6.4 Manipulating the Genome Pages 245-248
Genetic Engineering Bacteria producing insulin Round-up ready crops Inserting foreign genes into organisms, especially food, to improve the species.
Restriction enzymes A molecule that can cut DNA at a specific site
Recombinant DNA Making DNA that doesn’t already exist in nature. A fragment of DNA consisting of nucleotide sequences from at least two different sources.
Example Antifreeze gene from an arctic cod is added to a plant
Spider silk Spider silk is 5x stronger than steel, 2x as strong as kevlar, waterproof, ductile, stretches 30% more elastic than nylon. The gene for producing spider silk is being inserted into plants and even goats!
Bt corn Bt corn has a gene added from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that makes natural pesticides.
Issues Escape of gene into other plants? Possible allergic reactions to new corn? Diversity of corn decreases if most farmers choose to plant this variety?