What is Genetic Engineering and Will this Process Change Everything Forever? Pros and Cons.
What would happen if genetic engineering took over the world and what will it do to benefit or harm us?Genetic Modification or genetic engineering, is the process of altering manipulation of the genetic material of organisms through biotechnology. They’re living things whose DNA has been changed in the laboratory. What happens is that these organisms are pretty much edited with the parts that are most desired without taking it too far, and combine those strands of DNA with another species causing them to become a hybrid species. By doing this, it leads them to be combined with a new genotype.Many kinds of GMO’s(genetically modified organisms)have been created, including bacteria viruses, yeasts, plants, and animals. They’re have even been ideas about making genetically modified people. But this is a topic that has always been some-what controversial since the beginning. This will help understand the pros and cons of genetic engineering.
History of Genetic Engineering
The study of genetics dates back to 1865, when an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel published his studies of inheritance in pea plants. In the past 20th century, scientists decided to study his laws of heredity evolution and selective breeding. The study of the DNA molecule was discovered in 1953 by James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins. Throughout the 1950’s to the 1970’s, chemical tools were discovered, allowing scientists to cut and create duplicate pieces of DNA, bringing genetic engineering closer to reality.
In 1977, it was discovered that a germ called bacterium can be used to put genes into the DNA of plant cells. Later on, other methods soon became invented to change DNA. In the 1950’s scientists first discovered how the structure of DNA molecules work and how they stored and transmitted genetic information. Beginning in the 1970’s, scientists were able to refine the technology that enabled the alternation of DNA, leading to the beginning of both genetic engineering manipulation of molecular biology.
The Science of DNA
The science of DNA is a very complex piece that makes up the body of an organism .DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA represents the chromosomes in eukaryotes and dispersed throughout the interior of prokaryotes. The DNA manipulation can involve the adding, removal, or alteration of genes, which is the sequences of DNA that code for a product. Our genes are what make us unique with our different traits. DNA contains a chain of nucleotides of adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine are composed of a nitrogen-containing base, five-carbon sugar, and a phosphate group.Two chains of that DNA come together to form what is known as a double helix. And the total of an organism is referred to as its genome.
Genetic engineering relies on recombinant DNA technology, the method of using certain select enzymes to cut DNA at Specific sites. This allows for an insertion or removal of that DNA in order to manipulate its genes. These methods can permit the rapid determination of the nucleotide sequence of DNA, as well as for identifying particular genes of interest, and to isolating individual genes from complex genomes. This later goes into what is called DNA polymerase, which is an enzyme that normally catalyses the growth of a nucleic acid chain. DNA polymerase is used by genetic engineers seal to the two gaps of the DNA to later create in into RNA, or ribonucleic acid.
Genetically Modified Plants and Crops.
Genetically modified plants, also known as transgenic plants are produced when a gene from a plant or other species is artificially inserted into the genome of a plant. This is done to add traits that do not occur naturally in particular plants, such as their resistance to diseases, herbicides, or pesticides. For example, many field crops are genetically modified to be resistant to herbicides and pesticides; this allows farmers to spray their entire fields with the chemicals in order to kill weeds and leave the crops unscathed as well as leaving the crops bug-free. These plants can incorporate genes from either plants or bacteria. In order for those genes to work properly in the transgenic plant, it must be modified to work with the host plant’s genome.This requires the new gene sequence to have a promoter before its starting codon is to turn it on and a terminator after its end to turn it off as well as some DNA at either end will allow it to be inserted in to the host genome.
The most two common ways of inserting the DNA into the transgenic plant are through the use of bacteria or by using a particle gun. This common bacterium naturally inserts its plasmid DNA into plant DNA, causing tumors. This plasmid DNA is called transfer DNA, or tDNA. To do this, technicians remove the tDNA from its plasmid and replace it with the desired gene. The bacterium is then allowed to infect the plant cells to inoculate the plant’s DNA with the specially chosen genome. The plant should thereafter display the traits encoded in its modified DNA.
For when plants species cannot use special bacterias, scientists use another common method referred to as Particle Bombardment . This technique uses a gene gun to accelerate small DNA-coated metal particles to a high velocity so they are able to penetrate the cell walls of plant cells. When it is once inside the cell wall, some of the DNA separates from the metal particles and integrates into the genome of the plant cell. However, this method is to be somewhat random and can often tend to damage plant tissue. The practice of making transgenic plants is somewhat controversial because many people fear that the genetically modified crops could present various health and environmental risks such as e.coli, food poisoning, and other really big illnesses. According to the article Top 7 Genetically Modified Crops it says “Corn, the no.1 crop grow in the U.S is 88% genetically modified. And soy, the 2nd most grown crop in the U.S is 93% genetically modified” (Top 7 Genetically Modified Crops).
