Transgenic Organisms

Question 1

What are the levels of biotechnology that lead to Transgenes?

Answer 1

B.GE.GM.T.T
Biotechnology
↓
Genetic Engineering
↓
Genetically modified Organisms
↓
Transgenic Organisms
↓
Transgenes

Question 2

What is biotechnology?

Answer 2

an umbrella term that refers to using biological processes, systems and organism for the benefit of humanity,
maybe by taking advantage of an existing process or manipulating an organism

Question 3

the process of modifying the genome/genes of a living organismWhat is genetic engineering?

Answer 3

genetic engineering

Question 4

The product of genetic engineering is called a?

Answer 4

a genetically modified organism? (GMOs)

Question 5

How do genetically modified organisms come about?

Answer 5

through genetic engineering. They are the products of genetic engineering

Question 6

What are the three (basic) ways you can cause a genetically modified organism?

Answer 6

• Removing a gene
• altering a gene
• adding a gene

Question 7

What is a transgenic organism?

Answer 7

genetically modified organisms (GMOs) which specifically have been modified to contain genes from another species

Question 8

What is a transgene?

Answer 8

the actual gene that is TRANSFERRED from one organism to another

Question 9

All ______ are ______,
but not all ______ are ______

Answer 9

All transgenic organisms are GMOs but not all GMOs are transgenic organisms

Question 10

Why aren’t all GMOs transgenic organisms?

Answer 10

because a GMO refers to an organism that has had it’s genes modified in ANY WAY (very general, taking away, altering or adding genes), transgenic organisms are very SPECIFICALLY GMOs that have had genes from an outside organism added to them.

Question 11

What does “the genetic code is universal” mean?

Answer 11

almost any gene transferred from one organism to another will express the protein expressed in the original language. Basically, genes from one organism will work the same no matter what organism they are put in. Genes work like a language that every organism speaks and understands.

Question 12

Transgenic organisms depend on what technology?

Answer 12

recombinant DNA technology

Question 13

How can a transgenic gene become inherited by the organism’s offspring?

Answer 13

it has to become part of the DNA of the organisms’ germline (sex cells), by either being directly inserted into a sex cell or into a fertilised egg

Question 14

When does a transgenic species become recognised as a reproductive technology?

Answer 14

when it increases the reproductive capacity of an animal, which most transgenic species are not made for

Question 15

In 1990, US scientists created what transgenic species?

Answer 15

Bt cotton or Ingard GM cotton

Question 16

Why was Bt cotton created?

Answer 16

because of the pest Helicoverpa zea moth that was becoming resistant to the pesticides used to kill it (natural selection yk) and so was destroying hundreds of millions of cotton plants every year

Question 17

What was Bt cotton genetically modified to do?

Answer 17

to contain a gene
that codes for the production of a protein that kills the caterpillar of the Helicoverpa zea moth

Question 18

What was the effect of the creation of Bt cotton?

Answer 18

has reduced the need to use pesticides to kill these caterpillars, which is
+ better for the environment
+ reduces the development of pesticide resistance in the caterpillars.
Cotton farmers in NSW and QLD now only spray occasionally, with a narrow spectrum pesticide that does not kill beneficial insects (ladybugs and wasps)

Question 19

What is the effect of Bt cotton on humans and most animals?

Answer 19

Basically nothing. The protein is harmless for humans, most animals and most insects because it’s inactive. It only is activated in the caterpillar’s digestive system to kill it

Question 20

What are the quick 5 steps for producing transgenic cotton?

