1. Opening the book of life … or Pandora’s box?
GENETIC ENGINEERING
Opening the book of life … or Pandora’s box?
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

2. The beginnings 1869 DNA isolated
1944 DNA proved to be the hereditary material
1953 DNA structure determined.
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

3. Working with DNA
1961 DNA can be split on heating and stuck back together again on cooling (reannealing) DNA hybridisation possible
1962 The first restriction endonucleases discovered Molecular scissors.
HindIII
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

4. Working with DNA
1963 The genetic code worked out Discovered to be a universal code
1967 DNA ligase discovered Molecular glue Fragments of DNA can be stuck together.
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
DNA Ligase

5. Recombinant DNA technology
1973 DNA cloning carried out on bacteria Gene identified Cut with restriction enzyme Spliced into a plasmid using ligase Plasmid reintroduced into a bacterium
Gene copied whenever the bacterium divides
Non-bacterial gene can be expressed in the bacterium.
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

6. Recombinant DNA technology
1977 Rapid sequencing of DNA developed.
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

7. Recombinant DNA technology
1982 Transgenic mice and fruit flies produced.
Transgenic mice express enhanced green fluorescent protein
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

8. Recombinant DNA technology
1983 Polymerase chain reaction invented
1985 Genetic fingerprinting developed.
Kary Mullis
Sir Alec Jeffreys
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9. Medecine 1989 Cystic fibrosis gene cloned and sequenced
1990 Trials for gene therapy begin.
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10. Agriculture 1994 Genetically modified organisms for food.
Flavr SavrTM tomatoes
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

11. Human Genome Project 1990-2003 The human genome worked out
Goals of the human genome project
identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA
determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA
store this information in databases
improve tools for data analysis
transfer related technologies to the private sector
address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

12. Genomics
Today (2015): Over genomes for different species have been sequenced NCBI database Genome
Of which over 2400 Eukaryotes sequenced About 587 of these are animals Over 7300 prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) have been sequenced.
NCBI database Genome
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS