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| 1. Cloning and Genetic Engineering Defined
3. Current Applications Of Genetic Engineering 4. Cloning Techniques A - Cells
5. Cloning Techniques B - Animals |
Genetics is a
relatively new area of study. Since the times of the Greeks and Romans, scientists
and commoners alike have speculated about inheritance and the resemblances shared between
family members, but it was not until the nineteenth century that any legitimate and
scientifically based hypotheses were formed. It was in the unlikely realm of a monastery that an Austrian monk by the name of Gregor Mendel touched off the genetic revolution with some seemingly innocent experiments with pea plants. By breeding several generations of peas and recording his findings, Mendel found that each seed contained both hidden and obvious information about its genetic traits. He referred to these traits as dominant and recessive. Athough Mendel's information proved vital to the start of genetic research, the mechanism of this genetic inheritance was not yet understood. It was not until 1953 that two men named James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helix model of DNA, which was found to be the carrier of all of a human's genetic information. They found that each rung of a DNA ladder consisted of nucleotides. The arrangements of these nucleotides determines which traiwhichts are expressed. Portions of DNA together made up a gene stood for an inherited trait. These genes made up a chromosome. In an normal human cell there are twenty-three pairs of chromosomes. There were four nucleotide bases that could be present in any given DNA strand: Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine. There are twenty naturally occurring amino acids which are the building blocks of all protein structures in our bodies. That is the mechanism which determines who we are. Scientists are continuing to unravel the mysteries of DNA, which is folded in coiled strands 500 times finer than those of a spider web, but yet are almost six feet long when unfolded. And with knowledge has come the ability to apply that knowledge in many areas.
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