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121 DNA Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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DNA, short for deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule that carries the genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth, and reproduction of all living organisms. It is often referred to as the "building blocks of life" due to its crucial role in determining our traits and characteristics.

Given the importance of DNA in understanding our biology and genetics, it is no surprise that it is a popular topic for essays and research papers. If you are looking for inspiration for your next DNA essay, here are 121 topic ideas and examples to get you started:

• The structure and function of DNA
• The discovery of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick
• The role of DNA in genetics
• DNA replication and its importance in cell division
• The impact of mutations on DNA and genetic disorders
• The use of DNA in forensic science
• DNA profiling and its applications in criminal investigations
• The ethical implications of DNA testing
• The history of DNA research
• The Human Genome Project and its significance
• The relationship between DNA and evolution
• DNA sequencing technologies and their advancements
• The role of epigenetics in gene expression
• DNA methylation and its effects on gene regulation
• The role of telomeres in DNA replication and aging
• The use of DNA in gene therapy and genetic engineering
• The potential benefits and risks of genetically modified organisms
• The impact of DNA testing on personalized medicine
• The role of DNA in cancer research and treatment
• The use of DNA in agriculture and food production
• The ethical considerations of gene editing technologies like CRISPR
• The influence of environmental factors on DNA expression
• The role of non-coding DNA in gene regulation
• The relationship between DNA and RNA in protein synthesis
• The role of DNA in cell signaling and communication
• The impact of DNA mutations on evolution
• The use of DNA in ancestry testing and genealogy
• The role of DNA in determining traits like eye color and hair texture
• The potential applications of DNA nanotechnology
• The role of DNA in immune system function
• The effect of lifestyle choices on DNA health
• The role of mitochondrial DNA in inherited diseases
• The use of DNA barcoding in species identification
• The impact of DNA damage on aging and disease
• The role of DNA in embryonic development
• The use of DNA in wildlife conservation
• The potential applications of DNA computing
• The impact of DNA on behavior and personality
• The role of DNA in drug response and metabolism
• The ethical implications of genetic screening and designer babies
• The use of DNA in paleontology and evolutionary studies
• The role of DNA in biotechnology and bioengineering
• The impact of DNA on human diversity and population genetics
• The potential applications of synthetic DNA
• The role of DNA in epigenetic inheritance
• The use of DNA in environmental monitoring and pollution control
• The impact of DNA on brain development and function
• The role of DNA in plant breeding and agriculture
• The potential applications of DNA vaccines
• The use of DNA in drug discovery and development
• The role of DNA in stem cell research and regenerative medicine
• The impact of DNA on neurodegenerative diseases
• The ethical considerations of cloning and genetic engineering
• The use of DNA in biometrics and identity verification
• The role of DNA in aging and longevity
• The potential applications of DNA repair technologies
• The impact of DNA on mental health and psychiatric disorders
• The role of DNA in immune system disorders
• The use of DNA in personalized nutrition and diet planning
• The ethical implications of genetic modification in agriculture
• The role of DNA in organ transplantation and tissue engineering
• The impact of DNA on cardiovascular diseases
• The potential applications of DNA-based therapeutics
• The use of DNA in environmental remediation and bioremediation
• The role of DNA in biosecurity and bioterrorism prevention
• The impact of DNA on infectious diseases and pandemics
• The ethical considerations of genetic privacy and data security
• The use of DNA in predicting and preventing genetic diseases
• The role of DNA in the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases
• The potential applications of DNA in personalized skincare
• The impact of DNA on metabolic disorders like diabetes
• The role of DNA in reproductive health and fertility
• The use of DNA in the conservation of endangered species
• The ethical implications of using DNA in criminal investigations
• The role of DNA in understanding human migration and evolution

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113 DNA Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on dna, ✍️ dna essay topics for college, 🎓 most interesting dna research titles, 💡 simple dna essay ideas, ❓ questions about dna.

• DNA Physical Properties and Viscosity: A Lab Study
• DNA Analysis: A Crime-Fighting Tool or Invasion of Privacy?
• Differences Between Human and Chimpanzee DNA
• Transcription and DNA Replication
• The Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)
• DNA Retention: Advantages and Disadvantages for DNA Collection
• DNA and RNA Transcription
• The Relevance of DNA Computers in the Modern World The researchers propose as an alternative to use natural biomolecules contained in the organisms of all living things, namely, DNA.
• DNA Sequencing and Its Adverse Effects Sequencing a baby’s DNA to find hidden diseases or future ailments is risky because the results may not be reliable and can cause unnecessary anxiety.
• E. Coli: DNA Identification With Gel Electrophoresis The purpose of this work was to qualitatively identify a cellular sample of DNA isolated from E. coli using gel electrophoresis technology.
• Complete Mapping of DNA‐Protein Interactions by Liu et al. The regulation of genetic information is important and must occur within the confines of specific conditions to ensure the expression of the target genes.
• Genomic Data: The Role of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Deoxyribonucleic acid commonly referred to as DNA is a heredity carrier in living organisms containing genetic information on growth and development.
• Genomic Analysis DNA of Bacillus Subtilis In the case, there is the genomic DNA of Bacillus Subtilis given to compare the utility of different types of DNA sequencing technologies.
• Evidence of Non-Random Mutations in DNA Although the results discussed prove that non-random mutations occur in thale cress, there is a high probability that similar processes will happen in other live organisms.
• Encoding and Saving Data in DNA for Business The desire for constant development might become a basis for the innovation implementation and integration the DNA information technology into business operations.
• DNA Fingerprinting Technology: Description and Use Invented in 1984, DNA fingerprinting still remains relevant to this day, and it is used in many fields, including criminology.
• Privacy Concerns Over DNA Sequences This essay will review the presented issue of privacy concerns over DNA sequences from the position of the scientific community and lawmakers.
• DNA for Identifying Convicts: Article Response In his 2006 article, Danny Hakim addresses a somewhat controversial issue of using DNA to identify possible suspects among known convicts in case of a crime.
• Short Tandem Repeat (STR) DNA Analysis and the CODIS Database Short tandem repeat (STR) is a molecular biology tool mainly exploited in forensic science in order to determine certain locations known as loci present on the nuclear material DNA.
• DNA and Proteins as Evolutionary Tape Measures DNA and proteins can be used as tape measures of evolution but their usage depends on the concept of a linear sequence of nucleotides.
• An Experiment in DNA Cloning and Sequencing The aim of this experiment is to clone a fragment of DNA that includes the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) gene into the vector pTTQ18, which is an expression vector.
• Types and Causes of the DNA Mutations Mutations occur when mistakes occur in DNA duplication and are classified based on different premises; all of them are rare and lead to abnormal alleles.
• DNA Analysis in Forensic Science This paper aims to describe its details, such as the PCR process, loci and their relation to CODIS, and the functions of touch DNA.
• Digital Forensics and Deoxyribonucleic Acid The practice of digital forensics involves analysis of data collected computing devices from a particular crime scene.
• DNA and the Birth of Molecular Genetics Molecular genetics is critical in studying traits that are passed through generations. The paper analyzes the role of DNA to provide an ample understanding of molecular genetics.
• Relationships Between Reproduction, Heredity, and DNA Genetic information in DNA is transcribed to RNA and then translated into the amino acid sequence of a Protein.
• DNA Cloning and Sequencing: The Vector pTTQ18 This study will use a cell-based process approach where the vector pTTQ18 will be used for expression and use an ampicillin resistance gene to conduct the cloning process.
• Ancient DNA Studies and Current Events Analysis The study of DNA, starting with the human genome, has broadened to allow researchers to explore changes in various animal patterns.
• DNA Manipulation in Control of Mosquitoes and Gene The DNA sequence specific to the mutated PLA2 (PLA2) would be finally placed in the downstream region of a mosquito midgut-specific promoter.
• DNA Profiling: Genetic Variation in DNA Sequences The paper aims to determine the importance of genetic variation in sequences in DNA profiling using specific techniques.
• Cell DNA and Protein Synthesis The most prominent one in eukaryotic cells is the nucleus, which contains the DNA and controls the cell’s operations.
• A Practical Report on DNA Fingerprinting DNA fingerprinting also known as DNA testing or profiling is used to identify individuals based on their DNA profiles.
• Is DNA a Foolproof Way of Identifying a Person? This post aims to discuss different ways of using DNA to determine if it is a reliable source of identification.
• The Usage of DNA Technology in Forensic Science DNA typing technology gives the forensic science an opportunity to uncover the information considered by the society “intensely private”.
• Cancer Interference With Dna Replication Reports indicate that a greater percentage of human cancers originate from chemical substances as well as environmental substances.
• Natural Sciences: Junk DNA Has an Important Role The paper examines the phenomenon of the junk DNA and provides the agruments why it is truly not junk and acts as a key role in the evolution of mankind.
• Detection of Pathogens With Cell-Free Dna Extracting and studying cfDNA not only led to breakthrough achievements in pathogen diagnosis but also replaced difficult and dangerous invasive methods, such as amniocentesis.
• DNA Profiles in the Golden State Killer Case One of the most recent tools available for crime investigations is a DNA match of one’s profile in a publicly available genealogy database.
• Genetics Seminar: The Importance of Dna Roles DNA has to be stable. In general, its stability becomes possible due to a large number of hydrogen bonds which make DNA strands more stable.
• The Cloning of a DNA Fragment, and a Southern Blot Southern blotting can either be used in the determination of small fragment of a single gene or a large DNA sequence such as part of the genome of an organism.
• Major Experiments and Scientists Involved in the Discovery of DNA as Our Hereditary Material and Its Structure
• DNA Mutations and Their Effects on Humans
• Bacterial Chromosome Replication and DNA Repair During the Stringent Response
• Using Integrative Analysis of DNA Methylation and Gene Expression Data in Multiple Tissue Types
• Advanced DNA-Based Point-of-Care Diagnostic Methods for Plant Diseases Detection
• Bioinformatics Tools and Databases to Assess the Pathogenicity of Mitochondrial DNA Variants
• Cell-Free Fetal DNA Testing Market to Make Great Impact in Near Future by 2026
• Age-Related DNA Methylation Changes: Potential Impact on Skeletal Muscle Aging in Humans
• DNA Analysis Using Polymerase Chain Reaction: Implications for the Study of Ancient DNA
• Aging Neurovascular Unit and Potential Role of DNA Damage and Repair in Combating Vascular Disorders
• DNA Damage: From Chronic Inflammation to Age-Related Deterioration
• Complete Pattern Matching for DNA Computing
• AIDS Virus and Possible Control Through a DNA Vaccine
• DNA Fingerprinting and Polymerase Chain Reaction
• Alternative Splicing and DNA Damage Response in Plants
• Correcting for Errors Inherent in DNA Pooling Methods
• Beyond DNA Repair: Additional Functions of PARP-1 in Cancer
• Moral and Ethical Issues Associated With Recombinant DNA Technology
• Analyzing Cloned Sequences: What Exactly Is a DNA Sequence
• Cancerous Genes: Their Presence in Human DNA
• Anti-double Stranded DNA Antibodies: Origin, Pathogenicity, and Targeted Therapies
• Chromatin Modifications and DNA Repair: Beyond Double-Strand Breaks
• Assessing DNA Sequence Alignment Methods for Characterizing Ancient Genomes and Methylomes
• Binary Auto-Regressive Geometric Modelling in a DNA Context
• Associations Between Behavioral Effects of Bisphenol A and DNA Methylation in Zebrafish Embryos
• High-Quality DNA From Peat Soil for Metagenomic Studies: A Minireview on DNA Extraction Methods
• Cost-Effective Method for DNA Purification
• DNA Analysis and Facial Reconstruction of Human Skull
• Blood-Based DNA Methylation Biomarkers for Type 2 Diabetes: Potential for Clinical Applications
• How Recombinant DNA Techniques May Be Used to Correct a Point Mutation
• Bioethical Issue: Mandatory DNA Fingerprinting
• DNA Abnormalities That Manifest as Disorders
• Asymmetric Cell Division and Template DNA Co-Segregation in Cancer Stem Cells
• How the Discovery of Non-coding DNA and RNA Can Change Our Understanding of Addiction
• The Origin of DNA and Molecular Structure
• DNA and Seed Developmental Genes
• Analyzing Conserved Non-Coding DNA Sequences
• Barry Scheck’s Innocent Project and DNA
• DNA Vaccination and How It Can Greatly Impact the Medical World
• Convicted Criminals and DNA Mandatory Testing
• Analytical Techniques for DNA Extraction
• Differences Between Plasmid and Chromosomal DNA in Bacteria
• Cloning: DNA and Artificial Embryo Twinning
• DNA-Based Markers Throughout the World of Molecular Plant Breeding
• Cell Biology: The DNA of Both Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
• Adjusting for Batch Effects in DNA Methylation Microarray Data
• DNA Studies Using Atomic Force Microscopy: Capabilities for the Measurement of Short DNA Fragments
• Genetic Engineering and DNA Technology in Agricultural Productivity
• Does DNA Profiling Live Up to Its Expectations?
• How Accurate Are DNA Paternity Tests?
• What Are DNA Sequence Motifs? Why Are They Important?
• How Are the Structures of DNA and RNA Similar?
• What Are DNA Vaccines?
• How Are the Young People in DNA Affected by the Crimes They Commit?
• What Are the Base-Pairing Rules for DNA?
• How Can Paint and Fiber Evidence Be Overshadowed by the More Glamorous DNA Evidence in Cases Today?
• What Are Three Key Structural Chemical Differences Between RNA and DNA?
• How Could the Ethical Management of Health Data in the Medical Field Inform Police Use of DNA?
• What Are the Principles of DNA Fingerprinting?
• How Does DNA and DNA Profiling Work?
• What Can DNA Exonerations Tell Us About Racial Differences in Wrongful Conviction Rates?
• How Is DNA Technology Used in Solving Crimes?
• What Data Obtained From the Chemical Analysis of DNA?
• How Does DNA Control Cell Activity?
• Which Technique Rapidly Replicates Specific DNA Fragments?
• How Does DNA Play a Role in Inheritance?
• Does Radiation Damage DNA?
• How Does Recombinant DNA Differ From Normal DNA?
• What Can DNA Sequencing Detect?
• How Does Recombinant DNA Technology Work?
• Can Plant DNA Be Patented?
• How Is DNA Sequencing Used in Identifying Organisms?
• Who Is the Mother of DNA?

