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DNA is the material that gives us our personality, our looks, and our thought processes, good or bad, DNA controls all of this. DNA full name is Deoxyribonucleic Acid. It is called that because it is missing one oxygen atom, and it is located in the nucleus. It is also in the form of an acid.
DNA is made up of four subunits: Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine. During the production of RNA, the messenger of DNA, Uracil is used instead of thymine. A small segment of this DNA is called a gene. A gene is also located in what is called a chromosome. A chromosome is a coiled piece of DNA in the shape of and X. It is the key in cell reproduction/ mitosis. Genes are the parts that are ‘exploited’ by scientists to control an organism’s traits. By reading the sequence of DNA in three base sets, the ribosome can determine what proteins to make. These proteins control the development of the cell and the look of the cell.
The differences between genetic engineering and traditional breeding are. You get only what you want from the DNA that you take from the donor. It is also the movement of select genes, so it is very precise. Lastly, since you only take a small piece of DNA, you only have a few possibilities.
However, with traditional breeding, you will almost always get a few undesirable traits. The breeding is also less precise about the ‘fine lines, character traits’. There are an unlimited amount of combinations that can be created.
Historical Background Of Genetic Engineering
Genetic Engineering has been going on unknowingly for thousands of years. It exists so far back, that it is even indirectly described in the Bible. The men who pioneered the study of genetic engineering were Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen. They in...
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...forming Plants - Basic Genetic Engineering Techniques. Retrieved February 3, 2014, from http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BA/Transforming_Plants.php
Team: TU Munich (n.d.). Team: TU Munich Human Practice Survey. Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://2012.igem.org/Team:TU_Munich/Human_Practice/Survey
UCUSA (n.d.). What Is Genetic Engineering? | Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/our-failing-food-system/genetic-engineering/what-is-genetic-engineering.html
University of Nebraska (Lincoln) (n.d.). UNL's AgBiosafety for Educators. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://agbiosafety.unl.edu/basic_genetics.shtml
Wikipedia (n.d.). History of Genetic Engineering - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_genetic_engineering
In the late twentieth century, the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering has positioned itself to become one of the great technological revolutions of human history. Yet, things changed when Herber Boyer, a biochemist at the University of California, founded the company Genentech in 1976 to exploit the commercial potential of his research. Since then the field has exploded into a global amalgam of private research firms developing frivolous, profit-hungry products, such as square trees tailor-made for lumber, without any sort of government regulation.
DNA is the genetic material found in cells of all living organisms. Human beings contain approximately one trillion cells (Aronson 9). DNA is a long strand in the shape of a double helix made up of small building blocks (Riley). The repeat segments are cut out of the DNA strand by a restrictive enzyme that acts like scissors and the resulting fragments are sorted out by electrophoresis (Saferstein 391).
DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) is a molecule found in in the nucleus of all cells in the body which carries our genetic information. DNA is found in the form of chromosomes, with a total of 23 pairs in the human body1. DNA holds the genetic coding for all our characteristics, i.e. our eye colour, body shape, and how we interact with others on a daily basis.
If one had the ability to choose any trait in the world whether it was different colored eyes, darker hair, fuller lips etc what would one do to obtain them? Would one be willing to undergo plastic surgery? Sell One 's soul? Does it Yourself?(God forbid one would be that stupid to something by Oneself) What if one could design the perfect baby? A baby with a strong immune system, green eyes and strong? What would one do to obtain the traits one so desire with a full proof method? It most certainly will not be the cheapest but it will come with a price. one would have to be willing to take a gamble on the success rate plus the after effects. If one is willing to take a gamble then welcome onto the field of Eugenics.
Genetic engineering has been around for many years and is widely used all over the planet. Many people don’t realize that genetic engineering is part of their daily lives and diet. Today, almost 70 percent of processed foods from a grocery store were genetically engineered. Genetic engineering can be in plants, foods, animals, and even humans. Although debates about genetic engineering still exist, many people have accepted due to the health benefits of gene therapy. The lack of knowledge has always tricked people because they only focused on the negative perspective of genetic engineering and not the positive perspective. In this paper, I will be talking about how Genetic engineering is connected to Brave New World, how the history of genetic engineering impacts the world, how genetic engineering works, how people opinions are influenced, how the side effects can be devastating, how the genetic engineering can be beneficial for the society and also how the ethical issues affect people’s perspective.
