General transfer and transgenic technology in plant and animal

General transfer

1. Introduction to Transgenic
technology in plants and animals


Presented by

Dr.S.Vinodhini
Assistant Professor
Department of Biotechnology
DKM College for Women, Vellore.

2. Contents:
•What are transgenic plants and animals?
•Methodology
•Effect on environment
•Advantages and Risks
•Researches on GMOs
•Controversy

3. 3
Definition of Transgenic

Transgenic :Stable introduction of a gene into another organism

•For unicellular organism (such as bacteria or yeast) all transformed cells are transgenic

•For multicellular organism (such as anaimals, plants) different between manipulation of single cells
– cell line

Expression in insect cells or mammalian cells

•Manipulation of whole plant or anima transgenic can have a transgenic off spring

•More difficult and expensive to create whole modified organism transgenic than just cell line.

4. Transgenic plants and animals
•Transgenic plants are plants that have been genetically
engineered, a breeding approach that uses recombinant DNA
techniques to create plants with new characteristics.


•A transgenic animal is one that carries a foreign gene that has
been inserted into its genome. The foreign gene is constructed
using recombinant DNA methodology.

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7. Advantages
❖In plants:
✔Increased and improved nutrients
✔Longer shelf life, less waste
✔Enhanced taste and quality
✔Reduced maturation time
✔Higher yielding crops, more efficient use of land
✔Higher yielding crops, more efficient use of land
✔Improved resistance to disease or illness
✔Increased food security for growing populations and growth challenges

8. Advantages
❖In animals:
✔Used in biomedical science--cancer research; immunology; developmental biology; gene
expression and regulation; and models for human genetic diseases such as muscular
dystrophy, and sickle cell anemia.
✔Potentialapplicationsfortransgenicanimals Potentialapplicationsfortransgenic
animals include manipulation of milk composition, growth, disease resistance,
reproductive performance, and production of pharmaceutical by livestock.

9. Risk associated with Genetic Modification
▪Safety
–Potential human health implications.
–Potential environmental impact.
▪Ethics
–“Playing God”
–Tampering with nature by mixing genes among species.
▪Labeling
–Not mandatory in some countries (e.g., Canada and the United States).
–Mixing GM crops with non-GM confounds labeling attempts.

10. Risk associated with Genetic Modification
▪Biodiversity
•Addition of Bt gene into plants including corn, potatoes and cotton to increase resistance to
plants
•Bt gene obtained from Bacillus thuringiensis (a soil bacterium that produces a natural
insecticide)
•Problem: plants producing Bt toxin are releasing toxin in pollen
•Pollen from a Bt plant was dusted on to milkweed:
- only 56% of young monarch butterfly larvae lived
- whereas pollen from organic plants dusted on the milkweed produced a
survival rate of 100%.
Approximately half of the monarch butterfly population live in the “corn belt” of the USA

11. Researches on GMOs
⚫perform phenotypic and for testing in biomedical research.
•Genetically animals are becoming more vital to the discovery and
⚫development of cures and treatments for many serious diseases.
•By altering the DNA or transferring DNA to an animal, we can develop certain proteins that may be
used in medical treatment.
•Stable expressions of human proteins have been developed in many
⚫animals, including sheep, pigs, and rats.
•Human-alpha-1-antitrypsin,which has been tested in sheep and is used in treating humans with this
deficiency and transgenic pigs with human-histo-compatibility have been studied in the hopes that the
organs will be suitable for transplant with less chances of rejection.
•Transgenicanimalsareusedasexperimentalmodelsto

12. Controversy
•There are controversies around GMOs on several levels,
including whether making them is ethical, whether food
produced with them is safe, whether such food should be
labeled and if so how, whether agricultural biotech is needed to
address world hunger now or in the future, and more
specifically to GM crops—intellectual property and market
dynamics; environmental effects of GM crops; and GM crops'
role in industrial agricultural more generally.