Recombinant DNA

Question 1

What is recombinant DNA technology?

Answer 1

• a form of biotechnology that is used to introduce new, beneficial genes into an organism to create genetically modified organisms

Question 2

What is recombinant DNA?

Answer 2

• a form of DNA that does not exist naturally but is created by combining DNA sequences that would not normally occur together

Question 3

What is a genetically modified organism?

Answer 3

• an organism with introduced foreign DNA (gene) that results in new and useful traits

Question 4

What does recombinant DNA technology involve?

Answer 4

• finding a desirable gene and moving it into the cells of another organism by means of a vector

Question 5

What is a vector?

Answer 5

• a virus (bacteriophage) or plasmid that transfers foreign genetic material into another cell

Question 6

What is a plasmid?

Answer 6

• a circular, double stranded DNA molecules found in bacterial cells that are not part of the bacterial chromosome

Question 7

How does recombinant DNA technology work?

Answer 7

• after the organism has been genetically modified, the new organism will then follow the instructions of the inserted gene and make the protein for which the new gene codes
• if the genes are placed into bacteria, the bacteria can then be cultured to produce many working copies so that large quantities of the desired protein are produced