The cells of all plants and animals contain DNA; it's like a blueprint for life, passed from generation to generation. Strands of DNA are made up of genes, and it's these that carry the information which gives organisms their specific characteristics, including physical appearance (such as green eyes or purple leaves) and physiological functioning (such as drug-resistance in bacteria).
Genetic engineering, or genetic modification, means changing the DNA by transferring genes between and within different living things. For instance, you could take a gene from a fish that lives in very cold seas and insert it into strawberry DNA, so it can survive the frost.
Some argue that genetic modification of organisms is not new: last century Gregor Mendel was cross-breeding pea plants to create specific outcomes, such as pink flowers from red and white ones. Earlier this century scientists started cross-breeding distant plant relatives (say two varieties of corn) to create 'hybrids' with desirable characteristics from the originals (such as a high-yielding hybrid variety of corn). Many of the food crops we have now are the result of such cross-breeding.
But the genetic manipulation of organisms we're seeing now is a radical departure from cross-breeding, because it crosses the natural boundaries between species, and even between the biological 'kingdoms': plants, animals and micro-organisms. Molecular biology has advanced so rapidly that it's possible to do things now that were totally unimaginable only twenty years ago.
Genetic engineering, or genetic modification, means changing the DNA by transferring genes between and within different living things. For instance, you could take a gene from a fish that lives in very cold seas and insert it into strawberry DNA, so it can survive the frost.Some argue that genetic modification of organisms is not new: last century Gregor Mendel was cross-breeding pea plants to create specific outcomes, such as pink flowers from red and white ones. Earlier this century scientists started cross-breeding distant plant relatives (say two varieties of corn) to create 'hybrids' with desirable characteristics from the originals (such as a high-yielding hybrid variety of corn). Many of the food crops we have now are the result of such cross-breeding.
But the genetic manipulation of organisms we're seeing now is a radical departure from cross-breeding, because it crosses the natural boundaries between species, and even between the biological 'kingdoms': plants, animals and micro-organisms. Molecular biology has advanced so rapidly that it's possible to do things now that were totally unimaginable only twenty years ago.
