Stuff Case

Genetic Engineering, also called genetic modification, is the deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material. The genetic makeup of cells can be modified using technologies, and a basis of three proper stages. Stage one of plant genetic modification is the process of cloning. To clone an organism successfully, the scientist must first take a DNA sample from the gene that he or she would like to transfer from one organism to the other. An example of this modification process is with rice, if you wished to increase the lysine content in rice (which is very low during this point in time) you would have to extract DNA from a high-lysine plant, and one from a plant with high lysine production. Plasmids play an important part in this role as well. These plasmids are tiny circles of bacterial DNA. Many different bits of DNA are added to the plasmids as well. Finally you allow the plasmids to infect other bacterial cells that will then succeed in acquiring the specific trait that the plasmids carried.

The second stage is known as screening. This is where the scientist selects from many dozens of clones, which clone shows examples of the genes that you wanted in the first. Scientists find the exact gene by sticking a probe onto each clone that will only remain on the cloned organism if the mutated gene is detected in cloned organism. Once this stage is complete, the third stage, also known as Gene transfer, is where the cloned organism can spread throughout other organisms to create many genetically modified plants. The most common way of the genes finding themselves into other organisms is by injection.