Genetic Modification Flashcards
What is the acronym for the order of classification?
King: Kingdom Philip: Phylum Can: Class Only: Order Fuck: Family Gay: Genus Seals: Species
What is the definition of a species?
Animals which can reproduce to make fertile offspring
What is Darwin’s theory of natural selection and evolution?
Where individuals of a species show variation so one individual might have a better characteristic than another so that individual’s offspring will be healthier and will have a better chance of surviving. This characteristic is passed on through generations and causes this characteristic to become a normality. The individuals without this characteristic will eventually die out
What is selective breeding?
When plants or animals with desired characteristics are bred together so that the offspring will inherit these desired characteristics
- The offspring with the desired characteristics are bred together
- This is repeated until a high yielding variety is produced
Why is selective breeding useful?
- Increased health and comfort of animals
- Disease resistance
- Aesthetics
What are the disadvantages of selective breeding?
- Some bad genetic diseases are accidentally passed on to the rest of the population
- controversial changes could be made to specie
- Increased chance of inter-breading (inbred) therefore increased chance of genetic diseases
What are the stages of genetic engineering?
- A gene for a characteristic is cut out of a chromosome using restriction enzymes
- The gene is inserted into a chromosome in the nucleus of a cell of a different organism
- The cell now produces this desired characteristic
What is the process used to produce cell cultures?
- A small sample cut from parent plant and is placed in agar jelly containing plant hormones and nutrients
- Samples grow into tiny plants and can be placed in trays of compost to grow further - this enables many plants to have desired characteristics as you can take the sample from a genetically modified organism. It can also be used to test drugs on animals
What is the process for genetically modifying bacteria cells to produce human insulin?
- DNA from a human cell is cut into pieces using restriction enzymes, a few base pairs are left unpaired at the end of each cell, these are called sticky ends
- Bacteria cells contain small circles of DNA called plasmids, the same restriction enzymes are used to cut up the plasmids leaving sticky ends with matching sets of unpaired bases to the sticky ends in the human cell
- Pieces of human DNA containing the insulin gene are mixed with the plasmids, the bases in the sticky ends from each piece of DNA pair up
- An enzyme called DNA ligase is added to link the DNA back into a circle
- The plasmid is then inserted back into the bacteria cell and the bacteria can now be grown in huge fermenters, where they make human insulin
What are Bt plants?
Bt plants are plants that have been genetically modified to produce the Bt toxin which is toxic to insects
How are Bt plants produced?
- Gene for Bt toxin is cut out of the bacterial DNA and inserted into the DNA of a plant
- Plants grown from these cells produce the Bt toxin, when an insect tries to eat one of these plants the poison form the Bt plant kills it
What are the advantages of Bt plants?
- Crop damage reduced so higher crop yield
- Less insecticide needed so other harmless and useful insects are less likely to be harmed as well
What are the disadvantages of Bt plants?
- Bt gene may transfer to closely related wild plants by pollination, these plants don’t need to be resistant to insects
- Insects could become resistant to Bt gene
What are fertilisers?
Chemicals used to make crops grow faster and bigger
What are the advantages of fertilisers?
- Increase crops growth rate and size
- Good way to use animal waste from farms
