Genetic Engineering
Summary
TLDRThis educational video delves into the fascinating world of genetic engineering, illustrating how DNA from a cat and a jellyfish can be combined to create a glow-in-the-dark cat. It explains key concepts like gene splicing, recombinant DNA, and genetic modification, using accessible language. The video outlines the process involving enzymes like restriction enzymes and ligase, which cut and rejoin DNA, respectively. It also covers the use of bacteria as 'factories' for producing human insulin, showcasing the potential of genetic engineering in medicine and beyond.
Takeaways
- 🌟 Genetic engineering involves the manipulation of an organism's genes using biotechnology, often referred to by terms like gene splicing, recombinant DNA, or genetic modification.
- 🐱 The example of glow-in-the-dark cats illustrates how a gene from a jellyfish can be introduced into a cat's DNA to give it the ability to glow in the dark.
- 🔬 The universality of the genetic code allows for the combination of DNA from different organisms, enabling scientists to create recombinant DNA.
- ✂️ Restriction enzymes, acting like molecular scissors, cut DNA at specific sequences, creating 'sticky ends' that facilitate the joining of DNA fragments.
- 🧬 DNA ligase is an enzyme that 'glues' DNA fragments together by sealing the sugar-phosphate backbones, creating stable recombinant DNA.
- 🧬 Genetic engineering protocols often use bacteria as hosts for producing proteins, such as human insulin, due to their ease of genetic manipulation and rapid reproduction.
- 📦 Plasmids, small loops of DNA in bacteria, are particularly useful in genetic engineering because they can be easily moved in and out of bacterial cells.
- 🌱 Genetic engineering has a wide range of applications, including creating pesticide-resistant plants, bacteria that can clean up toxic waste, and producing medically important proteins.
- 💉 The process of inserting a gene into a bacterial cell and allowing it to reproduce to produce a desired protein, like human insulin, is known as transformation.
- 🏭 The final step in genetic engineering often involves isolating the produced protein from the host organism, which can then be used for various medical or industrial purposes.
Q & A
What is genetic engineering and what are some of its alternative names?
-Genetic engineering is the process of taking DNA from one organism and combining it with another to create recombinant DNA. It is also known as gene splicing, recombinant DNA, or genetic modification.
How does the glow-in-the-dark cat example illustrate genetic engineering?
-The glow-in-the-dark cat is an example of genetic engineering where a gene from a jellyfish that allows it to glow in the dark was combined with the cat's DNA, resulting in a cat that can also glow in the dark.
Why is the genetic code considered universal?
-The genetic code is considered universal because all organisms, despite their differences, are made up of the same basic building blocks represented by the letters A, T, C, and G, allowing for the combination of DNA from different organisms.
What role do restriction enzymes play in genetic engineering?
-Restriction enzymes act like scissors in genetic engineering, cutting DNA at specific sequences to create fragments that can be manipulated and recombined with DNA from other sources.
What is a sticky end and how does it contribute to genetic engineering?
-A sticky end is an uneven DNA sequence created by the cutting action of a restriction enzyme. It allows for the easy binding of DNA fragments through complementary base pairing, which is crucial for combining DNA from different sources.
What is the function of ligase in genetic engineering?
-Ligase is an enzyme that helps glue DNA back together by attaching the sugar-phosphate backbones, which are more difficult bonds to make, thus sealing the recombinant DNA.
How is recombinant DNA created using restriction enzymes and ligase?
-Recombinant DNA is created by cutting DNA from different sources with the same restriction enzyme to produce compatible sticky ends, which then bind together. Ligase is then used to seal the sugar-phosphate backbones, creating a stable recombinant DNA molecule.
Why are bacteria often used in genetic engineering?
-Bacteria are used in genetic engineering because they have plasmids, which are loops of DNA that can be easily moved in and out of cells, and they reproduce asexually, allowing for rapid production of identical bacterial cells for use as 'factories'.
How is human insulin produced using genetic engineering in bacteria?
-Human insulin is produced by inserting the human insulin gene into a bacterial plasmid, creating recombinant DNA. This is then introduced back into the bacteria, which reproduce to create millions of cells containing the human insulin gene. These bacteria are then used to produce human insulin.
What are some other applications of genetic engineering mentioned in the script?
-Other applications of genetic engineering include creating pesticide-resistant plants, bacteria that can clean up toxic waste, producing proteins to dissolve blood clots, making growth hormone, and even acid-washed genes.
What is transformation in the context of genetic engineering?
-Transformation in genetic engineering refers to the process of introducing new DNA into a cell, which then incorporates this DNA into its genome, potentially altering its traits or functions.
