Uses of genetic engineering
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Summary
Uses of genetic engineering
In a nutshell
Genetic engineering has many uses including meeting the needs of the growing population. Plants can be genetically engineered to become resistant to insects however, this has many advantages and disadvantages associated with it.
Tissue culture
Genetically modified animals and plants can be cloned using the tissue culture method.
Example procedure
| 1. | A tissue sample is taken from a parent plant. |
| 2. | A petri dish is prepared that contains nutrient agar with plant growth hormones. The tissue sample is placed on the agar. |
| 3. | The sample tissue starts to grow into new plants. |
| 4. | The new plants are placed in compost and grown into clones of the original parent plant. |
Animal cell cultures | Plant cell cultures |
| Chemical and drug testing can be done using animal cells cultures. | Can produce hundreds of clones of the modified parent plant. |
| Cancer cells can be identified from patients using this method. | The cells can be grown to make plant products. ExamplePaclitaxel is a chemotherapy drug used to treat cancer. |
| This method can be used to produce lots of important proteins like antibodies. | This method can produce disease-free plants. |
Insect-resistant plants
Some plants have been engineered to become resistant to insects.
The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis is a soil bacterium that naturally produces a chemical, called the Bt toxin. This toxin is poisonous to some insects such as caterpillars. The gene for the Bt toxin can be cut out of the bacterium and inserted into the DNA of a plant cell to create insect resistant plants. This process uses the vector Agrobacterium tumefaciens which naturally infects plant cells.
After genetic engineering, the plant will produce the protein for the Bt toxin and when an insect, like a caterpillar, tries to eat the plant the poison will kill it.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Increased crop yield as less crops are damaged by insects. | Seeds from the engineered plants are more expensive than non-engineered plants. |
| Better for biodiversity as less chemical insecticides would be used so less harmless insects would be killed. | There is a possibility that the insects could develop resistance to the Bt toxin. |
| | The gene for the Bt toxin may be transferred to wild plants during cross-pollination. |
Meeting population needs
As the human population size increases, there is a growing need for more food. To achieve this, farmers will use fertilisers and biological control in their fields to increase their crop yields.
Fertilisers
Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Fertilisers contain nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. These are important nutrients that help plants to grow. | If farmers use too much fertiliser on their crops, it can pollute waterways and cause eutrophication. |
| Fertilisers increase crop growth and therefore crop yield so there is more food to meet the population's needs. | Artificial fertilisers are expensive to make. |
| It uses animal waste (manure) so there is less waste. | Artificial fertilisers can reduce biodiversity in the soil. |
Biological control
This method of control uses a natural predator, a parasite or a disease to control to size of the pest population and keep it low.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
| The pests will not become resistant. | Biological control will not get rid of the pest. |
| The control agent can be specific to the pest. | There is a possibility that the control agent may become a pest. |
| Chemical pesticides can kill useful organisms but this method will not. | |
FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions
What is biological control?
Biological control is a method of control uses a natural predator, a parasite or a disease to control to size of the pest population and keep it low.
What is a disadvantage of using fertilisers?
If farmers use too much fertiliser on their crops, it can pollute waterways and cause eutrophication.
What is an advantage of using fertilisers?
Fertilisers contain nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. These are important nutrients that help plants to grow.
How can plants be engineered to be resistant to insects?
The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis is a soil bacterium that naturally produces a chemical, called the Bt toxin, that is poisonous to some insects such as caterpillars. The gene for the toxin can be cut out of the bacterium and inserted into the DNA of a plant cell to create insect resistant plants.