Recombinant DNA Technology (Notes)

In this article we will discuss about Recombinant DNA Technology:- 1. Subject Matter of Recombinant DNA Technology 2. Definitions of Recombinant DNA Technology 3. Basic Principle.

Subject Matter of Recombinant DNA Technology:

Over the past decades, the development of new and powerful techniques for studying and manipulating DNA has revolutionized genet­ics. These techniques have allowed biologists to intervene directly in the genetic fate of or­ganisms for the first time.

Hence, this is called as the gene technology or recombinant DNA technology. In nature genetic recombination occurs in meiosis which takes place during gametogenesis both in plants and animals. This is where the genetic variation arises and we get a whole frame of natural diversity within the individuals of same population.

In other words, all the differences between you and me have arisen from this process of ge­netic recombination that occurred in the ga­metes of our parents which eventually fused to make us. With our present enriched data from all the fields of biology, starting from cytology, genetics, molecular biology and bio­chemistry, today we can create artificial ge­netic recombination in the laboratory which ultimately produces living beings having fea­tures of human interest. There are several other terms that can be used to describe the technology, including gene manipulation, gene cloning, genetic modification, and the new genetics.

Definitions of Recombinant DNA Technology:

Followings are some definitions of recombinant DNA technology:

1. Recombinant DNA technology or Genetic engineering is the deliberate, controlled manipulation of the genes in an organism with the intent of making that organism better in some way.

2. Recombinant DNA technology covers all various experimental techniques that ma­nipulate the genes of the organism. It uses recombinant DNA, molecular cloning and transformation.

3. Recombinant DNA technology involves the scientific alteration of the structure of ge­netic material in a living organism. It in­volves the production and use of recombi­nant DNA and has been employed to cre­ate bacteria that synthesize insulin and other human proteins.

4. Recombinant DNA technology is the branch of biology dealing with the splic­ing and recombining of specific genetic units from the DNA of living organisms as in order to produce new species or bio-chemicals.

5. Recombinant DNA technology is defined as the development and application of sci­entific methods, procedures, and technolo­gies that permit direct manipulation of ge­netic material in order to alter the hereditary traits of a cell, organism, or popula­tion.

6. Recombinant DNA technology includes a bunch of techniques that produce unlimi­ted amounts of otherwise unavailable or scarce biological product by introducing DNA isolated from animals or plants into bacteria and then harvesting the product from a bacterial colony, as human insulin produced in bacteria by the human insu­lin gene.

Basic Principle of Recombinant DNA Technology:

Although there are many diverse and complex techniques involved, the basic principles of genetic manipulation are reasonably simple. The premise on which the technology is based is that genetic information, encoded by DNA and arranged in the form of genes, is a resource that can be manipulated in various ways to achieve certain goals in both pure and applied science and medicine.

Every living entity con­sists of one or more cells with DNA-molecules that contain the blueprint for thousands of cellular proteins.

A piece of DNA with the code for a particular protein (called gene of inter­est), together with appropriate control codes (like promoter, operator and regulator), can be inserted into a host cell, where it be­comes integrated into the latter’s genome.

The recombinant cell is then grown in large quan­tities to produce the protein of interest. This recombinant protein, which is stored inside the cell or secreted into the culture medium, can be recovered, purified and formulated into a product used in healthcare, industry or agri­culture.

The host cell can be a bacterium, fun­gus, yeast or animal-derived cell. In some cases we just want to make multiple copies of the inserted gene of interest and don’t want it be translated into proteins. In this case we col­lect these replicated copies of the gene, purify it and store it.