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May 28, 2019 · Genetic modification, or genetic engineering, is a means of manipulating genes, which are DNA segments that code for a specific protein. Artificial selection, the use of viral or plasmid vectors, and induced mutagenesis are examples.
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- Historical developments
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 ...
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.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jun 1, 2024 · Genetic engineering is the deliberate manipulation of an organism’s DNA using advanced techniques to modify, add, or remove specific genes, resulting in desired genetic traits or functions.
Oct 31, 2023 · genetic engineering: the deliberate modification of the genetic structure of an organism. genetically modified organism: an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques.
Sep 22, 2021 · The molecular and cellular techniques of biotechnology allow researchers to genetically engineer organisms, modifying them to achieve desirable traits. Cloning may involve cloning small DNA fragments (molecular cloning), or cloning entire organisms (reproductive cloning).
Genetic engineering is the alteration of an organism’s genotype using recombinant DNA technology to modify an organism’s DNA to achieve desirable traits. The addition of foreign DNA in the form of recombinant DNA vectors generated by molecular cloning is the most common method of genetic engineering.
May 14, 2020 · Definition. Genetic engineering or genetic modification is a field of genetics that alters the DNA of an organism by changing or replacing specific genes. Used in the agricultural, industrial, chemical, pharmaceutical, and medical sectors, genetic engineering can be applied to the production of brewing yeasts, cancer therapies, and genetically ...