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These essay examples and topics on DNA were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on June 21, 2024 .

DNA Essay Topics & Ideas

• Dna Essay Topics for High School Students
• Dna Compare and Contrast Essay Topics
• Argumentative Essay Topics About Dna
• Good Essay Topics About Dna
• Persuasive Essay Topics About Dna

DNA Essay Topics for High School Students

• “Four New DNA Letters Double Life’s Alphabet”: Article Analysis
• “Species Identification Reveals Mislabeling of Important Fish Products in Iran by DNA Barcoding”
• A role for transportin in the nuclear import of Adenovirus core proteins and DNA
• A Study of DNA Replication and Mutation
• Abstract DNA or RNA
• Advances in DNA Sequencing: Nanopore Technology
• An Introduction To DNA
• An Overview of DNA Replication
• Artificial Manipulation of DNA Technology
• Benefits and Challenges of Dna Profiling
• Biology 3.3 Dna Structure
• Biomedical Discovery of DNA Structure
• Biotechnology, Nanotechnology Its a Science for Brighter Future, DNA
• Biotechnology: Copying DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)
• Bird DNA Extraction: Sex Determination of Gallus Gallus
• Cells. Mitosis. DNA
• Comparative Sequence Study in Human and Primate DNA Samples Research
• Computing Exponentially Faster: Implementing a Non-deterministic Universal Turing Machine Using DNA
• Describe How DNA Has Enhanced Law Enforcement
• DNA – Down Syndrome
• Dna Analysis Practical Write-Up
• DNA Analysis: A Crime-fighting Tool or Invasion of Privacy?

✨ Best dna Topic Ideas & Essay Examples

• One in a Million: DNA Fingerprinting DNA fingerprinting (the use of a person’s DNA to identify them) has become a hot topic in the field of law enforcement as well as the entire world. The controversy exists on whether or not it should be admitted in court as evidence at this time. ….
• Dna Computing, The Future Or The End? DNA Computing,The Future or the End?The future of computers is in the hands of the nextcentury. The evolution of the Computer Age has become apart of everyday life, and as time proceeds, people aredepending more and more on computer technology. ….
• The Advantages of DNA Replication DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid, and it is found in the nucleus of every cell in the human body. DNA is the master plan – it contains all the genetic information needed for a living thing to develop and function. Each and every single organism ….
• DNA Fingerprinting Method Print Edit in MsWord Edit in WordPerfect Edit in ClarisWorks Student Worksheet LSM 6.3-5 Additional Activity: Switched at Birth! DNA Fingerprinting: An Application Although a rare occurrence, cases of babies switched at birth in a hospital have made ….
• Use Of Forensics With Dna Trailing The polymerase concatenation reaction ( PCR ) has become a critical tool within biotechnology, familial research forensic scientific discipline and medical specialty since it was foremost invented by Kary Mullins in 1983 ( Hongbao, 2005 ) . It has ….
• Recombinant Dna Pkan And Pamp Biology Deoxyribonucleic acid is an indispensable portion of beings. It is the manager of many facets of the organic structure. The Deoxyribonucleic acid consists of a sugar base, phosphate and a nitrogen base. There are merely four N bases to take from. ….
• Mitochondrial DNA Analysis And Technology Biology In cells of human existences Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA ) is found in the karyon every bit good as in chondriosome. The mitochondrial cell organ is referred to “ power house of cell ” because molecular merchandises produced by it, provides the ….
• Recombinant DNA Technology – Research Importance of recombinant proteins have been increased 100 creases. Because of the promotions in rDNA engineering, they are found in every pharmaceutics, physician ‘s clinic, medical and biological research research lab. In this reappraisal we have ….
• Pos. and Neg. of DNA Profiling The Positives and Negatives on DNA ProfilingDNA testing has many uses, both positive and negative, in our society. Genetic profiling has been beneficial in paternity suits and rape cases, where the father or the assailant could be identified. ….
• Extraction of DNA from onions Sample The intent of the experiment was to see firsthand the isolation of DNA organize a works tissue without destructing its construction and sequence. A white onion was used for the experiment. After several procedures. Deoxyribonucleic acid isolate was ….
• To Protect Genetic Privacy, We Encrypt Our DNA To get started on the discussion of advancing the field of science, we shall first connect the concept of insulating privacy to the studies of science. According to a wired article in 2007, DNA scientist James Watson was the first ever to have his ….
• DNA techniques may be used to correct a point mutation Sample Point mutant is an mistake at a peculiar point on the Deoxyribonucleic acid molecule. Since the alterations occur in DNA. in order to repair the mutant. scientists have to happen out where something went incorrect in the Deoxyribonucleic acid ….
• DNA STRAWBERRY CONCLUSION The hypothesis for this lab is if strawberry DNA is separated from other components, then when it is placed in a insoluble solution the DNA can eventually be isolated. DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid. Its a self replacing material present in all living ….
• A Study About Dna Barcoding Biology Deoxyribonucleic acid barcoding is a molecular tool for the designation of species of beings utilizing a comparatively short DNA sequence from a standard place in the genome. The cytochrome degree Celsius oxidase fractional monetary unit I ( COI ) ….
• Chemistry and Biology: Dna Gel Electrophorosis DNA, Deoxyribonucleic acid, is a double stranded, helical nucleic acid molecule which determines inherited structure of a protein. The “steps” are made of bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. The sides are sugar and phosphate molecules. ….
• Extraction And Quantification Of Dna From Chicken Liver Biology Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA ) is the familial stuff in worlds and about all other beings. About every cell in a individual ‘s organic structure has the same DNA. Most Deoxyribonucleic acid is located in the cell karyon ( where it is called atomic ….
• Biology Dna Extraction Extracting DNA from Wheat Germ Cells Criteria to be assessed CE Introduction: DNA is the abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is found in the nucleus of every cell & it stores the information that makes up living organisms. It is a double ….
• The Dna Molecule Is Often Referred to as “the Blueprint of Life” Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a vital component of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. A blueprint is a detailed drawing or map which identifies and directs the construction and development of a building or an object. DNA is the hereditary ….
• Meiosis Cell Division And Dna Replication Biology In this experiment we observed the procedure of miosis by looking at different slides. Meiosis is a procedure in which a diploid ( 2n ) parent cell is divided into four haploid ( n ) girl cells. The girl cells have half the figure of chromosomes as ….

✍ Dna Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

• DNA and Evolution – What’s Similar Essay
• DNA and Genealogy Solving Cold Case Murders: The Modern Technology
• DNA as an Evidence From a Crime Scene Report
• DNA as the Secret of Life Research
• DNA Computing And Its Applications Computer Science
• DNA Data Storing
• DNA Databases: Crime Fighting Weapon or Threat to Privacy
• DNA Definition and Its Use by the US Police Research
• DNA Diagnostic Technologies Description Research
• DNA Electrophoresis Lab
• DNA Evidence and Its Use in the US Criminal Law
• DNA Extraction Lab Report
• DNA Fingerprinting as Biotechnology Application
• DNA from Human Cheek Cells
• DNA in Action: Sockeye Salmon Fisheries Management
• DNA in Criminal Investigations
• DNA Profiling and Analysis Interpretation Research
• DNA Profiling and Ethics
• DNA Regulation Bill
• DNA Replication and Cancer Disease
• DNA Replication as a Semiconservative Process
• DNA Replication Transcription and Translation
• DNA Science Technology
• DNA Testing and Database in the UK
• DNA Testing Techniques Research
• DNA Tests in the O.J. Simpson’s Case
• DNA the Master Code for All Living Things

Argumentative Essay Topics About DNA

• DNA Vaccines: Optimization Methods Report
• DNA: Criminal Justice and DNA Term
• Does DNA Profiling Help Justice
• Dr. Michio Kaku’s Predictions of the DNA Screening
• Explore the Ways in Which Bullies and Victims Are Present in Lord of the Flies and DNA
• Exponentials and Logarithms: the Cell and DNA
• Extracting DNA from a Strawberry
• Extracting DNA from Bananas
• Forensic DNA Analysis
• FRET Detection or DNA Molecules
• Genealogy of DNA
• Genome Patterns of Common DNA Variations in Three Human Populations
• Genotoxicity: Damage to DNA and Its Consequences.
• History of DNA
• History of DNA Critical
• Homicide of Lynn Breadon – The First Time in History DNA from a Tooth Was Used to Solve a Criminal Case
• How DNA Technology Are Used in Solving Crimes?
• How does DNA Play A Role In Inheritance?
• How Has DNA Changed the Field of Physical Anthropology? Report
• Importance of Expanding FBI’s Forensic DNA Laboratory
• Indel genotyping161 Automated DNA Extraction using EZ1 Instrument and EZ1 DNA
• Infectious Bacterial Identification From DNA Sequencing Report

Good Essay Topics About DNA

• Innovators Dna Summary
• Introduction Into DNA Studies
• Is Criminal Behavior Learned or Does Your Dna Already Predispose You at Birth to Criminal Behavior?
• Justice and DNA as a Key Witness
• Meiosis and Splitting of the Dna Into Gametes Research
• Methods of DNA Isolation
• Modern Technology in DNA and Genealogy Solving Cold Case Murders
• Molecular Components of the DNA Molecule Report
• Moral and Ethical Issues of Recombinant DNA Technology
• Mutations in DNA
• Newer Laboratory Research Studying DNA and Albinism
• Next Generation DNA Sequencing Technologies Biology
• Obtaining a DNA Sample Legally
• Onion DNA Extraction
• Organizational DNA Analysis Evaluation
• Oswald T. Avery and the Discovery of the DNA
• Physico-Chemical Properties of DNA
• Post Conviction DNA Testing Research
• Protein Synthesis in DNA Processes
• Recombinant DNA technology
• Recombinant DNA Technology and pGLO Plasmid Use Report
• Restriction Endonuclease Digestion of Plasmid DNA
• Restriction of Lambda DNA in the Laboratory

Persuasive Essay Topics About DNA

• Review of The Process of DNA Extraction
• Roles of Microbes in DNA Research
• Rosalind Franklin and Her Discovery of DNA
• Scottish DNA Database
• Sleep Helps to Repair Damaged DNA in Neurons
• Strawberry Dna Extraction and Quantitative Hypothesis Development
• Strawberry DNA Extraction Lab Formal Write Up
• Study on Ht DNA
• Technology Effecting DNA
• The Concept of DNA Cloning Research
• The Discovery of DNA
• The DNA Extraction Procedure: Scientific Experiment Report
• The DNA of Life: College Admission Essay Sample
• The E.Z.N.A Commercial Kit: Soil DNA Extraction Optimisation Report
• The Impact of Pressure and Its Effects on The Amount and Quality of DNA Deposited by Touch
• The Innocence Project, Habib Wahir’s Case: DNA Testing
• The Main Objective of DNA Fingerprinting in Agriculture
• The Mixture of Wolf and Dog DNA Through Genetic Modification
• The Role of The Forensic DNA Analysis
• The Use of DNA Technology in the O. J. Simpson’s Murder Trial
• Theoretical Band-gap Tunneling States of DNA Structures
• Translation of the DNA code
• What is DNA and How Does it Work?
• What is DNA Forensic
• Wildlife Forensic DNA Laboratory and Its Risks Report

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DNA Essay Titles

• Does An Entrepreneurial Gene Exist? – The DNA of An Entrepreneur
• The Application and Value of DNA Profiling In American Law Enforcement
• The Function of DNA Analysis In Criminal Investigation
• DNA Computing and the Future of Computers
• Will the Creation of A National DNA Database Result In Less Crime?
• DNA Patenting and the Human Genome Project
• The Watson-Crick Model on DNA’s Crucial Elements
• The Future of Genetic Engineering: The DNA’s Structure
• The Usefulness of DNA Evidence In the Pursuit of Criminal Convictions
• DNA Silencing Technology Development Over Time
• The Origins, Purpose, and Development of DNA Technologies
• The Numerous Applications and Value of DNA Replication
• The Development of DNA Testing In Criminal Proceedings and Its Advantages
• The Concept of Cloning Humans and Animals Since the Discovery of DNA
• The Biochemical Description of DNA and Cloning’s Requirement For It
• The Rules of DNA Explain Why Aging Occurs.
• The Upcoming Computer Breakthrough Is Self-Assembling Circuits Using DNA.
• The Importance of Genetic and DNA Discovery
• Recognizing Technology For Recombinant DNA
• The Impact of DNA Profiling on the Criminal Justice System
• Understanding the Mechanisms of Genetic Engineering Through the Lens of DNA

Essay Topics On DNA

• Uses of Recombinant DNA Technology
• The Reaction of Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Polymerase
• The History of DNA Profiling and Modern Applications
• Gene Editing’s Impact on Human DNA
• DNA Analysis Used In Criminal Investigations
• Tools and Methods For Manipulating DNA
• The Evolution of Our Knowledge of DNA and Heredity
• Rosalind Franklin: The DNA Revolution’s Unsung Hero
• The Effects of Forensic Analysis Using DNA Analysis
• Who Has Access To Your DNA and How Should It Be Used
• DNA Structure, Analysis, and Social Implications
• The Positive and Negative Aspects of DNA Technology
• DNA’s Roles In Protein Synthesis and Their Effects
• The Unearthing of the Structure of DNA By Watson and Crick
• DNA Technology Applications In Forensic Science
• James Watson and Francis Crick’s Discovery and Understanding of the Structure of DNA
• The Investigation of DNA Structure By James Watson and Francis Crick
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Essays on DNA Technology

13 samples on this topic

Our essay writing service presents to you an open-access selection of free DNA Technology essay samples. We'd like to underline that the showcased papers were crafted by proficient writers with proper academic backgrounds and cover most various DNA Technology essay topics. Remarkably, any DNA Technology paper you'd find here could serve as a great source of inspiration, actionable insights, and content organization practices.

