What is it?
Genetic engineering refers to a set of technologies that are being used to change the genetic makeup of cells and move genes across species boundaries to produce novel organisms. The techniques involve highly sophisticated manipulations of genetic material and other biologically important chemicals.
Genes are the chemical blueprints that determine an organism's traits. Moving genes from one organism to another transfers those traits. Through genetic engineering, organisms are given new combinations of genes—and therefore new combinations of traits—that do not occur in nature and, indeed, cannot be developed by natural means. Such an artificial technology is radically different from traditional plant and animal breeding.
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/our-failing-food-system/genetic-engineering/what-is-genetic-engineering.html
Genes are the chemical blueprints that determine an organism's traits. Moving genes from one organism to another transfers those traits. Through genetic engineering, organisms are given new combinations of genes—and therefore new combinations of traits—that do not occur in nature and, indeed, cannot be developed by natural means. Such an artificial technology is radically different from traditional plant and animal breeding.
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/our-failing-food-system/genetic-engineering/what-is-genetic-engineering.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eprl7c0rks
It’s Earth Day, and you’ve decided to perform a genetic engineering experiment where you produce an organism that has a gene from a different species. Your intent is something you feel would be helpful to the earth and its inhabitants.
- What type of organism would you manipulate? What would its new gene be and what trait or function would it confer?
The organism that I decided to manipulate was poisonous frogs. I would make poisonous frogs glow so that people or animals would be able to easily identify them and wouldn’t be affected by their poison.
- Outline your experimental design for this project. Be specific about your experiment, including the specific regulatory and coding regions you’re considering.
For the experiment, I would take poisonous frogs, and inject them with a glowing substance, perhaps with the gene that makes fireflies glow. I would take the glowing firefly gene, and replace it with the gene that causes frogs to get their specific skin color. This way all poisonous frogs will glow. When they go to reproduce they will all have the gene, which will continue to be passed down to each generation of frogs.
- Would the Human Genome Project help you with this experiment? Would any other organism’s Genome Project help you? How, specifically?
I think the Human Genome Project would help me with this experiment because it would be bettering the safety of humans. It would also give them more information as to what genes need to be taken out and replaced in order for the frogs to glow. The idea that this will help people and other animals would be a good thing. Also, this information could then be stored in a data base in order to be performed later on if need be.
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml
- Are there any concerns regarding your experiment’s safety to the earth or its inhabitants? If you were in control of Genetic Technology Ethics, what guidelines would you put in place to ensure that this form of genetic manipulation was safe?
I don’t believe there would be any concerns regarding the experiment’s safety to the Earth or its inhabitants. If anything, I think it would help the world and its inhabitants because when they come across a glowing frog, they will know it’s poisonous and will not be in any danger around them. In order to ensure that this form of genetic manipulation was safe, I would make sure that no frogs or fireflies are harmed during the procedure by ensuring everything is done with caution and using the proper tools and materials.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7-ofCWJiUg