Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, the artificial manipulation, modification, and recombination of DNA or
other nucleic acid molecules in order to modify an organism or population of organisms. The
term genetic engineering is generally used to refer to methods of recombinant DNA technology,
which emerged from basic research in microbial genetics. The techniques employed in
genetic engineering have led to the production of medically important products, including
human insulin, human growth hormone, and hepatitis B vaccine, as well as to the development
of genetically modified organisms such as disease-resistant plants.
Historical developments
The term genetic engineering initially referred to various techniques used
for the modification or manipulation of organisms through the processes
of heredity and reproduction. As such, the term embraced both artificial
selection and all the interventions of biomedical techniques, among
them artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization (e.g., “test-tube”
babies), cloning, and gene manipulation. In the latter part of the 20th
century, however, the term came to refer more specifically to methods
of recombinant DNA technology (or gene cloning), in which DNA molecules
from two or more sources are combined either within cells or in vitro and
are then inserted into host organisms in which they are able to propagate.
The possibility for recombinant DNA technology emerged with the discovery of restriction enzymes in
1968 by Swiss microbiologist Werner Arber. The following year American microbiologist Hamilton O.
Smith purified so-called type II restriction enzymes, which were found to be essential to genetic
engineering for their ability to cleave a specific site within the DNA (as opposed to type I restriction
enzymes, which cleave DNA at random sites). Drawing on Smith’s work, American molecular
biologist Daniel Nathans helped advance the technique of DNA recombination in 1970–71 and
demonstrated that type II enzymes could be useful in genetic studies. Genetic engineering based on
recombination was pioneered in 1973 by American biochemists Stanley N. Cohen and Herbert W.
Boyer, who were among the first to cut DNA into fragments, rejoin different fragments, and insert the
new genes into E. coli bacteria, which then reproduced.
Process and techniques
Most recombinant DNA technology involves the insertion of foreign genes
into the plasmids of common laboratory strains of bacteria. Plasmids are
small rings of DNA; they are not part of the bacterium’s chromosome (the
main repository of the organism’s genetic information). Nonetheless, they
are capable of directing protein synthesis, and, like chromosomal DNA, they
are reproduced and passed on to the bacterium’s progeny. Thus, by
incorporating foreign DNA (for example, a mammalian gene) into a
bacterium, researchers can obtain an almost limitless number of copies of
the inserted gene. Furthermore, if the inserted gene is operative (i.e., if it
directs protein synthesis), the modified bacterium will produce the protein
specified by the foreign DNA.
A subsequent generation of genetic engineering techniques that emerged in
the early 21st century centred on gene editing. Gene editing, based on
a technology known as CRISPR-Cas9, allows researchers to customize a
living organism’s genetic sequence by making very specific changes to its
DNA. Gene editing has a wide array of applications, being used for the
genetic modification of crop plants and livestock and of laboratory model
organisms (e.g., mice).
The correction of genetic errors associated with disease in animals suggests
that gene editing has potential applications in gene therapy for humans.
Gene therapy is the introduction of a normal gene into an individual’s
genome in order to repair a mutation that causes a genetic disease. When a
normal gene is inserted into a mutant nucleus, it most likely
will integrate into a chromosomal site different from the defective allele;
although this may repair the mutation, a new mutation may result if the
normal gene integrates into another functional gene. If the normal gene
replaces the mutant allele, there is a chance that the transformed cells will
proliferate and produce enough normal gene product for the entire body to
be restored to the undiseased phenotype.
Applications
genetically engineered corn (maize)
Genetic engineering has advanced the understanding of many theoretical
and practical aspects of gene function and organization. Through
recombinant DNA techniques, bacteria have been created that are capable
of synthesizing human insulin, human growth hormone, alpha interferon,
a hepatitis B vaccine, and other medically useful substances. Plants may be
genetically adjusted to enable them to fix nitrogen, and genetic diseases can
possibly be corrected by replacing dysfunctional genes with normally
functioning genes