Outlines
🌟 Genetic Engineering Explained
This paragraph introduces the concept of genetic engineering, also known as gene splicing, recombinant DNA, or genetic modification. It explains how DNA from one organism can be combined with another to create recombinant DNA. The process involves taking a gene from a jellyfish that allows it to glow in the dark and combining it with a cat's DNA. The key point is that the genetic code is universal, allowing for the combination of DNA from different organisms. Two types of enzymes are crucial in this process: restriction enzymes, which act like scissors to cut DNA at specific sequences, and ligase, which glues DNA back together. Restriction enzymes create 'sticky ends' that can bind to other DNA fragments with complementary sequences, facilitating the creation of recombinant DNA.
🧬 Creating Human Insulin with Bacteria
This paragraph delves into a practical application of genetic engineering: using bacteria as factories to produce human insulin. Bacteria are chosen for this purpose due to their simple genetic structure, which includes plasmids that can be easily manipulated, and their rapid asexual reproduction, allowing for the quick creation of millions of identical bacterial cells. The process involves extracting the plasmid from the bacterium and the insulin gene from human DNA, cutting both with the same restriction enzyme to create compatible sticky ends. These are then combined and sealed with ligase to form recombinant DNA, which is introduced back into the bacterium through a process called transformation. The bacteria, now containing the human insulin gene, reproduce to create a large number of cells capable of producing human insulin. This insulin can then be extracted and used to treat diabetics, demonstrating the power of genetic engineering in medicine.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Genetic Engineering
💡Gene Splicing
💡Recombinant DNA
💡Universal Genetic Code
💡Restriction Enzyme
💡Ligase
💡Sticky Ends
💡Transformation
💡Plasmid
💡Human Insulin
💡Genetic Modification
Highlights
Genetic engineering enables the creation of glow-in-the-dark cats through the addition of a gene from jellyfish.
Genetic engineering is also known as gene splicing, recombinant DNA, or genetic modification.
The process involves combining DNA from different organisms to create recombinant DNA.
All organisms share a universal genetic code, allowing for the combination of DNA from different species.
Enzymes play a crucial role in genetic engineering, particularly restriction enzymes and ligases.
Restriction enzymes act like molecular scissors, cutting DNA at specific sequences.
Ligases are enzymes that 'glue' DNA fragments back together.
Restriction enzymes often create 'sticky ends' that facilitate the joining of DNA fragments.
The process of creating recombinant DNA involves cutting and pasting DNA from different sources.
Recombinant DNA is useless until it is inserted into an organism to produce the desired trait.
Bacteria are often used in genetic engineering due to their ease of genetic manipulation and rapid reproduction.
Plasmids, small loops of DNA in bacteria, are used to insert and express foreign genes.
The human insulin gene can be inserted into bacteria to produce human insulin through genetic engineering.
Genetic engineering allows for the mass production of human insulin using bacterial cells.
The process of inserting recombinant DNA into a cell is known as transformation.
Genetic engineering has applications beyond medical uses, including creating pesticide-resistant plants and cleaning up toxic waste.
The video discusses various applications of genetic engineering, showcasing its broad impact on science and medicine.
Transcripts
these cats can glow in the dark now is
this a naturally occurring trait due to
a random mutation nope this is an
example of genetic engineering and we're
going to take a look at how this process
works in this video note that genetic
engineering goes by different names you
might also hear it called gene splicing
recombinant DNA or genetic modification
but all of these terms mean the same
thing which is basically
this taking DNA from one organism
combining it with another organism and
getting recombinant DNA DNA from two
different sources now in the case of our
glow-in-the-dark cat most of the DNA
came from the cat but it received a gene
from a jellyfish that allowed it to glow
in the
dark now you might be wondering how is
it possible to combine DNA from a cat
with DNA from a jelly fish those are two
really different organisms well the key
is that the genetic code is universal so
if we were to take a look at the DNA of
this animal the DNA of this bacteria and
the DNA of this little boy we would see
some differences but they're all made up
of a T C and G now the sequence might be
different but they're speaking the same
language and because the genetic code is
universal we can combine DNA from
different organisms and genetic Eng
engineering is a
reality genetic engineering relies on
enzymes two types in particular so let's
take a few minutes to see the role of
these enzymes in genetic
engineering one of these enzymes kind of
acts like scissors it's known as a
restriction enzyme and its job is to cut
DNA at particular sequences and then
there's another enzyme known as liase
and its job is to glue DNA back
together now let's explore restriction
enzymes in a little bit more detail
there are many many different
restriction enzymes thousands and each
enzyme is specific for a particular DNA
sequence so this restriction enzyme will
only cut DNA when it sees the sequence
CC TG G this enzyme will only cut DNA
when it sees the sequence TT CG AA and
this enzyme will only cut DNA when it
sees the sequence CC ta GG you get the
idea the other thing to know about