Shortly after the groundbreaking discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, the scientific world was essentially given the ability to alter the genetic sequence of any living organism using a process known as 'genetic engineering'. By definition, genetic engineering is 'the deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material', it is quite simply an unnatural process which defies the ordinary course of nature. As of yet, no devastating or permanent damage has been done. However, the unpredictable nature and unknown consequences genetic engineering holds is more than enough reason to be cautious, as one mistake could have irreversible and catastrophic effects.
Although humans have altered the genomes of species for thousands of years through artificial selection and other non-scientific means, the field of genetic engineering as we now know it did not begin until 1944 when DNA was first identified as the carrier of genetic information by Oswald Avery Colin McLeod and Maclyn McCarty (Stem Cell Research). In the following decades two more important discoveries occurred, first the 1953 discovery of the structure of DNA, by Watson and Crick, and next the 1973 discovery by Cohen and Boyer of a recombinant DNA technique which allowed the successful transfer of DNA into another organism. A year later Rudolf Jaenisch created the world’s first transgenic animal by introducing foreign DNA into a mouse embryo, an experiment that would set the stage for modern genetic engineering (Stem Cell Research). The commercialization of genetic engineering began largely in 1976 wh...
Science and technology are rapidly advancing everyday; in some ways for the better, and in some, for worse. One extremely controversial advance is genetic engineering. As this technology has high potential to do great things, I believe the power genetic engineering is growing out of control. Although society wants to see this concept used to fight disease and illness, enhance people 's lives, and make agriculture more sustainable, there needs to be a point where a line is drawn.
Genetic engineering has also opened the doors for humans to choose the different various traits they wish their offspring to feature by unnaturally selecting them. The unnatural selection of humans may have begun as a result of a new type of discrimination due to genetic screening (Cummins 4).
Human Genetic Engineering: Designing the Future As the rate of advancements in technology and science continue to grow, ideas that were once viewed as science fiction are now becoming reality. As we collectively advance as a society, ethical dilemmas arise pertaining to scientific advancement, specifically concerning the controversial topic of genetic engineering in humans.
The Problem Genetic engineering has been around since the 1960’s, although major experiments have not been really noticed until the 1990’s. Science comes in different forms, the two major being cloning and genetic reconstruction. Cloning is the duplicating of one organism and making an exact copy. For example, in 1996 the creation of the clone sheep named Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned, which was a great achievement. The other form, genetic reconstruction, is used to replace genes within humans to help or enhance the life of an unborn child for a medical reason or just for the preference of a parent.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a self-replicating molecule or material present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent in chromosomes. It encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses. Simply put, DNA contains the instructions needed for an organism to develop, survive and reproduce. The discovery and use of DNA has seen many changes and made great progress over many years. James Watson was a pioneer molecular biologist who is credited, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, with discovering the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. The three won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962 for their work (Bagley, 2013). Scientist use the term “double helix” to describe DNA’s winding, two-stranded chemical structure. This shape looks much like a twisted ladder and gives the DNA the power to pass along biological instructions with great precision.
...n, Jack Albrecht, Rebecca Lawrence, and Brian Guerra. "Hooray for Genetic Engineering." Http://www.cwrl.utexas./genetics/benefits.html. December 18, 1996.
The moral conflicts put aside, the process of genetic engineering is difficult. Changing the proteins in people’s body differently is an unnatural action. Scientists state that genetic engineering only works 50% of the time. Also, when a new gene is placed in the gene code, there will be various mutations that will definitely result in change but may not be for the better.
LEISA Magazine, January 17, 2014. Retrieved March 9, 2011, from http://www.agriculturenetwork.org/. magazines/global/genetic-engineering-not-the-only-option/genetic-engineering-not-the-only-option-editorial. Pelletier, C. (2010). The 'Paleter'. The future evolution of genetic engineering.