2. Brief History Of Genetics

• Diagram A

3. Current Applications Of Genetic Engineering

• Plants
• Livestock
• Human Genome Project and Disease Control

4. Cloning Techniques A - Cells

• Definition of Main Terms
• Plasmid Cloning and the Polymerase Chain Reaction
• Diagram A
• Diagram B
• Java Diagram and sound

5. Cloning Techniques B - Animals

• Gurdon’s Trials with Tadpoles
• Cycling Cells
• Roslin’s ReCreation: Connecting the Cell Cycle to Cloning
• Dolly’s Development
• Diagram A
• Diagram B
• Diagram A - With Sound
• Diagram B - With Sound

Perhaps the most widespread influence of genetic manipulation on farming techniques will be in the plant world. Plants are naturally more suceptible to genetic manipulation than animal cells. Why? Because for many species a whole adult plant can be generated from a only single cell grown in tissue culture! Controlling and predicting the outcome of inserting foreign genes into only a single cell is easier than when dealing with a whole organism.

This transfer of characteristics makes better functioning crops.  One example of this is the "Flavr Savr" tomato, which seems to have overcome the problem that grocery stores have with the ripening season; this genetically engineered tomato has a longer shelf life as the ripe phase  lasts significantly longer before the rotting begins.   However, even with this extra longevity there are some negative side effects that must be worked out.  An example of this is a decline in the quality of taste, which would definitely outweigh the benefits of a long shelf life!  Here are some examples of "new" plants that are being developed: wheat, cotton and soybeans that are resistant to the herbicides that farmers use to control weeds, and strains of corn, cotton, and potatoes that resist invasion by dangerous insects.

Other advances in genetic engineering have made it possible to decrease the need for fertilizer by breeding plants that produce their own form of efficient fertilizers.  Farmers are looking for a greater crop yield while having to plant fewer crops.  These are only a few of the many advances and prospects that genetic engineering holds for agriculture.