, and insert it into the host cell.
• Gene Therapy is a process to replace defective genes with healthy ones to treat genetic diseases.
• PCR has many applications, including use in all fields of science, such as biotechnology.
• The Human Genome Project was an international research project initiated in 1990 to map and understand all the genes found in an organism.
• PCR is used in fields like Covid testing, for the sensitive detection of pathogens.
• PCR, or Polymerase Chain Reaction, is a lab technique used to make lots of copies of DNA.
• The technology and principles behind the human genome project have expanded to various applications, including energy sources and environmental applications, risk assessment of certain diseases, bioarcheology, anthropology, evolution, and human migration, DNA forensics, agriculture, livestock breeding, and bioprocessing.
• Human pancreas cell DNA (includes gene for insulin) is combined with a plasmid (cloning vector) in a process known as transfection.
• DNA ligase is used to seal the bonds at the sticky ends and produce recombinant DNA (and transgenic bacterium).
• The specific plasmids used for recombinant DNA technology carry a gene for antibiotic resistance, not all bacteria can be used for plasmid transformation.