Genetic Engineering

Major Techniques• PCR –

• Polymerase Chain Reaction

• Restriction Endonucleases and Gel Electrophoresis

• DNA Profiling/DNA Fingerprinting

• Gene Transfer: Transformation

Polymerase Chain Reaction

• Used to make millions of copies of select section of DNA

• When small amount of DNA are found but large amounts are needed for analysis

• Semen, blood, other tissues, long-dead specimens – DNA from all can be amplified

• Thermus aquaticus – hot springs bacterium • http://www.dnalc.org/ddnalc.org/resources/pcr.ht

ml

Gel Electrophoresis

• Separate DNA, proteins or other molecules based on charge and size

DNA Profiling/Fingerprinting

DNA Profiling Uses

• CSI

• Paternity

• CDC – epidemiology: disease transmission

• Geneology

• Breeding authenticity

• Who did it?

Gene Transfer and GMOs

Organisms that have had genes transferred into them from a different

species are GMOs or Transgenic Orgs.

Pros and Cons of GMOs

• Be able to explain the + and – of Bt maize.

• At least 2 arguments for each case

Animal/Plant Cloning• Plants = easy….from parts. Animals = difficult

• Procedure:

Therapeutic Cloning

• Be able to argue for and against TC with at least two points in each case

• Be able to summarize the aims, outcome (to date) and benefits of the Human Genome Project (THGP)