Human genetics biotechnology

biopharming

recombinant DNA technology can be used to produce proteins used in treating human diseases

why is biopharming useful?

• provides constant supply

• uncontaminated by disease causing agents

• human gene

in what types of cells is biopharming used for?

proteins made in bacteria

restriction enzymes

• produced by bacteria

• cuts DNA at specific sequences

examples of products made by recombinant DNA technology

• erythropoietin- treatment for anemia

• human insulin- treatment for diabetes

• human growth hormone- treatment for dwarfism and other growth defect

transgenic

transfer of genes between species

pharming

• genetically engineered sheep

• ex. human protein in milk to treat disease

transgenic plants

• gene transfer in crop plats can produce human proteins

• lower cost

• easier to grow

• ex. B12, HepB, ebola vaccines

what is one of the main issues with transgenic plants?

difficult to get plants to express gene consistently

how are stem cells used to treat burns?

basal stem cells sprayed over burn areas where stem cells reform skin

issues with using induced pluripotent cells as human stem cells

• epigenetic memory

• unexpected genetic changes

• very inefficient

CRISPR

• technology used to make targeted changes to DNA

• removes, replace or edit DNA sequences

covid vaccine

created using mRNA

how does genetically modified plants lead to reduced pesticide use?

• plants modified to carry their own pesticides

• can be made resistant to herbicides and disease

how can genetically modified plants help malnourished people?

• can be made to enhance nutritional value of foods

• ex. golden rice has increased levels of vitamin A (25x vitamin A content)- less cases of blindness

reasons for transgenic mice used to study disease causing human genes

• development of human diseases

• effects of drugs and other therapies

what differs in DNA in human

• highly variable regions

• ex. short tandem repeats (STRs)

DNA profiles

• use variations in length of short repetitive DNA sequences

• identify individuals with high degree of accuracy and reliability

• use STR patterns to identify individuals

short tandem repeats (STR)

• short nucleotide sequences 2 to 9 base pairs long

• repeating sequences

how are STRs used to identify individuals?

• looks at standard se of 13 STRs

• number of repeats differs among individuals allowing identification of individuals