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Risk Factor: Molecular Genetics Essays Examples

Good example of review of criminal procedures in the innocent man term paper, impressive biology research paper sample, good report on malaria resistant humans.

Objective 2

Introduction 2 General background 3 Resistance mutants 4 Hemoglobin mutants 4 Sickle Cell Anemia and Genetics: Background Information 5 Connection of Sickle cell with Malaria 6 Method: 7 Introduction of Recombinant DNA technology in diagnosing disease: 8 Discussion (implementation of recombinant DNA technology to solve the issue) 9 Conclusions 10

References 11

Biotechnology And Recombinant DNA Essay

Organization:

Good Essay On Discovering DNA: History, Structure And Application

Good example of essay on policing in america, method essay sample.

Application of DNA technology to solve crime:

GM Agricultural Organisms Essay

Biotechnology research paper.

Biotechnology is a field of biology that involves the use of living organisms and biological processes in engineering, medicine and other fields which require bioproducts. Biotechnology utilizes these products for manufacturing. This concept encompasses a wide range of processes which modifies living organisms. According to the UN convection on biological diversity, biotechnology is any technological application which uses biological systems or living organisms to make or modify products for specific use.

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DNA technology Essays

Role of molecular biology in evolutionary classification, are we living in 1984 genomic surveillance and dna-profiling, popular essay topics.

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105 Gene Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best gene topic ideas & essay examples, 💡 interesting topics to write about gene, 📌 simple & easy gene essay titles, 👍 good essay topics on gene.

• The Expression of the Bmp4 Gene and Its Role in the Evolutionary Process The scientists studied the expression of the Bmp4 gene due to the molecular basis in the size and shape of the beaks.
• The Gay Gene: Understanding Human Sexuality If this gene existed and it was similar to a gay gene, it would explain the difference in gay people. If this happened, there would be a great change in the way gay people are […]
• Molecular Cloning of GFP Gene Molecular cloning is a set of methods in molecular biology that is used to obtain multiple copies of the target DNA fragment. Bacterial transformation is a process of recombinant DNA insertion into a host bacterial […]
• Gene Therapy: History, Description, Steps, and Future The field of research concerning the modification of cells to cure certain diseases became known in the early 1970s. The success of the procedure was then published and performed in 2002.
• Gene Therapies: The Market Access Thus, the level of clinical development affects the possibility of reimbursement: the better characteristics it has, there are more chances that GTMPs can be funded.
• The Gene Therapy Development and Purpose Still, I do not think that people will “design” their babies in the future, as it is not the initial purpose of gene therapy.
• Sustaining Proliferative Signaling in Instances of HER2 Gene Amplification The epidemiology of breast cancer and the methods of overcoming the growth of cancer cells are essential research topics in the current age.
• Gene Therapy and Genetic Enhancement On the other hand, genetic enhancement targets modifying the genes to augment the aptitudes of an organism outside the ordinary. Somatic gene editing impacts the cells of an individual under treatment and it is inherited […]
• Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Causes, Origin, and Gene Mutation Apart from analyzing chromosome abnormalities present in patients with ALL, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the disorder’s origin, including primary causes and the process of gene mutations.
• Gene Editing: Humanity’s Possible Doom The ethics of gene editing from an Islamic perspective: A focus on the recent gene editing of the Chinese twins. This article will be the primary citation in regards to the many advantages of gene […]
• Companies in the United States Announce Plans for Gene-Edited Strawberries Keith further explains that the technology used in the production of potatoes is the same going to be used to produce strawberries.
• Gene Mutation Effects and Prevention In the scientific world, gradual body change is a common occurrence witnessed in many parts of the world over a couple of years. In conclusion, the mutation causes a physical dysfunction and change in the […]
• Molecular Genetics: Gene Sequence Homology The emergence of the Mendelian genetics in the 19th century and the discovery of DNA structure by James Watson and Francis Crick in the 20th century have paved the way for the development of molecular […]
• Cutting-Edge Methods: Gene-Environment Interactions The advantage of the method of gene-environment interaction is that it allows assessing both environmental and genetic influences with certain accuracy.
• Gene-Environment Interaction: Personality Development One of the studies dedicated to the issue of the gene-environment interaction of fragile x syndrome in twins was performed by Willemsen et al.
• New Gene Discovered That Stops Spread of Cancer At this point, it is crucial to mention that the discovery by the Salk institute is just a beginning of a long scientific journey that is anticipated to culminate in a comprehensive and conclusive study […]
• Discussion on Lab Report an E. Coli Bacteria Lacz Gene A synthesizing buffer was added to provide the suitable environment required for the synthesis of the new DNA strand. The addition of T4 DNA polymerase was to facilitate the hybridization of the old and the […]
• Direct Marketing of Gene Tests The initiatives taken by the Human Genetics commission in UK that led to withdrawal of Sciona from the market was a great step.
• Activation and Repression of Gene Expression The basis of the study is that modification of histones at the promoter and enhancer sites is critical in the activation of gene expression.
• Inherited Mutant Gene Leading to Pompes Disease The main challenge in treating the disease lies in the manner in which it rapidly progresses and the high rates of mortality associated with it. The insufficiency of GAA results in accumulation of glycogen in […]
• The Theory of Evolution. Gene Responsible for Hairiness One of the significant evolution of man that enabled him to conquer a wider area on earth compared to other primates is the acquisition of the upright posture which freed its hands.
• The Genetics of Crime: ‘Criminal Gene’ The idea that criminal and offending behavior stands in the correlation with the genetic features of the offender is not a novelty of our time.
• GEP (Gene Expression Profiling) on MM Prognostication GEP is traditionally performed in thirty-nine steps, which include the identification of the experimental design, the collection of genes, identification of samples, array preparation, provision of a targeted synthesis, hybridization, transformation of the key data, […]
• Isolation the FtsZ Gene From a Donor Plasmid (pProEX) The final practical involved the screening of the Southern blot and testing the Taq polymerase colonies to confirm the results obtained in the previous session.
• Gene Expression Using Quantitative Real Time PCR The establishment of the exact products of the expression of certain genes calls for specialized molecular analytical procedures. This experiment had an objective to determine the gene expression levels of the genes encoding CHOP/GADD153, BiP […]
• Genetic Disorders That Can Be Treated With Gene Therapy It is in this context that the application of gene therapy has increased the hope of medical professionals in overcoming and controlling such failures in the treatment of genetic disorders.
• The Gene Therapy: Crucial Aspects In the other common form of gene therapy, the modified gene cells are only corrected in the patient and the next generation does not get to inherit them.
• Breast Cancer Susceptibility Gene (BRCA2) The mechanisms underlying the genetic predisposition to a particular disease are manifold and this concept is the challenging one to the investigators since the advent of Molecular Biology and database resources.
• Process of Gene Expression One of the major mechanism through which gene expression is altered is addition where a base pair is added to the normal sequence hence changing the specificity of the protein that the code specifies.
• Cancer: Gene Mutation’s Influence, Treatments As such, it could be safely argued that cancers are generally occasioned by the accumulation of mutations in our own genes, a process that leads the genes to decisively alter the behavior of cells, further […]
• Germ Line Gene Manipulation: Designing Babies Germ line gene manipulation is the alteration of genomic content of zygotes or gametes by inserting genes into the Genome of Germ Cells.
• Research Projects: Mutations in the Mstn Gene The nature of this mutation, which leads to disruption of the normal functioning of connective tissue, is the implementation of the gene knockout.
• Whole-Genome Sequencing for Identification and Gene Function Prediction of Bacterial Genomes One of the most useful applications of the given approach is to determine the original source of an outbreak, and that is why WGS is actively used in epidemiology studies.
• Embryonic Gene Testing and Manipulation Due to the technical advancements in the area, the possibility to choose the sex of a child, choosing the most healthy embryos, using donated sperms and eggs, has given man an almost godlike quality to […]
• Subsequent Cloning of PARK2 Gene The following description is a series of important events that led to the identification and subsequent cloning of the PARK2 gene responsible for Parkinson’s disease.
• A Development and Characteristics of Vivo Gene Modification Techniques Once the genes were sucked into the bacterial virus, the researchers went about the difficult task of separating the ones they wanted from the rest of the genes in the “soup mix”.
• Going Public: IPO Capital and Execution Strategy After careful analysis of what has been achieved within the current infrastructure of Gene One, the founding members of Gene One and the current board members are in agreement with the idea that Gene One […]
• Gene Delivery Methods Analysis This method is one of the successful physical methods of gene delivery, which have shown good results and a 10 to 20 fold increase in the permeation of the genetic material.
• Targeted Gene Therapy: A Fantasy or a Reality? The non-viral methods helped by increasing the simplicity of the introduction of the DNA into the body, the relatively less costly making of the drugs, and the absence of any immune response common to the […]
• Gene Mapping Using Markers of Bactrocera Tryoni In the experiment, male back cross enabled the identification and differentiation of the nature of linkage that exists between the white marks and the white gene.
• Cancer, Its Nature and Gene Therapy On closer inspection of the problem of cancer as a result of a genetic mutation, one will realize that the mechanism of the disorder in most cases is launched at an unspecified point in time […]
• Gene Therapy: Risks and Benefits All over the world, “the technique is best known for the correction of defective genes so as to treat diseases; the most common procedural form of gene therapy involves the insertion of the functional gene […]
• Gene Patenting and Organ Donation Profitability is the key to violating the law, and that is the reason for the lack of transparency in the tissue market.
• Molecular System in Gene Editing Technologies According to scientists, the effect of this molecular system on the example of a man has not yet been investigated to the end.
• Caenorhabditis Elegans: Unc-22 Gene Strong & Weak Alleles Studies involving the manipulation of the unc-22 gene including the introduction of mutations and silencing various alleles of the gene have helped elucidate the structure and function of the gene, which is beneficial to the […]
• Genetic Technology and Gene Therapy: Ethical Issues However, we can be certain that the potential danger of the gene practices can be and actually is regulated; also, the Church does not object against the deployment of such techniques, and the “slippery slope” […]
• Gene-Environment Interaction Theory The doctrine was, originally, generated by the scientists, Sandra Scarr, who suggested that genes may impact the constitution of the surrounding environment, which stimulates a certain niche of human responses and to the surrounding conditions.
• Justice in Human Gene Transfer Therapy: Plato Views Plato’s idea of non-interference also can be applied to the first example of genetic treatment that individuals with an illness have their own specialization, thus treatment should not be provided as a disease is something […]
• Green Fluorescent Protein and Gene Fusion The PCR was then used to amplify the GFP gene used in the experiment. The growth levels of the antibiotics can be clearly observed through the plates used in the experiment.
• Facilitating Change within Gene One In the case of Gene One, leadership development is important as the company aims to stay ahead of the competition and ensure business challenges are transformed into opportunities.
• Facilitating Organizational Change in Gene One The company should be willing to finance the technology department to contribute to the success of this strategy. This strategy will lead to the desired gains since it will improve the quality of the firm’s […]
• Neural Stem Cells, Viral Vectors in Gene Therapy and Restriction Enzymes The nervous system is comprised of specialized type of cells called Neural Stem Cells. Developmental versatility of plasticity of neural stem cells is important in formation of these different neural cells.
• The Revelations of Epigenetics: A New Way to Look at the Chances of Gene Expression While there is yet much to learn, it is clear even now that with the help of epigenetics, the cure for a number of genetic diseases can be found.
• Concept of the Gene-Environment Interactions The main objective of the researchers’ study was to examine the cases of lung cancer with references to the multi-analytical approach with the help of which it was possible to analyze the impact of genetic […]
• Gene Discovery: Ischaemic Stroke and Genetic Variations The scientists from the University of Oxford and other United Kingdom based research institutes sought to isolate a genetic variant to link to the disease to pave the way for development of suitable treatment.
• Molecular Biology gene/ mRNA body To understand the development of the Huntington disease, the function of normal Huntingtin proteins has to be elucidated. The data suggested that normal Htt is a component of the P body and functions in the […]
• Huntington’s Disease: The Discovery of the Huntington’s Gene Since the sex chromosomes are not involved in the production of this disease, both men and women are equally susceptible to Huntington’s disease The gene that causes huninton’s disease is dominant which means that only […]
• Utilising Neural Network and Support Vector Machine for Gene Expression Classification
• Relationship Happiness and Your DNA: How One Gene Encodes Emotional Sensitivity
• The Life Experiences of Gene in A Separate Peace, a Novel by John Knowles
• The Ethical Dilemma Of The Polio Vaccine, Gene Mapping, And Even Cloning
• Moral and Ethical Issues in Gene Therapy
• Macropinocytosis: Discovery of Macropinocytosis Gene Agpa and Therapeutic Potential
• The Influence of Savageness on the Behavior of Gene in A Separate Peace, a Novel by John Knowles
• The Genetic Observations Through the Studies of Hybrid Corn, Single Gene Human Traits
• The Importance of Gene in Defining the Offspring’s Characteristics
• The Hostility Between Gene And Finny In A Separate Peace By John Knowles
• Teenage Difference in the Case of Gene and Phineas at the Devon School, New England
• The Features of the Cystic Fibrosis Gene and Its Treatment
• Use of Gene-Expression Programming to Estimate Manning’s Roughness Coefficient for High Gradient Streams
• The End of the GMO? Genome Editing, Gene Drives and New Frontiers of Plant Technology
• The Flaws of Perfection in The Goodness Gene by Sonia Levitin
• Isolation and Characterization of the Chloroperoxidase Gene From Caldariomyces Fumago
• The Deterioration of Finny and Gene’s Friendship in A Separate Peace by John Knowles
• Neurological Effects Of Fos B Gene On Behavior Of Mice
• The Friendship of Phineas and Gene in A Separate Peace by John Knowles
• Transposon-Mediated Insertional Mutagenesis in Gene Discovery and Cancer
• High-Dimensional Sparse Factor Modeling: Applications in Gene Expression Genomics
• Technology and the Weakening of Human Gene Pool
• The Dynamics of Sex Ratio Evolution: The Impact of Males as Passive Gene Carriers on Multilevel Selection
• Investigation Of The Function Of Mutated Gene In Different Environmental Challenges
• The Effects Of Foods And Food Constituents On Gene Expression
• Understanding Gene Cloning and Genetic Engineering of Plants
• Repression of Homeotic Gene Expression in Drosophila Resulting from Polycomb Group Mediated Actions
• The Sociological Effects and Moral and Ethical Considerations of Gene
• The Use of Biblical Allusions to Convey Gene’s Fall from Innocence in A Separate Peace, a Novel by John Knowles
• The Dominant Characters of Gene and Finny in the Novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles
• The Types of Gene Therapy That Cures Diseases
• Preparation of an Artificial Microrna Construct to Knockout a Specified Lipase Gene
• The Therapeutic Potential of Gene Therapy
• Oscillatory Dynamics Induced By Multi-Delays In Gene Expression
• The Effects of the Cystic Fibrosis Gene on the Digestive System and the Lungs
• Sex Determination By Amplification Of Amelogenin Gene From
• Variations In Cytokine Gene Polymorphisms
• Genetic Observations Through The Studies of Hybrid Corn, Single Gene Human Traits, and Fruit Flies
• Role of Mutated Gene in the Evolution of Large Brained, Small-Jawed Humans
• History And Procedures of Gene Therapy
• The GMO Debate: Controversies Surrounding Recombinant Gene Technology and Attitudes of the British Public
• The Significance of Controlling the Gene Responsible for Apoptosis Phenomenon in Age Control
• The Hierarchical Regulation of Gene Expression in Mammalian Cells
• The Role of Gene Regulation in Neural Circuit Development: Studies in the Zebra Finch
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The future of DNA is unfolding now

Advances in DNA technology bring up fascinating questions about what role it will play in our society, from medicine to food

An arrest in the decades-old  Golden State Killer case.

