Genetic Engineering

GENETIC ENGINEERING

            Genetic engineering is the alteration of an organism‘s genetic, or hereditary material to eliminate undesirable characteristics or to produce desirable new one’s. Genetic engineering is used to increase plant and animal food production; to diagnose disease, improving medicinal treatment and produce vaccines and other useful drugs; and to help dispose of industrial wastes. Include in genetic engineering techniques are the selective breeding of plants and animals, hybridization or the reproduction between different strains or species and recombinant DNA.

SELECTIVE BREEDING

            The first genetic engineering technique, still used today was the selective breeding of plants and animals, usually for increasing food production. In selective breeding, only those plants or animals with desirable characteristics are chosen for further breeding. Corn has been selectively bred for increased kernel size and number and for nutritional content for about 7000 years. More recently, selective breeding of wheat and rice to produce higher yields has helped supply the worlds ever increasing need for food.

             Cattle and pigs were first domesticated about 8000 years ago and through selective breeding have become main sources of animal food for humans. Dogs and horses have been selectively bred for thousands of years for work and recreational purposes resulting in more than 130 different dog breeds and 100 different horse breeds.

HYBRIDIZATION

            Hybridization (cross breeding) may involve combining different strains of a species (that is members of the same species in an effort to combine the most desirable characters of both.