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Chapter 15

Biotechnology

What is Genetic Engineering?
What is Genetic Engineering?
Overview Genetic engineering is the process of modifying an organism’s DNA to introduce new, desirable traits. Many organisms, from bacteria to ...
Antibiotic Selection
Antibiotic Selection
Overview Researchers use antibiotic resistance genes to identify bacteria that possess a plasmid containing their gene of interest. Antibiotic resistance ...
Recombinant DNA
Recombinant DNA
Overview Scientists create recombinant DNA by combining DNA from different sources—often, other species—in the laboratory. DNA cloning allows ...
Transgenic Organisms
Transgenic Organisms
Overview Transgenic organisms are genetically engineered to carry transgenes—genes from a different species—as part of their genome. The ...
Adult Stem Cells
Adult Stem Cells
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that divide and produce more stem cells or progenitor cells that differentiate into mature, specialized cell types. ...
Embryonic Stem Cells
Embryonic Stem Cells
Embryonic stem (ES) cells are undifferentiated pluripotent cells, meaning they can produce any cell type in the body. This gives them tremendous potential ...
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that divide and produce different types of cells. Ordinarily, cells that have differentiated into a specific cell ...
In-vitro Mutagenesis
In-vitro Mutagenesis
To learn more about the function of a gene, researchers can observe what happens when the gene is inactivated or “knocked out,” by creating ...
DNA Isolation
DNA Isolation
DNA from cells is required for many biotechnology and research applications, such as molecular cloning. To remove and purify DNA from cells, researchers ...
Gene Therapy
Gene Therapy
Gene therapy is a technique where a gene is inserted into a person’s cells to prevent or treat a serious disease. The added gene may be a healthy ...
Reproductive Cloning
Reproductive Cloning
Reproductive cloning is the process of producing a genetically identical copy—a clone—of an entire organism. While clones can be produced by ...
CRISPR
CRISPR
Genome editing technologies allow scientists to modify an organism’s DNA via the addition, removal, or rearrangement of genetic material at specific ...
Complementary DNA
Complementary DNA
Overview Only genes that are transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA) are active, or expressed. Scientists can, therefore, extract the mRNA from cells to ...
PCR
PCR
Overview The polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, is a widely used technique for copying segments of DNA. Due to exponential amplification, PCR can produce ...
Genomics
Genomics
Genomics is the science of genomes: it is the study of all the genetic material of an organism. In humans, the genome consists of information carried in ...
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