A Chinese scientist creating the first  gene-edited  twin baby girls.

DNA is clearly changing our reality. 

In recognition of National DNA Day on April 25, scientists at Arizona State University took time to reflect on some big questions: What brought us to this point, where are we going from here — and just because we can, should we?

As is the case with most dense subjects, the best place to start is usually the beginning.

Where it all began

The average science novice might point to the Human Genome Project that had roots in the 1980s as the origin of modern DNA science. But it goes back further than that, to the discovery of the double helical structure in the 1950s and the development of the sequencing process in the 1970s that unlocked the genetic information contained in DNA.

“Those were crucial technological breakthroughs that enabled the whole field to unfold,” said  Robert Cook-Deegan , professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society. 

He witnessed firsthand as genomics took on its current form in the late 1980s, when molecular biologist James Watson — the very man who in 1953 had co-authored the paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule — asked him to lend his science and health policy expertise to the Human Genome Project.

At the time, computing technology began advancing at a rapid clip, allowing scientists to study the whole genome at once instead of one gene at a time — for the first time, they had a 30,000-foot view of the building blocks of life.

The term genomics was coined with the launch of the eponymous peer-reviewed journal in 1987 and helped to distinguish the science from genetics, the study of inheritance that only considered one gene at a time.

This newfound perspective of the curious interactions and fascinating entanglements of the chromosomes and proteins that make us who we are ushered in an era of more precise diagnostics. By analyzing a person’s genome and comparing it to relatives, scientists could pinpoint differences and similarities in their genetic makeup that might make them more prone to certain diseases or conditions.

"We’re all mountains, but we have some differences." — School of Life Sciences Assistant Professor Melissa Wilson

School of Life Sciences Assistant Professor  Melissa Wilson  studies the evolution of sex chromosomes and how they could be related to disease risk. In an unprecedented upcoming paper, she and a team of researchers theorize that women’s propensity toward overactive immune systems helps them both surveil and fight off cancer better than men.

She explains the utility of the human genome reference thusly:

“It’s like if I gave you a puzzle of Camelback Mountain and I said, ‘This is the human genome, it's Camelback Mountain.’ But really, some of us look like the Appalachians, and some of us look like the Superstitions, and some of us look like Four Peaks. We’re all mountains, but we have some differences. So we use that puzzle of Camelback Mountain as our reference to see where they are the same and where they are different.”

Then, in the mid-2000s, new forms of faster DNA sequencing allowed for the detection of variants in individuals and populations. 

Robert Cook-Deegan

“That’s one thing nobody saw coming,” Cook-Deegan said. The ability to identify genetic differences among populations has vast implications for tracing ancestry, including the study of ancient DNA. It gave researchers insight into regional ancestry, migration patterns and more.

Nowadays, while scientists have already harnessed the potential of the naturally occurring genome editing system known as CRISPR-Cas9 to genetically modify babies in the womb, Cook-Deegan cautions we still have much more to learn.

“We’re at the toddler stage,” he said. “There’s just so much data coming out and we know so little about so much. Understanding the genome is not just about what genes you have, but understanding why and how and when they’re turned on and turned off. ... We still don’t understand that regulatory switch-work at all. We’re just at the very beginning of being able to understand that. That’s going to go on for about another century.”

The genome guides precision medicine

From the 18th through the 20th centuries, a physician's dominant tool was the microscope. They would look at cells or tissues under a microscope and then say, “This patient has disease X, Y or Z,” based on the way the cells appeared. It was very good, and took health care a long way. 

Then the Human Genome Project launched. The world's largest collaborative biological project, it was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the sequence of human DNA and identifying and mapping all of the genes of the human genome from a physical and a functional standpoint. It was completed in 2003. 

“What we learned in the 21st century, or even at the very tail end of the 20th century, is that we can get even more precise about what a patient has by looking at the molecules,” said Joshua LaBaer , executive director of ASU’s Biodesign Institute and a professor in the School of Molecular Sciences. LaBaer Center director, Biodesign Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics; interim center director, ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center; faculty member, Biodesign Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics. is one of the nation’s foremost investigators in the rapidly expanding field of personalized diagnostics.

“Precision medicine is basically a way of fine-tuning the way we treat our patients,” LaBaer said. “With personalized medicine, doctors like myself always felt we personalized treatment. We don’t treat a population; we treat an individual.”

When LaBaer went to medical school back in the 20th century, one would look at certain cells and tissues in the breast under the microscope and say “infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast.” That was a pathologist’s terminology for breast cancer. Now doctors know that one disease under a microscope is like seven or eight different molecular diseases if you look more deeply. There’s luminal A type, luminal B type, HER2 type, there’s triple negative type, and so on. And those different types behave differently with different chemotherapies. They also respond to specific therapies that are not available for the others. And that’s just breast cancer. The same kinds of things are true for other types of cancers as well as other diseases. 

“In the 21st century, we’re looking more at these molecules and we’re understanding much more about how they contribute to disease, what they tell us about the prognosis of the patient, and what opportunities of therapy we can bring to bear,” LaBaer said.

The Human Genome Project, for the first time, outlined a complete human parts list. Looking at the human genome basically told us all the different genes that are there. That was the first step, and it was a big one. But that project looked at a few people’s genomes, and people vary widely. 

The All of Us Research Program was launched by the U.S. government in 2018. It seeks to extend precision medicine to all diseases by building a national research cohort of 1 million or more U.S. participants. Anyone over the age of 18 living in the United States can join. 

We all have a likelihood of getting different diseases. But when we do, our outcomes can differ from person to person with the same disease. Much of it is a product of our different genomes. 

“How do we understand the variation?” LaBaer said. “What is the variation between us, and how does understanding that variation help predict risks of disease and/or responses to disease when they occur? By cataloging all that information, we will learn a lot about those sorts of factors. That’s what (All of Us) does for us."

There are limits to what genome info can do for disease risk. LaBaer’s favorite metaphor is the genome is a recipe, but people given the same recipe might make dishes that taste a little bit different. 

"The genome is the starting point, but it’s not the answer to everything.” — Joshua LaBaer, professor and executive director of ASU’s Biodesign Institute.

The genome is the blueprint for how to make a person. People are a little different from the genome, because wear and tear happen to them. Things break. Sometimes people break even when they’ve always appeared to be fine, like a vegan athlete who develops diabetes in his late 40s. 

“The genome doesn’t necessarily tell us what’s going to happen to a person,” LaBaer said. “It gives us the mathematical possibility of things that might happen to that person. … The genome can tell us likelihoods of our being able to metabolize certain drugs in certain ways. … That’s called pharmacogenomics, and that’s very important. The genome is the starting point, but it’s not the answer to everything.”

There are a lot of things about DNA information people need to know, LaBaer said. Although your entire human genome can be sequenced, fairly little is known about how to interpret that. 

“If anyone tells you, ‘Oh, we’ll sequence your genome and that will fix everything,’ that’s probably not true,” he said. “It’s almost certainly not true. Certainly some of those elements are helpful. There are known genetic disorders you can detect.”

Whether you’re going to get heart disease or a specific type of cancer, mostly what’s now known can’t predict that. And, contrary to what you see on TV, genome sequencing can’t tell you whether your heritage is Albanian or Latvian. What do consumers need to watch out for? 

“You need to be careful about what kind of promises are made about what you’re going to learn from this,” LaBaer said. “A lot of these companies initially promised all this medical value for people, and the FDA forced them to back away from that claim. Now most of them are marketing themselves as talking about your heritage. Even there, I think a lot of what’s promised is a little bit oversold at this point. When people say you’re 30 percent this and 15 percent that, I don’t know what that means. I don’t know how well that’s understood at this point. … DNA is only useful if the clinical information attached to it is also accurate. Oftentimes it isn’t.”

LaBaer cautions it’s worth looking at the fine print for privacy issues. Some of the companies sequencing genomes are selling that information to other companies for research purposes. Theoretically it’s not identified as yours. They’ll say it’s from a Caucasian female in her 30s, or something along those lines. A lot of their business models aren’t based on the fees you paid, but fees from selling the sequence to someone else. And, as is discussed in other sections of this series , there are no legal barriers from law enforcement going in to any of these companies and seeing what they have. 

Finding solutions with gene therapies

When the gene editing tool CRISPR burst upon the scene in 2012, scientists immediately saw its potential to cure genetic diseases. Samira Kiani has built her career around her passion for applying CRISPR technology to synthetic biology. An assistant professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, she has established her research program to combine CRISPR technology with synthetic biology to develop safer and controllable gene therapies.

Samira Kiani

Is that potential realistic? How viable are solutions? 

There are three major areas CRISPR can potentially make an impact, according to Kiani. The first is gene therapy: Patients with formal genetic diseases like metabolic diseases or immune disorders have some sort of faulty genes. 

“We can use CRISPR to disrupt those faulty genes or correct those faulty genes,” Kiani said. “This time CRISPR would allow us to pinpoint the type of genes that already exist in human DNA and just modify those, correct those or disrupt the faulty genes.”

Another potential arena for CRISPR would lie in correcting susceptibility genes that put people at risk of diseases like diabetes, cancer and atherosclerosis. A delivery device would put CRISPR in the patient’s body. The tool would go to a certain organ and change the genes. 

“CRISPR would allow us at some point — let’s say five or 10 years from now — to develop a form of gene therapy using CRISPR and go and modulate those genes so that they are not really conferring susceptibility anymore to those diseases,” Kiani said.

The third application for human health Kiani cites is correcting a faulty gene at the embryonic level. For example, if a couple had genes that would immediately lead to a fetal disease, they could do in vitro fertilization and the genes could be corrected at the level of the embryo. Then the corrected embryo could be implanted.

CRISPR also is being used to diagnose certain genetic diseases or viruses that can infect cells such as HPV, HIV or Ebola.

Clinical applications are feasible within five to 10 years, according to Kiani. The technology is moving rapidly — but there’s a catch.

Science fiction writer William Gibson famously said, “The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.” Travel from a big city to a rural town, or from an industrialized nation to a developing one, and unequal distribution of advanced anything is obvious. 

“With technologies like this, you will face all the issues with access and equality of access,” Kiani said. “How do we make it affordable for every doctor’s office to have it? If we are speaking with regard to accessibility to patients at every doctor’s office, I would say a longer term — maybe 15 or 20 years. As any new technology is developed — internet technology or iPhone — every time these new technologies develop, rich (people) have better access to it. So I would say once this technology is rapidly developed, it’s either accessible to people with more money or governments and insurance companies need to come on board so they actually provide this accessibility to patients.”

Spinal muscular atrophy is a debilitating, muscle-wasting disease caused by death of nerve cells in the spine. The FDA approved the sale of a new drug for the treatment of this disease. The drug tricks the spinal neurons into using another gene to produce protein, allowing the patient to survive. Here’s the catch: The drug costs $750,000 in the first year followed by $375,000 a year after that — for life. 

Gene therapies have the potential to alleviate that problem of cost. They require the creation of a drug specific for each patient. It has to be designed, customized, administered and monitored by several expert personnel. Currently, none of that comes cheap. 

But there is a light at the end of that tunnel, Kiani said.

“The claim with CRISPR is because it’s easier to repurpose, the costs might be lower,” she said.

We can — but should we?

Ethical questions concerning biotechnology were already a part of the science and health policy conversation by the time the field of human genetics took off, thanks in part to biological weapons research that lasted until the Biological Weapons Convention in 1972 and the advent of agricultural biotechnology (which remains controversial to this day).

In relation to DNA science, School of Life Sciences Associate Professor  Ben Hurlbut  said ethical concerns arose out of the combination of the hopes that were attached to what knowledge the human genome could give us — such as the capacity to treat disease — and the uses it might be put to that could be contrary to the public good.

Hurlbut and colleagues are working on creating a new kind of structure for governance of the field — a global observatory for gene editing, which he wrote about in a  March 2018 article  for Nature.

“In the earliest days of the development of genetics and the technology associated with it, there was a tendency in the scientific community to ask those large ethical questions,” he said. “But over the years, there’s been a kind of resistance to that and a silencing of discussions that look far ahead.”

Cook-Deegan can attest to the former. A few years into working on the Human Genome Project, he authored “ The Gene Wars: Science, Politics, and the Human Genome ,” a personal account of the genesis and early stages of the project that also addressed anxieties regarding far-reaching medical and social implications. Later, he would go on to found Duke University’s Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy.

What is interesting about the field of human genetics, he noted, is that it started to take off at the same time that historians around the world were beginning to re-examine the history of eugenics and so-called "racial hygiene" that led to sterilization and interracial marriage bans. So as the field advanced, so too did unease about such ills resurfacing. 

