In this lesson you will learn about the various applications of DNA technologies and appreciated their benefits in medicine, agriculture and the environment.
By the end of this lesson students should be able to:
- define gene therapy, “pharm” animals and plants, transgenics, GMOs, attenuated vaccines, inactive vaccines, RFLPs, STRs.
- explain how a retrovirus is used in gene therapy.
- list examples of pharmaceutical proteins and their roles inlcuding Imatinib and tissue plasminogen activator (TPA).
- explain how a transgenic plant is produced using the Ti plasmid and Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
- list examples of genetically engineered organisms (ex. poplar trees, algenol producing algea, enviro pig etc)
- debate on the pros and cons of genetically modified organims (GMOs) and the concerns on the safety of foods from GMOs.
- explain the two mechanisms for gene transfer: horizontal gene transfer and vertical gene transfer.
Let’s start by examining the principles of gene therapy, pharmaceutical proteins. and forensics in the video lesson below. Watch it and write down detailed notes.
The second part of this lesson covers the principles, procedures and examples of genetic engineering in animals and plants. Watch it and once again write down detailed notes.