BIOL 112 Lecture 23: Lecture 23 - Genetic Engineering

• School: McGill University
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOL 112
• Professor: Frieder Schoeck

Document Summary

Genetic engineering: changing the genotype of an organism by transferring genes from one species to another ! Used to domesticate plants and animals ! Only technology required is the ability to select and breed the next generation ! Can wait for useful mutation to arise by chance or cross two related species ! Ex. corn started as teosinte and after generations of selective breeding became corn ! Genetic cloning: moving a single gene from one organism to another ! To make an organism express a new gene so that it has a new phenotype ! To study a gene in isolation (understand how the gene itself works) ! Too much glucose damages the kidneys ! Beta islet cells in the pancreas sense glucose in the blood and release the hormone insulin which tells the cells (especially those in the liver) to absorb glucose from the bloodstream ! Too little glucose -> run out of energy !