Significance of Major Discoveries in Modern Biology

Significance of Major Discoveries in Modern Biology: Genetic Engineering
Student's Name
Institution
Course
Professor's Name
Date
Genetic engineering
Topic description
Genetic engineering refers to using recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology to manipulate the genetic composition of an organism or other nucleic acid molecules to modify them or their composition (Bodine, n.d). It is a term used to refer to methods of rDNA technology that emerged from basic microbial genetics research. Initially, the term genetic engineering was used to refer to the different techniques used to manipulate organisms through reproduction and hereditary. This means that it involved the artificial selection and all other biomedical interventions like in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, gene manipulation, and cloning. Later in the 20th century, genetic engineering narrowed down to refer to methods of rDNA where DNA molecules from one or more sources are combined with in vitro or cells and are then introduced to a host organism where they can multiply.
People behind the innovation
Biochemists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen invented genetic engineering in 1973.
Consideration of the events, experiments, or ideas that lead to this discovery
The idea of developing rDNA technology was conceived in 1968 by Warner Arber, a Swiss microbiologist, when he discovered restriction enzymes. In 1969, Hamilton O. Smith, an American microbiologist, purified type II restriction enzymes essential to genetic engineering for their ability to divide a particular site within DNA as opposed to type I restriction enzymes that divide the DNA at random. Between 1970 and 1971, Daniel Nathans, an American molecular biologist, helped advance the DNA recombination technique and demonstrated how type II enzymes could be useful in genetic studies drawing from Smith's work. In 1973, Biochemists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen invented genetic engineering. After these chronological developments, American biochemists Stanley N. Cohen and Herbert W. Boyer pioneered genetic engineering based on recombination in 1973 (Schmeink, 2017). They were among the first scientific researchers to cut DNA into fragments, rejoin different fragments and insert new genes into the E. Coli bacteria that then propagated.
Most rDNA technologies involve inserting foreign genes into the plasmids of common laboratory strains of bacteria. These are small rings of DNA that are not part of the bacterium's chromosomes but can direct the manufacture of proteins. They are also produced and passed onto the progeny of the bacterium like ...