How can you clone plants using cutting?
Gardeners can take cuttings from good parents plants and plant that cutting to produce genetically identical copies (clones) of the parent plant. This produces plants using a quick and cheap method.
How can you clone plants using tissue culture?
Tissues from plants can be scrapped off and put in a agar growth medium with hormones called auxins and nutrients. They are then grown into genetically identical clones of the parent plant. That way is very quick, needs little space and can be grown all year.
What are the keypoints of asexual reproduction?
- only consists of one parent.
- no fusion of gametes.
- no mixture of chromosomes.
- product produced is the genetically identical clone to its parent cell.
- quick and cheap method.
- no genetic variation.
How can you clone animals?
Using embryo transplants. Farmers can produce cloned offsprings from their best cow and best bull using embryo transplant.
The sperm cells get taken from the best bull and the egg cell gets taking from the best cow. The sperm is then used to artificially fertilise the egg cell. The embryo that develops gets split many times to form clones before any cell becomes specialised. These cloned embryos are the implanted into many other cows where they can grow into baby calves that will be genetically identical to each other. They can be produced every year.
How can you clone adult cells?
It involves in taking a fertilised egg cell and removing its genetic material which is its nucleus. A complete set of chromosomes from an adult body cell is then inserted into the empty egg cell. The egg cell gets stimulated by an electric shock making it divide like a normal embryo. When the embryo is a ball of cells, it’s implanted into the adult female to grow genetically identical clones of the original adult body cell. Thats how dolly the famous cloned sheep was made.
Advantages of cloning
Ideal offspring.
Get a better understanding of the development of the embryo, ageing and age related disorders.
Help preserve endangered species.
Disadvantages of cloning
You get reduced gene pool meaning that you have fewer different alleles in a population that might not be resistant to diseases so if a disease appeared, all the clones could be wiped out.
Might not be as healthy - dolly the sheep had arthritis.
If humans could be cloned, there would be many unsuccessful attempts, killing children and making them have several disorders, before having a successful one.
How does genetic engineering work?
Genetic engineering works in animals, plants and microorganisms. Different enzymes can cut pieces of a useful genes DNA from an organisms chromosome, and join them into a gap in the DNA of another organisms chromosomes that has also been cut open using enzymes. This means that the new organism with the inserted genes has the genetic information for its characteristics.
What are GM crops?
When new genes are transferred to crop plants. That makes GM crops. Some GM crops are resistant to certain herbicides (weed killers) while others are resistant to insect pests.
What is gene therapy?
When a genetic disorder has occurred due to faulty genes, so scientists are trying to fix this by inserting working genes.
Advantages of genetic engineering
It has the potential to solve many problems such as:
- curing diseases.
- improving animal and crop quality.
- prevents deformities.
Disadvantages of genetic engineering
- creates the perfect race.
- can harm animal wellbeing.
- not ethical.
- isn’t always safe.
Modern uses of genetic engineering are:
- crop resistance to diseases
- crops that create a great yield.
- finding out where genes are in the body.
- manufacturing insulin.
What is gene splicing
The process of cutting out a gene from the DNA of an organism and inserting it into the DNA of another.
What is transgenics?
And why is the method good?
Foreign DNA, including DNA from humans, are inserted into animals. The protein encoded by the DNA can be produced in specific tissues of the transgenic animal.
The method is cheap and produced high levels of antibodies easily.
Cons of GM crops
Growing them will affect the number of weeds and flowers (decreasing insect population) that live in and around crops.
People might develop allergies to the crops/ food.
The transplanted genes could get into the environment producing things such as superweed as the gene could be herbicide resistant.
Pros of GM crops
It can increase the yield of crop, making more food.
People often lack nutrients so the GM crops can contain what they need.
GM crops are being grown in different places around the world and are not causing problems.
How can plants be cloned?
From cuttings and by tissue culture.
State two examples of useful applications of genetic engineering
Used in plants to create GM crops which give better yield etc.
Used to make medicines and human insulin.
Why are some people concerned about genetic engineering?
Because the changing a persons genes might accidentally create unplanned problems which could be passed onto the future generations.
