A2 Biology (OCR)- Genetic Engineering

Genetic engineering refers to various processes of obtaining a specific gene and putting that gene into another organism. The recipient organism expresses the new gene product through the process of protein synthesis- they are then described as transgenic.

Necessary steps in genetically engineering an organism:

1) get the gene that's needed

2) place the gene in a vector

3) the vector carries the gene to the recipient cell

4) recipient then expresses the gene in protein synthesis.

There are several different methods of achieving each of these stages:

Getting the gene

Finding the mRNA for that gene. It is often found in the cells where that gene is expressed…