At the same time, most understood the potential health benefits of genomics.

“So from the beginning, there were ethical discussions and a parallel effort to do something about policy, to think about the legal issues that were going to need to be addressed,” Cook-Deegan said.

Some of the earliest ethical concerns with biotechnology were related to biosafety, military and industrial control of life and genetic engineering. Lately, as Hurlbut mentioned, things have become even more complicated. 

“Our ability to do stuff far exceeds our ability to do it ethically.” — Andrew Maynard , professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society

In 2013, in response to a molecular diagnostic company that attempted to do so, the Supreme Court ruled that isolated human genes could not be patented. While proponents of the argument claimed patents would encourage investment in biotechnology and promote innovation in genetic research, opponents claimed patenting isolated genes would hamper further disease research and limit options for patients seeking genetic testing. 

And there’s also reason to question whether we rely too much on what DNA tells us about disease risk factors to determine treatments and predict health outcomes.

“I'm not an MD,” Wilson said, “but for example, aspirin is advised to give to everyone to help prevent stroke. Turns out, it doesn't really work in women. And this has been known for decades. But we just give it to them anyway.

“So we have personalized medicine based on populations that are not representative of the people we're working on. If we really want to have personalized medicine, we need to actually have our data sets be representative of everyone. And they're not right now, unfortunately.”

Andrew Maynard , professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, studies emerging tech and responsible innovation. In his new book, “ Films from the Future ,” he grapples with a number of issues around the ethics of how we work with DNA and what it means to innovate responsibly.

In the years to come, he believes there is a growing urgency for not just scientists but everyone DNA technology has the potential to affect to learn how to be socially responsible with it.

“Our ability to do stuff far exceeds our ability to do it ethically,” he said. “So there’s a huge obligation for us to think critically about what we’re doing and have an open conversation about it.”

Gene modification on our tables

As for that controversial agricultural biotechnology, genetically modified organisms have been around since the early 1970s. Definitions vary, but consensus hovers around an organism that has been altered in a way that would not occur in nature.

A bacteria was the first organism to have its DNA altered, followed by a mouse and a plant. The first organism engineered for commercial ends was the Flavr Savr tomato , which hit supermarket shelves in 1994. The FDA declared it as safe as a natural tomato. The goal of all tomato growers is to be able to handle them as soon as possible and for them to have a longer shelf life. The maker’s intent was to slow down ripening. Flavr Savrs did have a longer shelf life, but they still had to be picked and handled like any vine-ripened tomato. The company struggled with profits, mainly because they didn’t know enough about the farming end of the business, and were eventually acquired by Monsanto.

Flash-forward another decade and GloFish hit the market. They’re still around, for people who think tropical fish are too drab. In 2015, AquAdvantage Atlantic salmon hit Canadian markets. Modified to grow to market size in 16 to 18 months instead of three years, it was initially blocked from being sold in the U.S. In early March, however, the FDA lifted the import ban on genetically engineered salmon and salmon eggs. 

Oya Yazgan is a molecular biologist in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, where she teaches a course in food and human health. How foods are produced and the consequences of consuming various types of foods is her passion. 

There's one big question hovering over GMO foods: Are they safe? The short answer — no one really knows. Research has been done and used as a reference for saying that GMOs are safe, but it’s neither serious nor reliable science, Yazgan said. 

"We need to take a very careful look at these before we play with people’s health." — Oya Yazgan, molecular biologist in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts

“The studies they refer to are poorly designed and statistical analyses are not strong, and they are making conclusions that are not scientifically valid,” she said. “We have some preliminary evidence that needs stronger scientific research that indicates there are damages that are being caused by these GMOs. They are seeing intestinal damage in mice and pigs. The general bigger problem I see is that these studies are not designed well. They are very short-term, when you think about any possible effects. They are truncating these studies. If you don’t see the effects, then they are concluding that these are safe, which is, in my opinion and many other people’s opinions, irresponsible.”

Studies concluding GMOs are safe often have been conducted by industry-sponsored researchers. Independent researchers have  an opposite view. 

“A lot of publications and news reports and everything that I look at basically has ties to industry,” Yazgan said. “This is a huge industry — everyone is aware of that — and the feeling is that this is being pushed before we have definitive answers about their safety. That is my concern and my frustration about this as well.”

GMO foods are clearly labeled as such in the European Union. In the U.S., food is either organic or it’s not. 

“There is that push because industry has a stronger hold on scientific research and the publications and what’s being made available to the public,” Yazgan said. “In Europe there are more regulations controlling the release of these GMOs and any other substance as well. There is more public support in Europe. There is more business support in the U.S. That’s the biggest difference.”

What’s the best option for concerned consumers? Right now that would be organic, because GMOs aren’t labeled. Big agriculture is trying to wiggle its way out of regulations, Yazgan said. 

“The latest technique that is used to make modifications in the genes, they are little different from the previous ones and they do not leave a mark on the DNA of the organisms they are changing,” she said. “The FDA does not consider that genetically engineered, even though they are. They are trying to avoid the regulations.”

Intestinal problems, like irritable bowel syndrome, are on the rise, but not definitively linked to GMOs.

“We need to take a very careful look at these before we play with people’s health,” Yazgan said.

Written by Emma Greguska and Scott Seckel/ASU Now

More stories in this series

• DNA enters legal maze with potential
• How criminal justice is evolving with DNA
• Ask a Biologist's DNA primer
• Proofreading the book of life: Gene editing made safer
• Anthropology meets genetics to tell our collective story

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Realizing the benefits of human genetics and genomics research for people everywhere.

Annual DNA Day Essay Contest

ASHG is proud to support National DNA Day through the Annual DNA Day Essay Contest. DNA Day commemorates the completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003 and the discovery of the double helix of DNA in 1953.

This contest is open to students in grades 9-12 worldwide and asks students to examine, question, and reflect on important concepts in genetics. Essays are expected to be well-reasoned arguments that indicate a deep understanding of scientific concepts related to the essay question. They are evaluated by ASHG members through three rounds of scoring.

2024 Question

Many human diseases have a genetic component. Some diseases result from a change in a single gene or even multiple genes. Yet, many diseases are complex and stem from an interaction between genes and the environment. Environmental factors may include chemicals in the air or water, nutrition, microbes, ultraviolet radiation from the sun and social context. Provide an example of how the interplay of genetics and environment can shape human health.

Important Dates

• Early January, 2024: Submission site opens
• March 6, 2024: Submission site closes
• April 25, 2024: DNA Day! Winners and Honorable Mentions announced

1st Place Winner: $1,000 for student $1,000 genetics materials grant

2nd Place Winner: $600 for student $600 genetics materials grant

3rd Place Winner: $400 for student $400 genetics materials grant

Honorable Mentions : 10 student prizes of $100 each

Questions? Email [email protected]

The rubric below is used by judges to evaluate every essay in the second and third rounds of judging.

Rules & Requirements

• No LLM (large-language model) tool will be accepted as a credited author on this essay. That is because any attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, and AI tools cannot take such responsibility. Students using LLM tools should document this use in the citations section.
• Essays must be submitted by a teacher or administrator and written by high school students (grades 9-12) in the U.S. and internationally. Parents may submit essays if the student is home schooled.
• Essays must be written by one individual student; group submissions are not permitted.
• Essays must be in English and no more than 750 words. Word count includes in-text citations, but not reference lists.
• Submissions should not include the student’s name in the essay text. This helps with impartial judging.
• Essays must include at least one reference. References should be clearly documented with both in-text citations and in the references list. The reference list should be separately entered in the “References” section of the submission page.
• APA or MLA style can be used for citations. There is no limit on how many references students may use, but they should avoid too many references, as judges want to know the student’s opinion on the question and not the opinion of the resources.
• Quality of references will be considered by judges when scoring.
• Only classroom teachers are eligible for the equipment grant.
• Teachers of first-place winners from 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 are not eligible for equipment grants in 2024.

Please Note Text from essays may be used for research purposes to identify misconceptions, misunderstandings, and areas of student interest in genetics. Student text may be published on the ASHG website, newsletter, or in other ASHG publications.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. The text of the student’s essay must be his or her own words unless quotations are explicitly noted. If plagiarism is suspected during any point of the contest, the essay in question will be examined. Essays found to contain the uncited work of others will be disqualified and the student’s teacher will be notified. Plagiarism.org gives a helpful explanation of what plagiarism is.

How many essays can one student submit? Only one entry per student.

How many essays can one teacher submit on behalf of students? Each teacher may submit up to six student essays per class, for up to three classes.

What are low-quality a high-quality sources? A low-quality source is one that doesn’t guarantee accurate information, such as Wikipedia. High-quality sources include research journals, such as those accessible through PubMed.

What is included in the 750-word count, and what is not?

• All text in the essay, in-line citations/references, headings and titles, and image captions are included in the word count
• The reference list is the only text not included in the word count.

Should references have a separate page? The reference list will be submitted separately in the “references” section of the submission site. Everything will be included on one page once the essay is submitted.

Is there a standard font or margin size preferred? No. Once the essay is copied and pasted into the submission site, it will be formatted to fit our standard margins and fonts.

How do I submit my essay if my teacher cannot do it for me? Try to find any other teacher or guidance counselor at your school who can submit for you. If this isn’t an option, please email us at [email protected] .

Can my guidance counselor or another school administrator submit my essay for me? Yes.

Can I submit for my student who is currently studying abroad? Students must be studying at the same school as the teacher who submits their essays.

Can I change information after I have submitted? No, please make sure all information is correct before submitting because it will be final.

How does the teacher vouch for the originality of the student’s work? Your submission represents your authentication that the essays are the original work of your students.

I submitted late. Will my essay still be judged? Late submissions will not be judged.

Where’s the confirmation email? It may take some time for the email to get to you. If you haven’t received it by the end of the day, either check your junk mailbox or double check that the email address you provided is correct. If neither of those options work, email [email protected] .

Summarized below are some of the most common issues judges note in reading submitted essays.

• Too much focus on details. A focus on details to the detriment of demonstrating a clear understanding of the big picture. Judges are much more forgiving of errors in details than errors in fundamental concepts and larger ideas.
• Overstating. Sweeping and grandiose overstatements of the current/future state and/or utility of biotechnology or biomedical science.
• Inaccuracy in technical language. Judges know you do not know all the “science jargon,” so don’t feel obligated to use it.
• Lack of in-text citations in, or lack of citations for information that is not considered common knowledge. If you got the information from somewhere else, cite the source.
• Using out-of-date references. Scientific understanding changes very rapidly, and references that are more than five years old are likely to have outdated ideas.
• Using too many quotes. Although occasional use is warranted, too many quotes lead judges to think the author doesn’t grasp the topic.

Check out the links below for excerpts from past winners’ essays!

Want to become a judge? If you are a current-year ASHG member, you will receive an email each February inviting you to volunteer. If you did not receive the email or cannot locate it, please contact [email protected] . You can also volunteer by the visiting the ASHG involvement page. You may forward the judge recruiting email ONLY to fellow ASHG current members. The deadline to sign up as a judge is the usually the end of February for that year’s Contest. If you have questions about future years, please contact [email protected]

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• v.2016; 2016

Role of Recombinant DNA Technology to Improve Life

Suliman khan.

1 The Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China

Muhammad Wajid Ullah

2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

Rabeea Siddique

3 Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25000, Pakistan

Ghulam Nabi

Sehrish manan.

4 National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, College of Plant Sciences and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

Muhammad Yousaf

5 Center for Human Genome Research, Cardio-X Institute, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

Hongwei Hou

In the past century, the recombinant DNA technology was just an imagination that desirable characteristics can be improved in the living bodies by controlling the expressions of target genes. However, in recent era, this field has demonstrated unique impacts in bringing advancement in human life. By virtue of this technology, crucial proteins required for health problems and dietary purposes can be produced safely, affordably, and sufficiently. This technology has multidisciplinary applications and potential to deal with important aspects of life, for instance, improving health, enhancing food resources, and resistance to divergent adverse environmental effects. Particularly in agriculture, the genetically modified plants have augmented resistance to harmful agents, enhanced product yield, and shown increased adaptability for better survival. Moreover, recombinant pharmaceuticals are now being used confidently and rapidly attaining commercial approvals. Techniques of recombinant DNA technology, gene therapy, and genetic modifications are also widely used for the purpose of bioremediation and treating serious diseases. Due to tremendous advancement and broad range of application in the field of recombinant DNA technology, this review article mainly focuses on its importance and the possible applications in daily life.

1. Introduction

Human life is greatly affected by three factors: deficiency of food, health problems, and environmental issues. Food and health are basic human requirements beside a clean and safe environment. With increasing world's population at a greater rate, human requirements for food are rapidly increasing. Humans require safe-food at reasonable price. Several human related health issues across the globe cause large number of deaths. Approximately 36 million people die each year from noncommunicable and communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, AIDS/HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and several others according to http://GlobalIssues.org/ . Despite extensive efforts being made, the current world food production is much lower than human requirements, and health facilities are even below standard in the third-world countries. Rapid increase in industrialization has soared up the environmental pollution and industrial wastes are directly allowed to mix with water, which has affected aquatic marines and, indirectly, human-beings. Therefore, these issues urge to be addressed through modern technologies.

Unlike tradition approaches to overcome agriculture, health, and environmental issues through breeding, traditional medicines, and pollutants degradation through conventional techniques respectively, the genetic engineering utilizes modern tools and approaches, such as molecular cloning and transformation, which are less time consuming and yield more reliable products. For example, compared to conventional breeding that transfers a large number of both specific and nonspecific genes to the recipient, genetic engineering only transfers a small block of desired genes to the target through various approaches, such as biolistic and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation [ 1 ]. The alteration into plant genomes is brought either by homologous recombination dependent gene targeting or by nuclease-mediated site-specific genome modification. Recombinase mediated site-specific genome integration and oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis can also be used [ 2 ].

