See if you can answer this question… What do you think all of these things have in common? n Land mines n Bacteria on your teeth n Burping sheep

Advances in Genetics n What are some advances in genetic traits due to manmade influences? n Vocabulary: n selective breeding n clone n genetic engineering n gene therapy

‘Dolly’ Summer of 1996 in Scotland n Ordinary lamb ‘except’ produced in a laboratory by geneticists using experimental techniques n techniques new n trying to get specific traits is not new n 1000 years desirable traits

1- selective breeding 2- cloning 3- genetic engineering 1- selective breeding 2- cloning 3- genetic engineering Three methods that people have used to develop organisms with desirable traits:

1-Selective Breeding -process of selecting a few organisms with desired traits to serve as parents of the next generation. n 5,000 y.a. Central Mexico n used wild grass as food n saved seeds from plants that produced the most food. n grew new plants n same process over and over n Today?

Selective breeding is used on many different plants and animals to ‘increase their value’ for people. n Cows n Milk n Fruits & Veggies n No diseases/pests

Types of Selective Breeding n A. Inbreeding n - crossing two individuals that have identical or similar alleles. n -causes offspring to have similar alleles to parents Horse with speed X Horse with speed = Faaaaast Horse!!!!

n B. Hybridization n breeders cross two genetically different individuals n best traits from both parents n ex: many kernal corn + disease resistant corn =many kernal, disease resistant corn hybrid.

2- Cloning - organism genetically identical to the organism from which it was produced. n Plants -’cuttings’ ex. Ivy n Animals -more difficult than plants ex. Dolly

How Dolly was cloned... Sheep #1 6 yrs. Old take nucleus out of an egg cell Sheep #2 Take egg cell out Sheep #3 Put in egg cell with nucleus ‘clone’ (Identical) to 6 yr. Old sheep

3- Genetic Engineering -genes from one organism are transferred into DNA of another organism n -’gene splicing’ DNA molecule unzipped and new gene put into it ex: medicines, improve food crops, cure human disorders like diabetes. n a. in bacteria n b. other organisms n c. Gene Therapy - use genetic engineering to correct genetic disorders.

Some problems biotechnologists are working on: n No more brushing n Stopping sheep burping n Detecting land mines

No more brushing Problem: Problem: Certain bacteria on our teeth produce lactic acid. The build up of the lactic acid leads to the decaying of our teeth. How do we stop this?

Solution: Alter the bacteria so it does not produce lactic acid. Of course dentists might say you will still need to visit them even if you do have genetically modified bacteria on your teeth…

Stop that burping Problem: Livestock are responsible for about 90 percent of Australia's methane emissions in the agriculture sector. Sheep produce about 25 litres of methane each day. How do we reduce these methane emissions?

Stop that burping Solution: Develop vaccines which inhibit the growth of the bacteria which produce methane.

Plants detecting landmines Problem: Landmines represent a significant problem in the third world, where approximately 26,000 people are killed or injured every year. Another problem is that large areas of land used for agriculture (eg Cambodia 40% and Angola 90%) are unused which can lead to severe consequences for the countries.

Plants detecting landmines Solution: Genetically modify plants to enable easy detection of land mines. The thale cress turns red when its roots encounter the byproducts of land mines. (Image: Aresa)

There are many other applications… Current examples of this include: n Canola – herbicide resistant n Cotton – Bt insecticide n Carnation – blue & long life n Soybeans – herbicide n resistant n Papaya – disease resistant n Photo courtesy of: CSIRO

Public concerns Some people are worried about various applications of gene technology and raise questions about the safety of GM foods, the risk of developing herbicide resistant weeds and other possible environmental damage.