5.1.2

Genetic Engineering

Test yourself on Genetic Engineering

Test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

Genetic Engineering

Genetic engineering involves modifying (changing) an organism’s genome by introducing a gene from another organism to produce a desired characteristic. Examples of this are:

Insulin-producing gene

Insulin-producing gene

  • The gene that produces insulin can be inserted into bacteria. Those bacteria can then mass-produce insulin to treat people with diabetes.
Vitamin A rice

Vitamin A rice

  • A lack of vitamin A can lead to blindness.
  • A lot of communities that were lacking in vitamin A were found to use rice as the core of their diet.
  • Therefore, a gene that produced vitamin A was taken from bacteria and added to rice, producing rice (golden rice) that was rich in Vitamin A.

Genetic Engineering

Genetic engineering happens like this:

Cut the gene out

Cut the gene out

  • Enzymes are used to “cut” a desired gene out of a chromosome.
Cut a vector

Cut a vector

  • The same enzyme is used to “cut” a vector. The Vector is usually a bacterial plasmid (loop of DNA) or virus.
Gene inserted

Gene inserted

  • The vector is used to insert the gene into the required cells.
Delivering gene

Delivering gene

  • If the gene is delivered into cells before they have differentiated (at the egg or embryo stage), all cells in the developed organism will have the gene and show the characteristic.
Jump to other topics
1

Principles of Science I

1.1

Structure & Bonding

1.2

Properties of Substances

1.3

Cell Structure & Function

1.4

Cell Specialisation

1.5

Tissue Structure & Function

1.6

Working with Waves

1.7

Waves in Communication

2

Practical Scientific Procedures and Techniques

3

Science Investigation Skills

4

Principles of Science II

4.1

Extracting Elements

4.2

Relating Properties to use of Substances

4.3

Organic Chemistry

4.4

Energy Changes in Industry

4.5

The Circulatory System

4.6

Ventilation & Gas Exchange

4.7

Urinary System

4.8

Cell Transport

4.9

Thermal Physics

4.10

Materials

4.11

Fluids

5

Contemporary Issues in Science

Practice questions on Genetic Engineering

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
Answer all questions on Genetic Engineering

Unlock your full potential with Seneca Premium

  • Unlimited access to 10,000+ open-ended exam questions

  • Mini-mock exams based on your study history

  • Unlock 800+ premium courses & e-books

Get started with Seneca Premium