Recombinant DNA technology is playing a vital role in improving health conditions by developing new vaccines and pharmaceuticals. The treatment strategies are also improved by developing diagnostic kits, monitoring devices, and new therapeutic approaches. Synthesis of synthetic human insulin and erythropoietin by genetically modified bacteria [ 3 ] and production of new types of experimental mutant mice for research purposes are one of the leading examples of genetic engineering in health. Likewise, genetic engineering strategies have been employed to tackle the environmental issues such as converting wastes into biofuels and bioethanol [ 4 – 7 ], cleaning the oil spills, carbon, and other toxic wastes, and detecting arsenic and other contaminants in drinking water. The genetically modified microbes are also effectively used in biomining and bioremediation.

The advent of recombinant DNA technology revolutionized the development in biology and led to a series of dramatic changes. It offered new opportunities for innovations to produce a wide range of therapeutic products with immediate effect in the medical genetics and biomedicine by modifying microorganisms, animals, and plants to yield medically useful substances [ 8 , 9 ]. Most biotechnology pharmaceuticals are recombinant in nature which plays a key role against human lethal diseases. The pharmaceutical products synthesized through recombinant DNA technology, completely changed the human life in such a way that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved more recombinant drugs in 1997 than in the previous several years combined, which includes anemia, AIDS, cancers (Kaposi's sarcoma, leukemia, and colorectal, kidney, and ovarian cancers), hereditary disorders (cystic fibrosis, familial hypercholesterolemia, Gaucher's disease, hemophilia A, severe combined immunodeficiency disease, and Turnor's syndrome), diabetic foot ulcers, diphtheria, genital warts, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, human growth hormone deficiency, and multiple sclerosis. Considering the plants develop multigene transfer, site-specific integration and specifically regulated gene expression are crucial advanced approaches [ 10 ]. Transcriptional regulation of endogenous genes, their effectiveness in the new locations, and the precise control of transgene expression are major challenges in plant biotechnology which need further developments for them to be used successfully [ 11 ].

Human life is greatly threatened by various factors, like food limitations leading to malnutrition, different kinds of lethal diseases, environmental problems caused by the dramatic industrialization and urbanization and many others. Genetic engineering has replaced the conventional strategies and has the greater potential to overcome such challenges. The current review summarized the major challenges encountered by humans and addresses the role of recombinant DNA technology to overcome aforementioned issues. In line with this, we have detailed the limitations of genetic engineering and possible future directions for researchers to surmount such limitations through modification in the current genetic engineering strategies.

2. Recombinant DNA Technology

Recombinant DNA technology comprises altering genetic material outside an organism to obtain enhanced and desired characteristics in living organisms or as their products. This technology involves the insertion of DNA fragments from a variety of sources, having a desirable gene sequence via appropriate vector [ 12 ]. Manipulation in organism's genome is carried out either through the introduction of one or several new genes and regulatory elements or by decreasing or blocking the expression of endogenous genes through recombining genes and elements [ 13 ]. Enzymatic cleavage is applied to obtain different DNA fragments using restriction endo-nucleases for specific target sequence DNA sites followed by DNA ligase activity to join the fragments to fix the desired gene in vector. The vector is then introduced into a host organism, which is grown to produce multiple copies of the incorporated DNA fragment in culture, and finally clones containing a relevant DNA fragment are selected and harvested [ 11 ]. The first recombinant DNA (rDNA) molecules were generated in 1973 by Paul Berg, Herbert Boyer, Annie Chang, and Stanley Cohen of Stanford University and University of California San Francisco. In 1975, during “The Asilomar Conference” regulation and safe use of rDNA technology was discussed. Paradoxically to the view of scientists at the time of Asilomar, the recombinant DNA methods to foster agriculture and drug developments took longer than anticipated because of unexpected difficulties and barriers to achieve the satisfactory results. However, since the mid-1980s, the number of products like hormones, vaccines, therapeutic agents, and diagnostic tools has been developed continually to improve health [ 13 ].

A quick approach is offered by recombinant DNA technology to scrutinize the genetic expression of the mutations that were introduced into eukaryote genes through cloned insulin genes insertion inside a simian virus fragment [ 3 ]. In a similar way, tumor growth was inhibited by adenoviral vector that encodes endostain human secretory form through antiangiogenic effects. Antiangiogenic effect can be enhanced by dl 1520 through rescuing replication of Ad-Endo [ 14 ]. Targeted gene disruption has been used to produce antitumor derivatives in other hosts which were structurally similar for the production pathways [ 15 ]. Besides, longer acting therapeutic proteins have been developed through recombinant DNA technologies; for example, sequences containing additional glycosylation site are one of the most followed approaches. A new chimeric gene has been developed through this technique which contains the FSH β -subunit coding sequences and the C-terminal peptide of the hCG β -subunit coding sequences [ 16 ]. Researchers have also developed vectors and combined vectors for gene therapy and genetic modification approaches. Presently, viral vectors have received immense consideration in clinical settings, some of which have also been commercialized. In principle, viruses are modified to be safe for clinical purposes. They have several applications including treatment of severe diseases including cancer either through in vivo or gene therapy (ex vivo), vaccination, and protein transduction approaches [ 17 ]. The production of clinical grade viral vectors improvement has become possible due to advance manufacturing technologies [ 18 ]. At present, due to the severe adverse effects, retroviral vectors are losing their importance although the viral entities transfer genes quickly and correctly into a number of species. The simplest nonviral gene delivery system uses “naked” DNA, when injected directly into certain tissues, particularly muscles, produces significant levels of gene expression with least side effects [ 19 ]. More recently, a P1 vector has been designed to introduce the recombinant DNA into E. coli through electroporation procedures. This new cloning system is used for establishing 15,000 clone library initially averagely 130−150 kb pairs insert size. PAC cloning system is considered useful for complex genome analysis and in mapping [ 20 ]. The construction of low copy number vectors, for example, pWSK29, pWKS30, pWSK129, and pWKS130, was carried out using PCR and recombinant DNA technology. These vectors can also be used for generating unidirectional deletions with exonuclease, complementation analysis, DNA sequencing, and run-off transcription [ 21 ]. A broad range of applications of recombinant DNA technology has been summarized in Figure 1 .

Illustration of various applications of recombinant DNA technology.

3. Current Research Progress

Recombinant DNA technology is a fast growing field and researchers around the globe are developing new approaches, devices, and engineered products for application in different sectors including agriculture, health, and environment. For example, Lispro (Humalog), in comparison with regular human insulin, is a well effective and fast acting recombinant insulin [ 3 ]. Similarly, Epoetin alfa is a novel and well-recognized recombinant protein that can be effectively used in curing of anemia [ 22 ]. Recombinant hGH was found with a great improvement in treating children lacking the ability to produce hGH in a required quantity. Clinical testing approval by the FDA in December 1997 for a recombinant version of the cytokine myeloid progenitor inhibitory factor-1 (MPIF-1) was an achievement to give recognition to this technology. With its help anticancer drug's side effects can be mitigated whereas it has the ability to mimic the division of immunologically important cells [ 23 , 24 ]. The following section summarizes the most recent developments of recombinant DNA technology.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), a more recent development of recombinant DNA technology, has brought out solutions to several problems in different species. This system can be used to target destruction of genes in human cells. Activation, suppression, addition, and deletion of genes in human's cells, mice, rats, zebrafish, bacteria, fruit flies, yeast, nematodes, and crops proved the technique a promising one. Mouse models can be managed for studying human diseases with CRISPR, where individual genes study becomes much faster and the genes interactions studies become easy by changing multiple genes in cells [ 25 ]. The CRISPR of H. hispanica genome is capable of getting adapted to the nonlytic viruses very efficiently. The associated Cas operon encodes the interfering Cas3 nucleases and other Cas proteins. The engineering of a strain is required with priming CRISPR for priming crRNAs production and new spacers acceptance. CRISPR-cas system has to integrate new spacers into its locus for adaptive immunity generation [ 26 ]. Recognition of foreign DNA/RNA and its cleavage is a controlled process in sequence-specific manner. Information related to the intruder's genetic material is stored by the host system with the help of photo-spacer incorporation into the CRISPR system [ 27 ]. Cas9t (gene editing tool) represents DNA endonucleases which use RNA molecules to recognize specific target [ 28 ]. Class 2 CRISPR-Cas system with single protein effectors can be employed for genome editing processes. Dead Cas9 is important for histone modifying enzyme's recruitment, transcriptional repression, localization of fluorescent protein labels, and transcriptional activation [ 29 ]. Targeting of genes involved in homozygous gene knockouts isolation process is carried out by CRISPR-induced mutations. In this way, essential genes can be analyzed which in turn can be used for “potential antifungal targets” exploration [ 30 ]. Natural CRISPR-cas immunity exploitation has been used for generation of strains which are resistant to different types of disruptive viruses [ 31 ].

CRISPR-Cas, the only adaptive immune system in prokaryotes, contains genomic locus known as CRISPR having short repetitive elements and spacers (unique sequences). CRISPR array is preceded by AT-rich leader sequence and flanked by cas genes which encode Cas proteins [ 32 , 33 ]. In Escherichia coli cas1 and cas2 catalases promote new spacers through complex formation. Photo-spacer adjacent motif (PAM) is required for interference and acquisition because the target sequence selection is not random. The memorization of the invader's sequence starts after CRISPR array transcription into long precursor crRNA. During the final stages of immunity process, target is degraded through interference with invaded nucleic acids. Specific recognition prevents the system from self-targeting [ 32 , 34 ]. In different species of Sulfolobus , the CRISPR loci contain multiple spacers whose sequence matches conjugative plasmids significantly while in some cases the conjugative plasmids also contain small CRISPR loci. Spacer acquisition is affected by active viral DNA replication in Sulfolobus species whereas the DNA breaks formation at replication forks causes the process to be stimulated [ 35 ]. According to the above information, CRISPR-Cas system has obtained a unique position in advanced biological systems because of its tremendous role in the stability and enhancement of immunity.

Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) are chimeric nucleases composed of programmable, sequence-specific DNA-binding modules linked to a nonspecific DNA cleavage domain. Therapeutic potential of ZFNs and TALENs is more specified and targeted [ 25 , 36 , 37 ]. Similarly, recombinant protein fibroblast growth factor (FGF-1) has been developed which functions in inducing the formation of new blood vessels in myocardium. Its injection (biologic bypass) into a human myocardium cause an increased blood supply to the heart. Apligraf, an FDA approved product, which serves as a recombinant skin replacer, specified for the leg ulcer's treatment and DermaGraft, is effective in the treatment of diabetic ulcers [ 38 – 40 ]. After successful production of insulin from E. coli through recombinant DNA technology, currently several animals, notably cattle and pigs, have been selected as insulin producing source, which however, triggered immune responses. The recombinant human insulin is identical to human porcine insulin and comparatively infrequently elicits immunogenic responses. Furthermore, it is more affordable and can satisfy medical needs more readily. Human growth hormone was the first protein expressed in tobacco plants [ 41 , 42 ]. Besides insulin, several new drugs related to recombinant DNA technology have undergone developmental improvements and a number of protein production systems have been developed. Several engineered microbial strains have been developed to carry out the formulation of drugs [ 41 , 43 , 44 ]. Molecular medicine formation that is specifically based on proteins faces serious issues including methods and biology of the cells which function to produce medically important compounds through recombinant DNA techniques. To overcome these obstacles, there is intense need to improve quality and quantity of medicines based on a molecular phenomenon. Cell factories are considered important in recombinant DNA technologies, but these needed to be explored with more details and in depth as the conventional factories are not fulfilling the needs [ 42 ]. Similarly, the endothelial growth factor and Notch signaling were used to engineer oncolytic adenovirus which acts as a breast cancer selective agent for the antagonist's expression. This further, through tumor angiogenesis disruption acts as anticancer agent. This decreases the total blood vessels numbers and causes a dramatic change along with the perfused vessels which indicates the improved efficacy against the tumor and vascular effects [ 13 ]. Efforts have been made to modify the influenza virus genome using recombinant DNA technology for development of vaccines. The modifications are based on engineering of vectors to expression of foreign genes. In practical, the NS gene of the influenza virus was replaced with foreign gene, commonly chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene. Thereafter, the RNA previously recombined is expressed and packaged into virus particles after transfection with purified influenza A virus in the presence of helper virus. It has been clarified that 5′ terminal and the 3′ terminal bases are sufficient from influenza A virus RNA to produce signals for RNA replication, RNA transcription, and RNA packaging into influenza virus [ 15 ].

The abovementioned new production systems enhance pipelines for development of various vaccines and drugs and so forth. Production of high quality proteins depends on physiology of a cell and the conditions provided to it. The expression of proteins becomes retarded if a cell goes under stressful conditions, which may also favor the production in some cases. Thus, further improvements are required for the better and safe production at genetic and metabolic levels. Microorganisms are considered the most convenient hosts to produce molecular medicines. These cells allow the incorporation of foreign genes with less resistant barriers and expression is easily controlled. Compared to plant and mammalian cells to be taken as hosts, microbial systems provide less complicated machinery which ultimately enhances the performance and quality of proteins production. The use of common microbial species, including bacteria and yeasts, is promising but the less common strains have also been observed promising as being cellular factories to produce recombinant molecular drugs. The increasing demands of drugs and the needs of quality can be fulfilled with better results if these cellular factories of microorganisms get incorporated into productive processes of pharmaceuticals ( Table 1 ) [ 41 , 45 , 46 ].

Current DNA assembly methods for the synthesis of large DNA molecules. The table has been reproduced from Nature reviews 14: 781–793, with permission from Nature Publishing Group.

4. Applications of Recombinant DNA Technology

4.1. food and agriculture.