Genetically Modified Animals
For hundreds of years, farmers have been selectively breeding animals to give them certain traits. But breeding can be a slow, and a very imprecise process, so scientists have started creating ideas to make the process of making animals with certain traits in a much faster amount of time.There are many ways to genetically modify an animal and can be done for both beneficial or non-beneficial uses. There have creations of animals such as glow fish, salmon cows, goats, chickens, pigs, mice, and lots of other animals. What all these animals have in common is that they’re all being genetically modified to help cure diseases.
Animals could possibly help cure diseases in many different ways to save humanity from these incurable illnesses. According to the article Transgenic Animals it says, “ Chickens have been genetically modified to produce a human anti-cancer substance. When perfected, the technique may be used to produce cancer drugs” (Transgenic Animals). This is important because a there are still some cancers that have not found ways to be cured yet. Another idea for genetically modified animals such as salmon, could be sold in stores in as early as 2020.
According to the article GMO salmon could hit stores as early as 2020 says, “It will destroy the reputation of the salmon. This is not good PR for the salmon business. It’s considered Frankenstein fish, said president Trond Davidson ” (GMO salmon could hit stores as early as 2020). This could be a factor on why humans don’t like the idea of their food being genetically modified because they probably wouldn’t think it would be very healthy to eat the fish. Also since it is such a big business in the U.S., the FDA wants to reduce the dependence on their seafood imports.
Current Issues
There are a lot of agreements and disagreements between the usages of GMO’s. Some say it’s good because according to the article Genetically Modified Organism’s it says, “They believe that GMO’s generally will not help the poor and may damage human health or the environment” (Genetically Modified Organism’s). Some people agreed and disagreed with this because they thought it would help them make money to support their companies and helping people in poor countries to be healthier. Also consuming some of the GMO’s could be dangerous because scientists might not learn how to treat the diseases caused by them. One problem is that they could also be using too much money and time to make it to complex. Another concern is that it could affect people with already serious diseases or allergies.
One problem for people who are against this practice worry that the altered genes could mistakenly get into the wild animal population. What this means is the world could possibly risking their lives when there’s been damage done in the environment by manipulating society with these experiments. It’s been talked about so much much that it’s been talked about in TV shows, the news, Youtube, and other certain major platforms. There’s also been a lot of conspiracy theories on this subject too. It just seems that some people are not ready for this turn in society in the near future.
Genetically Modified People
This topic of genetic engineering has always been the most controversial. In theory, humans could be genetically modified just like other organisms. It could, for example, be used to help people with genetic diseases who’s defects in their DNA that make them sick- to have healthy children. This process is called gene therapy, which is the genetic modification of a person to cure a disease. Some people also have dreams and ideas of engineering children, for example, to be smarter, more athletic, have a certain hair or eye color, have no diseases or disabilities, etc. However, it is not scientifically possible to do this in a reliable and safe manner. Also, most people feel that trying to create genetically superior people would be morally wrong.
Genetically engineering of people-by genetically modifying a human embryo in a laboratory and implanting it into a woman’s womb-is already illegal in some parts of the world.In 1997, according to The Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe had decided to forbid“Any modification in the genome of any descendants” (The Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe).In 2011, Congress enacted a federal law that prevents U.S. patents from being issued on human embryos, including any that have been genetically modified.But in 2018, Chinese scientist Dr. He Jiankui has claimed to have helped created the world’s first genetically-modified babies. Which has led humans and scientists all over the world to question if genetically modifying would change everything in society forever in the future.
Citations
“Genetic Engineering.” Environmental Encyclopedia, edited by Deirdre S. Blanchfield, Gale, 2011. Science In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CV2644150608/SCIC?u=olat54637&sid=SCIC&xid=778dcb05. Accessed 28 Feb. 2019.
“Genetically Modified Organisms.” Biotechnology: Changing Life Through Science, UXL, 2012. Science In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/ZOMUAN783294943/SCIC?u=olat54637&sid=SCIC&xid=905ee8fa. Accessed 28 Feb. 2019.
“Transgenic Plants.” Plant Sciences, edited by Richard Robinson, Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. Science in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CV2643350235/SCIC?u=olat54637&sid=SCIC&xid=8cbc12ce. Accessed 5 Mar. 2019.
Meyer, Zlati. “GMO salmon could hit stores as early as 2020.” USA Today, 14 Mar. 2019, p. 01B. Science In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A578333356/SCIC?u=olat54637&sid=SCIC&xid=528ef0eb. Accessed 19 Mar. 2019
“Transgenic Animals.” Biotechnology: Changing Life Through Science, UXL, 2012. Science In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/REIKSQ631543276/SCIC?u=olat54637&sid=SCIC&xid=2b622e83. Accessed 19 Mar. 2019.
Margie, Kelly. “Top 7 Genetically Modified Crops.” 30 Oct. 2012, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/margie-kelly/genetically-modified-food_b_2039455.html Accessed 19 Mar. 2019
