Slide GMO notes

Biotecnology

• Biotechnology is technology that uses biological systems, living organisms or parts of this to develop or create different products. (Brewing and baking bread)

Genetics engineering

It is a set of techniques that allow us to modify the DNA or an organism in order to change the information it contains.

Traditionally, humans have manipulated genomes indirectly by controlling breeding and selecting offspring with desired traits.

Genetic engineering tools

Enzymes are used to manipulate genes and cut, stick, synthesise and break down the molecules of nucleic acids. The most commonly used enzymes are the following:

Exonucleases. 

Exonucleases. These join to a nucleic acid and cut it up into individual nucleotides, starting from one end. This is how isolated nucleotides are obtained.

Endonucleases

Endonucleases. These cut the nucleic acid at intermediate points in the molecule, producing segments of nucleic acid of varying sizes

Restriction nucleases or restrictases. 

Restriction nucleases or restrictases. These cut the nucleic acid in places with specific base sequences, which are called restriction sites. The cut can produce a straight cut with ‘blunt’ ends or an overhang with ‘sticky’ ends.

Transgenic organism

Transgenic or genetically modified organisms (GMO) are useful for medical research, cell biology and agriculture. A transgenic organism has had a foreign or modified gene inserted into it from another cell or organism and is able to transmit it to its offspring.

 Mutant

 Mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism

Some of the best known techniques

• Recombinat DNA tecnology

• PCR

• Cloning

Recombinant DNA tecnology

It consists of isolating a gene of an organism and inserting it into a different one ( a recptor or host)

PCR

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it to a large enough amount to study in detai

Cloning

The term cloning describes a number of different processes that can be used to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity. The copied material, which has the same genetic makeup as the original, is referred to as a clone.