Recombinant DNA technology has major uses which made the manufacturing of novel enzymes possible which are suitable in conditions for specified food-processing. Several important enzymes including lipases and amylases are available for the specific productions because of their particular roles and applications in food industries. Microbial strains production is another huge achievement that became possible with the help of recombinant DNA technology. A number of microbial strains have been developed which produce enzyme through specific engineering for production of proteases. Certain strains of fungi have been modified so that their ability of producing toxic materials could be reduced [ 47 ]. Lysozymes are the effective agents to get rid of bacteria in food industries. They prevent the colonization of microbial organisms. It is suitable agent for food items including fruits, vegetables, cheese, and meat to be stored as it increases their shelf life. The inhibition of food spoiling microorganisms can be carried out through immobilized lysozyme in polyvinyl alcohol films and cellulose. Lysozyme impregnation of fish skin gelatin gels increase the shelf life of food products and inhibit different food spoiling bacterial growth [ 48 – 50 ]. Exopolysaccharides of Staphylococcus and E. coli can be hydrolyzed with the use of DspB which is engineered from T7. This ability of DspB causes a declination in the bacterial population [ 50 ]. Biofilms related to food industries can be removed by the combining activity of serine proteases and amylases [ 51 ]. S. aureus , Salmonella infantis , Clostridium perfringens , B. cereus , Campylobacter jejuni , L. monocytogenes , Yersinia enterocolitica , and some other food spoiling microorganisms can be inhibited by glucose oxidase. It is also considered one of the most important enzymes in food industry to kill wide range of foodborne pathogens [ 50 ].

Derivation of recombinant proteins being used as pharmaceuticals came into practice from first plant recently and many others are through to be used for more production of similar medically important proteins [ 52 ].

Wide range of recombinant proteins have been expressed in different plant species to be used as enzymes in industries, some majorly used proteins in research are proteins present in milk which play a role in nutrition, and new polymeric proteins are being used in industries and medical field [ 52 ]. With the invention of HBV vaccine production in plants, the oral vaccination concept with edible plants has gained popularity. Plants have been used to produce several therapeutic protein products, such as casein and lysozyme for improving health of child and polymers of protein for tissue replacement and surgery. Furthermore, tobacco plants can be engineered genetically to produce human collagen. High yielding molecular proteins is one of the major tasks under consideration in field of recombinant DNA technology [ 52 ]. Traditional breeding and quantitative trade locus (QTL) analysis assisted in the identification of a rice variety with protein kinase known as PSTOL1 ( phosphorus starvation tolerance1 ) help in enhancing root growth in early stages and tolerates phosphorus deficiency [ 53 ]. Overexpression of this enzyme enables root to uptake nutrients in sufficient amount in phosphorus deficient soil which ultimately enhances the grain yield [ 54 ]. Chloroplast genome sequences are important in plant evolution and phylogeny. Rpl22 is considered to be transferred from chloroplast into nuclear genome. This gene contains a peptide which plays role in delivery of protein from cytosol to chloroplast. A number of important genes deleted from chloroplast have been observed to be transferred into nucleus, except ycf1 and ycf2, in order to avoid disruptions in photosynthesis and other necessary processes. Trans-genesis into chloroplast is considered stable as the nuclear transgenic plants face the problems of lower expression and transgene escape via pollen. Almost ten thousand copies of transgenes have been incorporated into the genome of chloroplast [ 55 – 57 ]. Transgene expression is dependent on heterologous regulatory sequences but independent of cellular control. T7gene10 engineering against salt stress has been found successful but with lower expression rate into nongreen tissues. γ -tmt gene insertion into chloroplast genome results in multiple layer formation of the inner chloroplast envelope. Lycopene β -cyclase genes introduction into the plastid genome of tomato enhances the lycopene conversion into provitamin A [ 57 , 58 ].

Organ or tissue specific genes identification can be carried out through gene expression profiles. cDNAs with full lengths are the main resources for expression profiling of genes. 44 K Agilent Oligonucleotide microarray is used for field grown rice transcriptome analysis. Gene expression fluctuation and transcriptome dynamics can be predicted by transcriptomic data and meteorological information. These processes and predictions are helpful to improve crop production and resistance to either environmental or microbial stresses. Resistance to fungal and bacterial infections can be enhanced by WRKY45 gene in rice which is induced by plant activator benzothiadiazole that activates innate immune system of plant. The larger grain size can be achieved by inserting qSW5 gene. qSH1 causes the loss of seed shattering by preventing the abscission layer formation. Kala4 gene is responsible for the black color of rice which makes the rice resistant to attacking pathogens [ 59 , 60 ]. Genetic modification is needed in facilitating gene by gene introduction of well-known characters. It allows access to extended range of genes from an organism. Potato, beans, eggplant, sugar beet, squash, and many other plants are being developed with desirable characters, for example, tolerance of the herbicide glyphosate, resistance to insects, drought resistance, disease and salt tolerance. Nitrogen utilization, ripening, and nutritional versatility like characters have also been enhanced [ 61 ].

4.2. Health and Diseases

Recombinant DNA technology has wide spectrum of applications in treating diseases and improving health conditions. The following sections describe the important breakthroughs of recombinant DNA technology for the improvement of human health:

4.2.1. Gene Therapy

Gene therapy is an advanced technique with therapeutic potential in health services. The first successful report in field of gene therapy to treat a genetic disease provided a more secure direction toward curing the deadliest genetic diseases [ 62 , 63 ]. This strategy shows good response in providing treatment for adenosine deaminase-deficiency (ADA-SCID), which is a primary immunodeficiency. At the beginning of this technology, several challenges including maintenance of patients on PEGylated ADA (PEG-ADA) during gene therapy and the targeting of gene transfer to T-lymphocytes were the reasons for unsuccessful results [ 64 , 65 ]. However, later on successful results were obtained by targeting haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) by using an improved gene transfer protocol and a myeloablative conditioning regime [ 66 ].

Adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) and X-linked disorder are is possible through the expression of specific genes transferred by lentiviral vector, based on HIV-1 [ 67 ]. X-ALD protein expression indicates that gene-correction of true HSCs was achieved successfully. The use of lentiviral vector was made successful for the first time to treat genetic human disease [ 68 ]. Metastatic melanoma was treated through immunotherapy by enhancing the specific proteins expression during 2006. This success in the field of health sciences opened up new doors to extend the research to treat serious death causing diseases through immunotherapy [ 69 ]. Highly sustained levels of cells that were engineered for tumor recognition in blood using a retrovirus encoding a T-cell receptor in two patients up to 1 year after infusion resulted in regression of metastatic melanoma lesions. This strategy was later used to treat patients with metastatic synovial cell carcinoma [ 70 ]. Autologous T-cells were genetically modified to express a Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CAR) with specificity for the B-cell antigen CD19 for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Genetically modified cells undergo selective expansion for diseases such as SCID-X1 and ADA-SCID as a consequence of in vivo selection conferred by the disease pathophysiology despite the correction of only a modest number of progenitors. Combination of gene and drug therapy's potential has recently been highlighted in a trial seeking to confer chemoprotection on human HSCs during chemotherapy with alkylating agents for glioblastoma [ 71 ].

Gene transfer to a small number of cells at anatomically discrete sites is a targeted strategy that has the potential to confer therapeutic benefit. It showed impressive results for incurable autosomal recessive dystrophies such as congenital blindness and Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). Swiss–German phase I/II gene therapy clinical trial aimed to treat chronic granulomatous disease in April 2006 that came up with success [ 72 ]. Mobilized CD34+ cells isolated from peripheral blood were retrovirally transduced and infused into the patient where two-thirds of the patients showed clear benefit from this treatment. After the treatment silencing of the transgene as a result of methylation of the viral promoter caused the severity of infection that leaded to the death of patient [ 73 ].

Many different cancers including lung, gynecological, skin, urological, neurological, and gastrointestinal tumors, as well as hematological malignancies and pediatric tumors, have been targeted through gene therapy. Inserting tumor suppressor genes to immunotherapy, oncolytic virotherapy and gene directed enzyme prodrug therapy are different strategies that have been used to treat different types of cancers. The p53, a commonly transferred tumor suppressor gene, is a key player in cancer treating efforts. In some of the strategies, p53 gene transfer is combined with chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The most important strategies that have been employed until now are vaccination with tumor cells engineered to express immunostimulatory molecules, vaccination with recombinant viral vectors encoding tumor antigens and vaccination with host cells engineered to express tumor antigens [ 19 ]. New fiber chimeric oncolytic adenoviruses vectors (Ad5/35-EGFP) offer an affective new anticancer agent for the better cure of hepatocellular carcinoma. A demonstration of these vectors through proper assaying was significant for transduction improvement and more progeny of the virus were produced in HCC. A higher level of transgenic expression was mediated and an enhanced antitumor effect was observed on in vitro HCC cells while keeping the normal cells protected against cytotoxicity. Tumor growth was also inhibited by utilizing this technology [ 74 ]. Cancer gene therapy has become more advanced and its efficacy has been improved in recent years [ 75 ].

Treatment of cardiovascular diseases by gene therapy is an important strategy in health care science. In cardiovascular field, gene therapy will provide a new avenue for therapeutic angiogenesis, myocardial protection, regeneration and repair, prevention of restenosis following angioplasty, prevention of bypass graft failure, and risk-factor management. Mutation in gene encoding WASP, a protein regulating the cytoskeleton, causes Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (inherited immunodeficiency). Its treatment requires stem cells transplantation; in case matched donors are unavailable the treatment is carried out through infusion of autologous HSPCs modified ex vivo by gene therapy [ 76 ]. Metastatic cancer can be regressed through immunotherapy based on the adoptive transfer of gene-engineered T-cells. Accurate targeting of antigens expressed by tumors and the associated vasculature and the successful use of gene engineering to retarget T-cells before their transfer into the patient are mainly focused on in this therapy [ 77 ]. Cancer cells often make themselves almost “invisible” to the immune system and its microenvironment suppresses T-cells survival and migration but genetic engineering of T-cells is the solution to these challenges. T-cells in cancer patients can be modified by recombining the genes responsible for cancer-specific antigens recognition, resistance to immunosuppression, and extending survival and facilitating migration to tumors [ 78 ]. Fusion between the genes echinoderm microtubule-associated protein like 4 ( EML4 ) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase ( ALK ) is generated by an inversion on the short arm of chromosome confers sensitivity to ALK inhibitors. Vial-mediated delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to somatic cells of adult animals induces specific chromosomal rearrangements [ 79 ].

Wnt signaling is one of the key oncogenic pathways in multiple cancers. Targeting the Wnt pathway in cancer is an attractive therapeutic approach, where LGK974 potently inhibits Wnt signaling, has strong efficacy in rodent tumor models, and is well-tolerated. Head and neck cancer cell lines with loss-of-function mutations in the Notch signaling pathway have a high response rate to LGK974 [ 80 ]. Codon-optimized gene, on the basis of coding sequence of the influenza virus hemagglutinin gene, was synthesized and cloned into a recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA). Immunization with MVA-H7-Sh2 viral vector in ferrets proved to be immunogenic as unprotected animals that were mock vaccinated developed interstitial pneumonia and loss of appetite and weight but vaccination with MVA-H7-Sh2 protected the animals from severe disease [ 81 ]. Viral gene therapy is one of the leading and important therapies for head and neck cancer. Tumor-associated genes are targeted by viruses, and p53 gene function was targeted through such therapy at first. Cancer cells can be destroyed by oncolytic viruses through viral replication and by arming with therapeutic transgenes [ 82 ].

High density lipoprotein gene ABCA1 mutation in cells can make the cells be differentiated into macrophages. Gene knockouts in embryonic stem cells enhance the capability of cells to be differentiated into macrophages and specifically target the desired pathogens. The allele replacements in this case will assist in studying protein coding changes and regulatory variants involved in alteration of mRNA transcription and stability in macrophages [ 83 ].

4.2.2. Production of Antibodies and Their Derivatives

Plant systems have been recently used for the expression and development of different antibodies and their derivatives. Most importantly, out of many antibodies and antibody derivatives, seven have reached to the satisfactory stages of requirements. Transgenic tobacco plants can be used for the production of chimeric secretory IgA/G known as CaroRx, CaroRx. Oral pathogen responsible for decay of a tooth known as Streptococcus mutants, can be recognized by this antibody. A monoclonal antibody called T84.66 can affectively function to recognize antigen carcinoembryonic, which is still considered an affectively characterized marker in cancers of epithelia [ 84 , 85 ]. A full-length humanized IgG1 known as anti-HSV and anti-RSV, which can function as the recognizing agent for herpes simplex virus (HSV)-2-glycoprotein B, has been expressed in transgenic soybean and Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. Antibodies from both sources have been shown to prevent vaginal HSV-2 transmission in mice after applying topically; if worked similarly in humans it would be considered as inexpensive and affective prevention against diseases transmitted through sexual interactions [ 86 – 88 ]. 38C13 is scFv antibody based on the idiotype of malignant B lymphocytes in the well-characterized mouse lymphoma cell line 38C13. Administration of the antibody to mice resulted in the production of anti-idiotype antibodies that are able to recognize 38C13 cells, which help to protect the mice against with injected lymphoma cells, is a lethal challenge [ 89 , 90 ]. Unique markers recognizing enzymes could be produced through this system, most affectively the surface markers of a malignant B-cells to work as an effective therapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma like diseases in human [ 61 ]. A monoclonal antibody known as PIPP is specific for human chorionic gonadotropin recognition. The production of full-length monoclonal antibody and scFv and diabody derivatives was made possible in plants through transgenesis and agroinfiltration in tobacco transformed transiently [ 91 ]. Testosterone production by stimulated hCG can be inhibited by each of these antibodies in cells cultured by LEYDIG and uterine weight gain could be delayed in mice, through which hCG activity is checked. Diagnosis and therapy of tumors can be carried out with the help of antibodies [ 61 ].

4.2.3. Investigation of the Drug Metabolism

Complex system of drug metabolizing enzymes involved in the drug metabolism is crucial to be investigated for the proper efficacy and effects of drugs. Recombinant DNA approaches have recently contributed its role through heterologous expression, where the enzyme's genetic information is expressed in vitro or in vivo, through the transfer of gene [ 92 , 93 ].

4.2.4. Development of Vaccines and Recombinant Hormones

Comparatively conventional vaccines have lower efficacy and specificity than recombinant vaccine. A fear free and painless technique to transfer adenovirus vectors encoding pathogen antigens is through nasal transfer which is also a rapid and protection sustaining method against mucosal pathogens. This acts as a drug vaccine where an anti-influenza state can be induced through a transgene expression in the airway [ 74 ].

