Genetic Engineering, History And Future: Altering The Face Of Science

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lifted.

The first step to understanding genetic engineering, and embracing its
possibilities for society, is to obtain a rough knowledge base of its history
and method. The basis for altering the evolutionary process is dependant on the
understanding of how individuals pass on characteristics to their offspring.
Genetics achieved its first foothold on the secrets of nature's evolutionary
process when an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel developed the first "laws of
heredity." Using these laws, scientists studied the characteristics of
organisms for most of the next one hundred years following Mendel's discovery.
These early studies concluded that each organism has two sets of character
determinants, or genes (Stableford 16). For instance, in regards to eye color,
a child could receive one set of genes from his father that were encoded one
blue, and the other brown. The same child could also receive two brown genes
from his mother. The conclusion for this inheritance ...

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and removing a desired gene from a DNA
strand involves many different tools. DNA can be broken up by exposing it to
ultra-high-frequency sound waves, but this is an extremely inaccurate way of
isolating a desirable DNA section (Stableford 26). A more accurate way of DNA
splicing is the use of "restriction enzymes, which are produced by various
species of bacteria" (Clarke 1). The restriction enzymes cut the DNA strand at
a particular location called a nucleotide base, which makes up a DNA molecule.
Now that the desired portion of the DNA is cut out, it can be joined to anoth
erstrand of DNA by using enzymes called ligases. The final important step in
the creation of a new DNA ...

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