Answer 20

1. Normal cotton seedlings are cut into small pieces and grown on a solid medium until they become calluses. They are transferred six weeks later to a liquid medium and given hormones to grow them into cotton plant embryos
2. the Bt gene is cut from the genome of the bacterim Bacillus thuringiensis using restriction enzymes (with genetic engineering)
3. the Bt gene is transferred ot the cotton plant embryos using a second bacteria as a carrier (aka vector). The carrier is specifically Agrobacterium tumefaciens (cause crown gall disease in plants), because it can inject genes into other cells
4. the cotton plant embryos are dipped in a solution that contains a mix of the carrier Agrobacterim and the extracted Bt genes. The carrier bacteria injects the Bt genes into the cotton cells
5. Once the gene is inserted, the embryos with the Bt genes are grown in tissue culture and
   then placed on another solid medium. They germinate into small plants which are planted in pots and grown in glasshouses
   Product: the plants are now a transgenic species (yes a whole new species) containing a gene from another species in their genome

Question 21

Why do some critics consider Bt cotton to be controversial?

Answer 21

they claim that it is harming the surrounding ecosystems

Question 22

Where did the name Bt in Bt cotton come from?

Answer 22

because the transferred gene originally was taken from the soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis

Question 23

Alfalfa plants in Australia have been genetically modified to…?

Answer 23

produce high levels of cysteine

Question 24

What is the effect of this transgenic alfalfa on the sheep that graze on it?

Answer 24

the sheep have higher-quality wool

Question 25

How do transgenic organisms affect genetic diversity in the short term?

Answer 25

creating transgenic species increases genetic diversity, because genes are moved form one species to another, which may make some species resistance where they were once vulnerable, allowing them to survive an dpass on their favourable genes

Question 26

How do transgenic organisms affect genetic diversity in the long term?

Answer 26

may reduce genetic diversity, because the original genetic material of some organisms may be
reduced or lost forever – so there may be loss of biodiversity

Question 28

Transgenic organisms are not usually used in what area?

Answer 28

as a food source, at least in the open arket

Question 29

How can transgenic organisms be used in medicine?

Answer 29

Transgenic sheep
in Australia have been given a gene for the blood-clotting factor that is lacking in people who suffer
from haemophilia. The factor can be extracted from the sheep’s milk and used for human treatment.

Question 30

Transgenic animals can be used to study how _____ regulate specific body functions

Answer 30

genes

Question 31

What is a knock-out organism?

Answer 31

a transgenic organism in which researchers have inactivated or knocked out, an existing gene and replaced it with an artificial piece of DNA

Question 32

What is the benefit of a knock-out organism in research?

Answer 32

by making a specific gene inactive, and observing
differences from normal behaviour or functioning of the organisms without it, researchers
can figure out the function of that gene

Question 33

Transgenic mice are often used to study diseases such as

Answer 33

cancer + obesity + diabetes, Parkinson’s + Alzheimers

Question 34

Why are transgenic mice, or mice in general, so useful in medical research?

Answer 34

because their tissues and organs are similar to those of
humans and therefore many of their genes are also similar.

Question 35

How are knock-out mice useful in cancer research?

Answer 35

Knock-out mice without the tumour suppression gene are useful in human
cancer research,because they allow cancer treatments, like potential
drugs, as well as cancer symptoms to be studied

Question 36

What is a genome?

Answer 36

the complete set of genetic information in an organism

Question 37

What is a germline?

Answer 37

sex cells that sexually reproducing organisms use to pass on their genes from one generation to the next

Question 38

What is the point of any of the “techniques” for making transgenic organisms?

Answer 38

working out how to insert genes into the DNA of another organism, or in one word, the process of transformation

Question 39

What are the techniques of transformation, or inserting DNA from one organism into another?

Answer 39

1. Bacterial Plasmids
2. Micro-injection
3. Biolistics
4. Electroporation
5. Transduction by a vector

Question 40

How many techniques are there for making transgenic organisms?

Answer 40

5 (five)

Question 41

What is a bacterial plasmid?

Answer 41

a small, circular piece of DNA used to transfer genes to other species

Question 42

What is Agrobacterium Tumefaciens?

Answer 42

a type of soil bacteria that naturally transfers it’s DNA into plant cells DNA, causing tumours (called crown galls)

Question 43

What would be the steps to