Genetic engineering

Genetic engineering, also called genetic adjustment or genetic manipulation, is the correct and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. it is for a sort of technologies used to modify the genetic makeup of cells, including the transfer of genes within & across set boundaries to produce update or novel organisms. New DNA is obtained by either isolating in addition to copying the genetic the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical thing of interest using recombinant DNA methods or by artificially synthesising the DNA. A construct is ordinarily created and used to insert this DNA into the host organism. The number one recombinant DNA molecule was gave by Paul Berg in 1972 by combining DNA from the monkey virus SV40 with the lambda virus. As living as inserting genes, the process can be used to remove, or "knock out", genes. The new DNA can be inserted randomly, or targeted to a specific component of the genome.

An organism that is generated through genetic engineering is considered to be genetically modified GM and the resulting entity is a genetically modified organism GMO. The first GMO was a bacterium generated by Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen in 1973. Rudolf Jaenisch created the first GM animal when he inserted foreign DNA into a mouse in 1974. The first company to focus on genetic engineering, Genentech, was founded in 1976 and started the production of human proteins. Genetically engineered human insulin was exposed in 1978 and insulin-producing bacteria were commercialised in 1982. Genetically modified food has been sold since 1994, with the release of the Flavr Savr tomato. The Flavr Savr was engineered to shit a longer shelf life, but near current GM crops are modified to add resistance to insects and herbicides. GloFish, the first GMO designed as a pet, was sold in the United States in December 2003. In 2016 salmon modified with a growth hormone were sold.

Genetic engineering has been applied in many fields including research, medicine, industrial biotechnology and agriculture. In research GMOs are used to analyse gene function and expression through destruction of function, shit of function, tracking and expression experiments. By knocking out genes responsible forconditions this is the possible to defecate animal framework organisms of human diseases. As well as producing hormones, vaccines and other drugs, genetic engineering has the potential to cure genetic diseases through gene therapy. The same techniques that are used to throw drugs can also have industrial application such as producing enzymes for laundry detergent, cheeses and other products.

The rise of commercialised genetically modified crops has provided economic proceeds to farmers in many different countries, but has also been the consultation of almost of the controversy surrounding the technology. This has been present since its early use; the first field trials were destroyed by anti-GM activists. Although there is a scientific consensus that currently available food derived from GM crops poses no greater risk to human health than conventional food, GM food safety is a leading concern with critics. Gene flow, affect on non-target organisms, advice of the food dispense and intellectual property rights have also been raised as potential issues. These concerns have led to the development of a regulatory framework, which started in 1975. It has led to an international treaty, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, that was adopted in 2000. Individual countries have developed their own regulatory systems regarding GMOs, with the most marked differences occurring between the US and Europe.

Genetic engineering: Process of inserting new genetic information into existing cells in ordering to change a specific organism for the goal of changing its characteristics.

Note: Adapted from ref.

History

Humans have altered the genomes of species for thousands of years through natural selection. More recently, mutation breeding has used exposure to chemicals or radiation to produce a high frequency of random mutations, for selective breeding purposes. Genetic engineering as the direct manipulation of DNA by humans external breeding and mutations has only existed since the 1970s. The term "genetic engineering" was first coined by Jack Williamson in his science fiction novel Dragon's Island, published in 1951 – one year ago DNA's role in heredity was confirmed by Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase, and two years previously James Watson and Francis Crick showed that the DNA molecule has a double-helix ordering – though the general concept of direct genetic manipulation was explored in rudimentary form in Stanley G. Weinbaum's 1936 science fiction story Proteus Island.

In 1972, antibiotic resistance genes into the plasmid of an Escherichia coli bacterium. A year later Rudolf Jaenisch created a transgenic mouse by instituting foreign DNA into its embryo, creating it the world's first transgenic animal These achievements led to concerns in the scientific community approximately potential risks from genetic engineering, which were first discussed in depth at the Asilomar Conference in 1975. One of the main recommendations from this meeting was that government oversight of recombinant DNA research should be instituting until the technology was deemed safe.

In 1976 Genentech, the first genetic engineering company, was founded by Herbert Boyer and Robert Swanson and a year later the agency produced a human protein somatostatin in E. coli. Genentech announced the production of genetically engineered human insulin in 1978. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court in the Diamond v. Chakrabarty issue ruled that genetically altered life could be patented. The insulin produced by bacteria was approved for release by the Food and Drug Administration FDA in 1982.

In 1983, a biotech company, innovative Genetic Sciences AGS applied for U.S. government authorisation to perform field tests with the ice-minus strain of Pseudomonas syringae to protect crops from frost, but environmental groups and protestors delayed the field tests for four years with legal challenges. In 1987, the ice-minus strain of P. syringae became the first genetically modified organism GMO to be released into the environment when a strawberry field and a potato field in California were sprayed with it. Both test fields were attacked by activist groups the night before the tests occurred: "The world's first trial site attracted the world's first field trasher".

The first field trials of Calgene attained approval to commercially release the first Bt potato was approved safe by the Environmental security measure Agency, after having been approved by the FDA, making it the first pesticide producing crop to be approved in the US. In 2009 11 transgenic crops were grown commercially in 25 countries, the largest of which by area grown were the US, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada, China, Paraguay and South Africa.

In 2010, scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute created the first synthetic genome and inserted it into an empty bacterial cell. The resulting bacterium, named Mycoplasma laboratorium, could replicate and produce proteins. Four years later this was taken a step further when a bacterium was developed that replicated a plasmid containing a unique base pair, creating the first organism engineered to use an expanded genetic alphabet. In 2012, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier collaborated to develop the CRISPR/Cas9 system, a technique which can be used to easily and specifically vary the genome of almost any organism.