Genetic engineering

• What is genetic engineering?

  A process which involves modifying the genome of an organism by introducing a gene from another organism to give a desired characteristic.
• How have plant crops been genetically engineered?

  to be resistant to diseases

  to produce bigger better fruits
• How has bacteria been genetically engineered?

  To produce insulin to treat diabetes
• What are the pros of GM crops?

  - can increase yield

  - make more food for less money

  - make sure plants produce special nutrients

  - important in developing countries
• What are the cons of GM crops?

  - don't know how GM crops might affect our health

  - Crops make their way into the wild and change the ecosystem

  - Effect on populations of wild flowers and insects
• How can you use genetic engineering to treat inherited disorders?

  Gene therapy - give person healthy gene
• What are problems with gene therapy?

  Difficult - the faulty gene will be in all the cells so hard to transfer new gene to every cell
• What is a solution to the problems of gene therapy?

  transfer gene at early stage of development eg egg or embryo so as the developed the healthy gene will get passed on to all the cells
• Describe the process of genetic engineering?

  1. Enzymes used to isolate the required gene

  2. Gene inserted into a vector, usually a bacterial plasmid or virus

  3. Vector used to insert the gene into the required cells

  4. Genes are transferred to the cells of animals, plants or microorganisms at an early stage in their development so that they may develop with the desired characteristics