Transgenic Technology Animation

Transgenic technology used to deliberately alter the genome of an organism by the transfer of a gene or genes from another species or breed.

A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using the genetic engineering techniques generally known as recombinant DNA technology. With recombinant DNA technology, DNA molecules from different sources are combined in vitro into one molecule to create a new gene. This modified DNA is then transferred into an organism causing the expression of modified or novel traits. The product is also known as an Genetically Engineered Organism or GEO.

Transgenic Technology Part 1



Transgenic Technology Part 2

The term "GMO" has historically been defined as organisms whose genetic makeup has been altered by conventional cross breeding or by "mutagenesis" breeding, as these methods predate the discovery of the recombinant DNA techniques. However, this term is now interchangeable with Genetically Engineered Organism.

Examples of GMOs are highly diverse, and include transgenic (genetically modified by recombinant DNA methods) animals such as mice, fish, transgenic plants, or various microbes, such as fungi and bacteria. The generation and use of GMOs has many reasons, chief among them are their use in research that addresses fundamental or applied questions in biology or medicine, for the production of pharmaceuticals and industrial enzymes, and for direct, and often controversial, applications aimed at improving human health (e.g., gene therapy) or agriculture (e.g., golden rice). The term "genetically modified organism" does not always imply, but can include, targeted insertions of genes from one into another species. For example, a gene from a jellyfish, encoding a fluorescent protein called GFP, can be physically linked and thus co-expressed with mammalian genes to identify the location of the protein encoded by the GFP-tagged gene in the mammalian cell. These and other methods are useful and indispensable tools for biologists in many areas of research, including those that study the mechanisms of human and other diseases or fundamental biological processes in eukaryotic or prokaryotic cells.

Transgenic animals

Transgenic animals are used as experimental models to perform phenotypic tests with genes whose function is unknown or to generate animals that are susceptible to certain compounds or stresses for testing in biomedical research.ther applications include the production of human hormones, such as insulin.

Frequently used in genetic research are transgenic fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) as genetic models to study the effects of genetic changes on development.Flies are often preferred over other animals for ethical reasons and ease of culture, and also because the fly genome is somewhat simpler than that of vertebrates.