manipulating genomes

• When analysing markets, a range of assumptions are made about the rationality of economic agents involved in the transactions
• Governments act rationally by


  Placing the interests of the people they serve first in order to maximise their welfare
• TLC separates non-charged particles, electrophoresis separates charged particles
• Electrophoresis is automated/computerised/uses laser scanning to analyse sequence, TLC is not automated
• Gene insertion into bacteria

  Extract gene from bacterium, use appropriate vector like Ti plasmid, electroporation, use DNA ligase, include marker genes
• Making cDNA


  Make single-stranded DNA/cDNA using reverse transcriptase, then make double-stranded DNA using DNA polymerase
• Y


  • DNA ligase
• Safety of genetic engineering (in bacteria) has been established

  Few animal rights issues to consider
• Objections and improvements for validity, accuracy and control

  • Cause of collapse not recorded / plants may have collapsed for different reasons
  • Number of collapsed less meaningful than percent
  • Determine which plants collapsed due to corn borer
  • Dissect stems to seek larvae
  • Use percent collapsed out of, original / still standing, numbers
  • Collapsed plants may have been counted twice from plot-edge
  • Some collapsed plants may not have been noticed from plot-edge
  • Students may have counted differently from each other
  • Remove / mark, collapsed when counted
  • Use narrow strips as plots so that collapsed not missed
  • Have all plots counted by the same student
  • Have more than one student counting
  • Average the counts
  • No account of natural variation in plant susceptibility
  • Genetic variations between Bt and regular corn
  • Use, cloned / genetically identical, plants in each plot
  • Perform genetic modification to Bt on same clones as used for other plots