insulin Flashcards
what is insulin?
a globular peptide hormone that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood
where is insulin produced?
on the pancreas
by islets of Langerhans
what happens without insulin?
glucose builds up in the blood
cells are starved of energy
how do we produce enough insulin to treat millions of people?
Genetic Modification/ Engineering
what do we need for genetic modification to take place?
- DNA Vectors
- restriction enzymes
- ligase enzymes
What do DNA vectors do?
- vectors take pieces of DNA + insert them into other cells
e.g. viruses+ plasmids
what do restriction enzymes do?
cut DNA at specific sites along the DNA molecule
what do ligase enzymes do?
join pieces of DNA together at specific sites
how is insulin produced?
in a very controlled and sterile environment
using Escherichia coli
How are GM bacteria grown?
in large stainless steel fermentation vessels
What happens once fermentation is complete?
the mixture containing the bacteria is removed
the bacteria are filtered off and broken open to release the insulin
it is then purified and packaged
what are the 4 key stages of GE?
- selection of characteristics
- isolation of gene
- insertion
- replication
in GE what happens in the selection of characteristics?
- identify genes amongst others in the DNA of donor organisms
in GE what happens in the isolation of the gene?
- obtaining a copy of the required gene
- place it in the vector
in GE what happens in the insertion of the gene?
- using a vector to introduce the gene into the host cell
