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Title: Explain what a transgenic organism is, and give two examples. Post by: colleen on Apr 18, 2012 Explain what a transgenic organism is, and give two examples.
Title: Re: Explain what a transgenic organism is, and give two examples. Post by: lewis on Apr 18, 2012 A transgenic organism is one that contains genes from other organisms. These genes usually add some special ability or function to the organism. Agriculture offers many examples of transgenic organisms. Soybeans have been engineered to contain glyphosate-resistance genes, and other crops have been engineered to grow well in soil with high salt concentrations. Still other plants have been engineered to contain the gene for Bt toxin, a bacterial toxin that kills insect pests that would otherwise feed on and destroy the crop. Not all transgenic organisms represent such extreme genetic modifications, however. Some genetically modified organisms simply represent efforts to improve nutritional content (in the case of plant crops) or to increase food yield (in the case of bovine growth hormone, which is produced by transgenic bacteria and then given to cattle to increase their meat and milk yield).
Title: Re: Explain what a transgenic organism is, and give two examples. Post by: djrthompson on Apr 18, 2012 A transgenic organism is one that has had a piece of DNA from another species inserted into its own DNA and is capable of passing on the genetic modification to the next generation.
Two possible examples would be... 1. cotton bred with a bacterium included so it kills insect pests, because crops do not need to be sprayed with insecticide they are cheaper to grow and less polluting to produce. 2.. bacteria that contains human genes for the production of the human hormone insulin. The bacteria produces insulin which is then harvested and used to treat people with diabetes. |