An Introduction:  "What you hear about in NEWSWEEK."

DNA Technology
     some of the goals of
          produce protein product
          endow an organism a capability it did not previously possess
          create more copies of the gene
     some of the most popular tools in
          restriction enzymes
          vectors (transfer agents)
          host organisms
               restriction enzymes:
                    cut up foreign DNA
                    most are very specific in their recognition of short nucleotide sequences
                    protects own DNA by methylating adenines or cytosines
                    recognition sequences are 4-8 nucleotides long on both strands in opposite directions
               vectors:
                    are carriers of DNA from test tube to cell
                    2 most popular are bacterial plasmids and viruses
                    sometimes desirable to use eukaryote instead of prokaryote though
                         yeast are single celled eukaryotic fungi with plasmids
                         genetic engineers developed R Plasmids that could replicate in both yeast and
                            bacteria by combining yeast and bacterial DNA
                         they also developed artificial chromosomes by combining foreign and yeast DNA
                            and cell division replicates them too! (e.g. Yeast Artificial Chromosomes, YACs)
                    viruses used are primarily retroviruses for eukaryotic research
               bacteria are the most common host organism:
                    however sometimes transcription of foreign eukaryote genes is difficult to induce
                    also many eukaryotic proteins are heavily modified after transcription and bacteria
                      cannot process the mRNA and proteins like eukaryotes can
               it is also possible to use plants and animals but often have to induce the acceptance of
                 naked DNA.

Next: "DNA Tech continued".