Gene and Protein Engineering-Biotechnology developments

There are a few key techniques that have rapidly developed biotechnology. These include the following:

Restriction Enzyme analysis (manipulation of DNA segments). Restriction enzymes/restriction endonucleases recognise specific base sequences in DNA, cleaving the section. This enables analysis of chromosome structure, sequences of long DNA molecules, isolation of genes and creation of new DNA molecules. They are commonly found in prokaryotes and recognise 4-8bp sequences and have two fold rotational symmetry. The restriction fragments can then be separated and displayed using gel electrophoresis.

Blotting techniques (Southern, Northern, Western blots used to separate and characterize DNA, RNA and proteins)

DNA sequencing (reveals gene architecture, control of gene expression and protein structure)

Solid-Phase Synthesis of nucleic acids (used to identify/amplify nucleic acids). DNA…