restriction enzymes is that many of them
cut
unevenly um and this is known as the
restriction site so let's take a closer
look at how the Restriction enzyme Cuts
unevenly here's a DNA sequence here is
the restriction site for a particular
enzyme it likes to start cutting here
but then finish cutting here so what
happens is that we get an uneven DNA
sequence these uneven DNA sequences are
known as sticky ends and they're sticky
ends because since there's only one DNA
sequence exposed here it can easily bind
through complimentary base pairing rules
to another sticky end and this is
important to genetic engineering
so here we've got our sticky
ends now let's take a look at how we
would use these two enzymes together uh
to create recombinant DNA so here's our
DNA sequence here's a restriction site
for a particular restriction enzyme
first thing we're going to do is add a
restriction enzyme to cut it into
fragments there we go and here you can
see the sticky ends now we're going to
add DNA from another source that's also
also been cut using the same enzyme and
this is important because using the same
enzyme means that you get the same
sticky ends so here's DNA from one
organism here's DNA from a different one
but same sticky ends now these fragments
are going to stick together because of
complimentary base pairing so here we go
this sticky end was complimentary to
this sticky end and this sticky end was
complimentary to this sticky end so they
naturally came together however we need
a little Li at this point because liase
will help attach the sugar phosphate
backbones which are more difficult bonds
to make so once ligase gets involved
here we go we now have our recombinant
DNA DNA from one organism combined with
DNA from another
organism so this is how we would put two
different genes together but at this
point pretty useless all we have is a
recombinant DNA molecule in order for
that to actually build a protein that
makes a trait we need to put this DNA
into an organism so now let's take a
look at the whole genetic engineering
protocol and we're going to use a
particular example a very commonly used
example of genetic
engineering and this example involves
the use of bacteria to be human insulin
factories that's right because of
genetic engineering we can make
bacterial cells produce insulin that's
not bacterial insulin that's human
insulin and then we can bottle that
insulin and give it to diabetics so
here's how it works first of all let's
start with the bacterium why would we
use a bacterium as a human insulin
Factory well one reason has to do with
its genetic structure bacteria have a
big circular chromosome but then they
also have these smaller Loops of DNA
called plasmids and it's very easy to
move plasmids into and out of cells so
that's one advantage to using back
bacteria the other Advantage is that
bacteria are unicellular and they
reproduce asexually which means that in
a very short amount of time you can get
millions and millions of identical
bacterial cells clones and this is
important if you want
factories so let's see how the
experiment Works we're going to start
with um our eoli bacterium here you can
see its chromosome here you can see its
plasmid and then we've got a human cell
and this human cell contains a nucleus
which contains DNA and within that DNA
is a gene for producing insulin now this
is the correct Gene this produces good
insulin so the first thing we're going
to do is we're going to take the
plasmine out of the bacteria and we're
going to take the DNA out of the human
cell easy
enough then we're going to cut both of
them with the same restriction enzyme so
here the plasmid has been cut and here
the human DNA has been cut and we're
going to use a restriction enzyme that
cuts at sights around the human insulin
Gene so it's important to pick the right
restriction enzyme for your experiment
so now we have our human insulin Gene
and we've got our cut plasmid now we're
going to combine those two together and
because of complimentary base pairing
and because of the sticky ends they're
going to naturally bond together
then we're going to throw in a little
bit of liase to help seal the sugar
phosphate backbones and now we have our
recombinant DNA most of the plasmid is
bacterial DNA but it now has the human
insulin Gene pretty cool but again this
is useless unless we put it inside a
cell so that the DNA can be used to make
the protein insulin so let's do that
next step number seven we're going to
stick this reconvened plasmid back into
the bacterial cell and this process is
known as transformation whenever you
give a cell new DNA it's called
transformation so now we're going to let
this bacteria cell reproduce and in a
matter of days we'll have millions and
millions and millions of identical
bacteria all of them with this
recombinant plasmid that contains the
gene for human insulin so we're going to
let these bacteria produce human insulin
and then what're going to do is we're
going to take the insulin out of the
bacteria there's a special technique
where we can isolate that protein so now
we've got the human insulin and we can
bottle this up and we can use it to
treat diabetics who need uh doses of
insulin and that in a nutshell is how to
do genetic engineering keep in mind
though that this is only one example we
can move genes from different organisms
uh into other organisms so one
application is to make pesticide
resistant plants these have a gene from
uh bacteria that allows them produce
their own pesticide we can make bacteria
that can clean up toxic waste uh we can
produce proteins to dissolve blood clots
uh we can make growth hormone we can
even make acid washed genes and in class
we'll take a look at some other
applications of genetic engineering
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)