In vitro production of human follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is now possible through recombinant DNA technology. FSH is considerably a complex heterodimeric protein and specified cell line from eukaryotes has been selected for its expression. Assisted reproduction treatment through stimulating follicular development is an achievement of recombinant DNA technology. A large number of patients are being treated through r-FSH. Most interestingly r-FSH and Luteinizing Hormone (LH) recombination was made successful to enhance the ovulation and pregnancy [ 94 , 95 ].

4.2.5. Chinese Medicines

As an important component of alternative medicine, traditional chines medicines play a crucial role in diagnostics and therapeutics. These medicines associated with theories which are congruent with gene therapy principle up to some extent. These drugs might be the sources of a carriage of therapeutic genes and as coadministrated drugs. Transgenic root system has valuable potential for additional genes introduction along with the Ri plasmid. It is mostly carried with modified genes in A. rhizogenes vector systems to enhance characteristics for specific use. The cultures became a valuable tool to study the biochemical properties and the gene expression profile of metabolic pathways. The intermediates and key enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites can be elucidated by the turned cultures [ 96 , 97 ].

4.2.6. Medically Important Compounds in Berries

Improvement in nutritional values of strawberries has been carried through rolC gene. This gene increases the sugar content and antioxidant activity. Glycosylation of anthocyanins requires two enzymes glycosyl-transferase and transferase. Some nutrition related genes for different components in strawberry including proanthocyanidin, l-ascorbate, flavonoid, polyphenols, and flavonoid are important for improving the component of interest through genetic transformation. In case of raspberry, bHLH and FRUITE4 genes control the anthocyanin components whereas ERubLRSQ072H02 is related to flavonol. By specific transformation, these genes can enhance the production and improve the quality. All these mentioned compounds have medical values [ 98 ].

4.3. Environment

Genetic engineering has wide applications in solving the environmental issues. The release of genetically engineered microbes, for example, Pseudomonas fluorescens strain designated HK44, for bioremediation purposes in the field was first practiced by University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory by working in collaboration [ 99 , 100 ]. The engineered strain contained naphthalene catabolic plasmid pUTK21 [ 101 ] and a transposon-based bioluminescence-producing lux gene fused within a promoter that resulted in improved naphthalene degradation and a coincident bioluminescent response [ 102 ]. HK44 serves as a reporter for naphthalene bioavailability and biodegradation whereas its bioluminescence signaling ability makes it able to be used as an online tool for in situ monitoring of bioremediation processes [ 102 ]. The production of bioluminescent signal is detectable using fiber optics and photon counting modules [ 101 ].

4.3.1. Phytoremediation and Plant Resistance Development

Genetic engineering has been widely used for the detection and absorption of contaminants in drinking water and other samples. For example, At PHR1 gene introduction into garden plants Torenia , Petunia , and Verbena changed their ability for Pi absorption. The At PHR1 transgenic plants with enhanced Pi absorption ability can possibly facilitate effective phytoremediation in polluted aquatic environments [ 103 ]. A fragment of the At PHR1 gene was inserted into binary vector pBinPLUS, which contains an enhanced cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. This plasmid was named pSPB1898 and was used for transformation [ 104 ] in Petunia and Verbena using Agrobacterium tumefaciens [ 105 ]. At PHR1 is effective in other plant species, such as Torenia , Petunia , and Verbena [ 103 ] but posttranscriptional modification of the endogenous At PHR1 counterpart might be inhibited by overexpression of At PHR1 [ 103 ].

Plant metabolism processes identify their importance to use for remediating the environmental pollutants. Some of the chemicals are not prone to be degraded or digested. TNT is only partially digested in which the nitrogen further reacts with oxygen to form toxic superoxide. To overcome this issue, the gene responsible for monodehydroascorbate reductase is knocked out which increases the plant tolerance against TNT. Fine-tuning enzymatic activity and knockout engineering together enhance the plant responses to toxic metals. Phytochelatin synthase, a heavy metal binding peptides synthesizing enzyme, revealed a way to enhance tolerance against heavy metals through enzymatic activity attenuation [ 106 ]. Recombinant DNA technology has proven to be effective in getting rid of arsenic particles that are considered as serious contaminants in soil. PvACR3, a key arsenite [As(III)] antiporter was expressed in Arabidopsis which showed enhanced tolerance to arsenic. Seeds of plants genetically engineered with PvACR3 can germinate and grow in the presence of higher than normal quantity of arsenate [As(V)] which are generally lethal to wild-type seeds. Arsenic (As) is reduced by As reductase present in A. thaliana . Phytochelatins restrict the arsenic movement in root cells and phloem companion cells. OsNramp5 and OsHMA3 represent the transporters to uptake cadmium (Cd) and its retention [ 107 ]. In plants, brassino-steroid (BR) is involved in regulating physiological and developmental processes. Its activity is started with triggering phosphorylation or dephosphorylation cascade [ 108 ].

Recent biotechnological approaches for bioremediation include biosorption, phytostabilization, hyperaccumulation, dendroremediation, biostimulation, mycoremediation, cyanoremediation, and genoremediation, which majorly depend on enhancing or preventing specified genes activities. However, the challenges in adopting the successful technique cannot be ignored [ 109 ].

4.3.2. Energy Applications

Several microorganisms, specifically cyanobacteria, mediate hydrogen production, which is environmental friendly energy source. The specific production is maintained by utilizing the required enzymes properly as these enzymes play a key role in the product formation. But advanced approaches like genetic engineering, alteration in nutrient and growth conditions, combined culture, metabolic engineering, and cell-free technology [ 110 – 112 ] have shown positive results to increase the hydrogen production in cyanobacteria and other biofuels [ 3 , 4 ]. The commercialization of this energy source will keep the environment clean which is not possible by using conventional energy sources releasing CO 2 and other hazardous chemicals [ 113 ]. Also cyanobacteria can be engineered to make them able to convert of CO 2 into reduced fuel compounds. This will make the carbon energy sources harmless to environment. This approach has been successful for vast range of commodity chemicals, mostly energy carriers, such as short chain and medium chain alcohols [ 114 ].

The conductive biofilms of Geobacter sulfurreducens are potential sources in the field in renewable energy, bioremediation, and bioelectronics. Deletion of PilZ genes encoding proteins in G. sulfurreducens genome made the biofilm more active as compared to wild-type. CL-1ln is specified for the strain in which the gene GSU1240 was deleted. Biofilm production was enhanced along with the production of pili and exopolysaccharide. The electron acceptor CL-1 produced biofilms that were 6-fold more conductive than wild-type biofilms when they were grown with electrode. This high fold conductivity lowered the potential losses in microbial fuel cells, decreasing the charge transfer resistance at the biofilm-anode surface and lowering the formal potential. Potential energy was increased by lower losses [ 115 ].

5. Current Challenges and Future Prospects

The fact that microbial cells are mostly used in the production of recombinant pharmaceutical indicates that several obstacles come into their way restricting them from producing functional proteins efficiently but these are handled with alterations in the cellular systems. Common obstacles which must be dealt with are posttranslational modifications, cell stress responses activation, and instability of proteolytic activities, low solubility, and resistance in expressing new genes. Mutations occurring in humans at genetic levels cause deficiencies in proteins production, which can be altered/treated by incorporation of external genes to fill the gaps and reach the normal levels. The use of Escherichia coli in recombinant DNA technology acts as a biological framework that allows the producers to work in controlled ways to technically produce the required molecules through affordable processes [ 41 , 116 ].

Recombinant DNA research shows great promise in further understanding of yeast biology by making possible the analysis and manipulation of yeast genes, not only in the test tube but also in yeast cells. Most importantly, it is now possible to return to yeast by transformation with DNA and cloning the genes using a variety of selectable marker systems developed for this purpose. These technological advancements have combined to make feasible truly molecular as well as classical genetic manipulation and analysis in yeast. The biological problems that have been most effectively addressed by recombinant DNA technology are ones that have the structure and organization of individual genes as their central issue [ 117 , 118 ]. Recombinant DNA technology is recently passing thorough development which has brought tremendous changes in the research lines and opened directions for advanced and interesting ways of research for biosynthetic pathways though genetic manipulation. Actinomycetes are being used for pharmaceutical productions, for example, some useful compounds in health sciences and the manipulation of biosynthetic pathways for a novel drugs generation. These contribute to the production of a major part of biosynthetic compounds and thus have received immense considerations in recombinant drugs designing. Their compounds in clinical trials are more applicable as they have shown high level activity against various types of bacteria and other pathogenic microorganisms. These compounds have also shown antitumor activity and immunosuppressant activity [ 119 ].

Recombinant DNA tech as a tool of gene therapy is a source of prevention and cure against acquired genetic disorders collectively. DNA vaccines development is a new approach to provide immunity against several diseases. In this process, the DNA delivered contains genes that code for pathogenic proteins. Human gene therapy is mostly aimed to treat cancer in clinical trials. Research has focused mainly on high transfection efficacy related to gene delivery system designing. Transfection for cancer gene therapy with minimal toxicity, such as in case of brain cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, and prostate cancer, is still under investigation. Also renal transplantation, Gaucher disease, hemophilia, Alport syndrome, renal fibrosis, and some other diseases are under consideration for gene therapy [ 120 ].

6. Conclusions

Recombinant DNA technology is an important development in science that has made the human life much easier. In recent years, it has advanced strategies for biomedical applications such as cancer treatment, genetic diseases, diabetes, and several plants disorders especially viral and fungal resistance. The role of recombinant DNA technology in making environment clean (phytoremediation and microbial remediation) and enhanced resistace of plants to different adverse acting factors (drought, pests, and salt) has been recognized widely. The improvements it brought not only in humans but also in plants and microorganisms are very significant. The challenges in improving the products at gene level sometimes face serious difficulties which are needed to be dealt for the betterment of the recombinant DNA technology future. In pharmaceuticals, especially, there are serious issues to produce good quality products as the change brought into a gene is not accepted by the body. Moreover, in case of increasing product it is not always positive because different factors may interfere to prevent it from being successful. Considering health issues, the recombinant technology is helping in treating several diseases which cannot be treated in normal conditions, although the immune responses hinder achieving good results.

Several difficulties are encountered by the genetic engineering strategies which needed to be overcome by more specific gene enhancement according to the organism's genome. The integration of incoming single-stranded DNA into the bacterial chromosome would be carried out by a RecA-dependent process. This requires sequence homology between both entities, the bacterial chromosome and incoming DNA. Stable maintenance and reconstitution of plasmid could be made easy. The introduction of genetic material from one source into the other is a disaster for safety and biodiversity. There are several concerns over development of genetically engineered plants and other products. For example, it is obvious that genetically engineered plants can cross-breed with wild plants, thus spreading their “engineered” genes into the environment, contaminating our biodiversity. Further, concerns exist that genetic engineering has dangerous health implications. Thus, further extensive research is required in this field to overcome such issues and resolve the concerns of common people.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Chinese Academy of Science and The World Academy of Science (CAS-TWAS) scholarship program. The corresponding author is thankful to Xuan H. Cao, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany, the guest editor for the special issue “The Promise of Agriculture Genomics” of “International Journal of Genomics,” for his kind invitation.

Competing Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Authors' Contributions

Suliman Khan, Muhammad Wajid Ullah, and Ghulam Nabi contributed equally to this work.

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• Recombinant Dna Technology

Recombinant DNA Technology

A technique mainly used to change the phenotype of an organism (host) when a genetically altered vector is introduced and integrated into the genome of the organism. So, basically, this process involves the introduction of a foreign piece of DNA structure into the genome which contains our gene of interest. This gene which is introduced is the recombinant gene and the technique is called the recombinant DNA technology.

There are multiple steps, tools and other specific procedures followed in the recombinant DNA  technology, which is used for producing artificial DNA to generate the desired product. Let’s understand each step more in detail.

• Explanation
• Application

DNA Cloning

Applications of  gene cloning, what is recombinant dna technology.

The technology used for producing artificial DNA through the combination of different genetic materials (DNA) from different sources is referred to as Recombinant DNA Technology. Recombinant DNA technology is popularly known as genetic engineering. 

The recombinant DNA technology emerged with the discovery of restriction enzymes in the year 1968 by Swiss microbiologist Werner Arber,

Inserting the desired gene into the genome of the host is not as easy as it sounds. It involves the selection of the desired gene for administration into the host followed by a selection of the perfect vector with which the gene has to be integrated and recombinant DNA formed.

Thus the recombinant DNA has to be introduced into the host. And at last, it has to be maintained in the host and carried forward to the offspring.

Also Refer-  Genes

Tools Of Recombinant DNA Technology

The enzymes which include the restriction enzymes help to cut, the polymerases- help to synthesize and the ligases- help to bind. The restriction enzymes used in recombinant DNA technology play a major role in determining the location at which the desired gene is inserted into the vector genome. They are two types, namely Endonucleases and Exonucleases.

The Endonucleases cut within the DNA strand whereas the Exonucleases remove the nucleotides from the ends of the strands. The restriction endonucleases are sequence-specific which are usually palindrome sequences and cut the DNA at specific points. They scrutinize the length of DNA and make the cut at the specific site called the restriction site. This gives rise to sticky ends in the sequence. The desired genes and the vectors are cut by the same restriction enzymes to obtain the complementary sticky notes, thus making the work of the ligases easy to bind the desired gene to the vector.

The vectors – help in carrying and integrating the desired gene. These form a very important part of the tools of recombinant DNA technology as they are the ultimate vehicles that carry forward the desired gene into the host organism. Plasmids and bacteriophages are the most common vectors in recombinant DNA technology that are used as they have a very high copy number. The vectors are made up of an origin of replication- This is a sequence of nucleotides from where the replication starts, a selectable marker – constitute genes which show resistance to certain antibiotics like ampicillin; and cloning sites – the sites recognized by the restriction enzymes where desired DNAs are inserted.

Host organism – into which the recombinant DNA is introduced. The host is the ultimate tool of recombinant DNA technology which takes in the vector engineered with the desired DNA with the help of the enzymes.

There are a number of ways in which these recombinant DNAs are inserted into the host, namely – microinjection, biolistics or gene gun, alternate cooling and heating, use of calcium ions, etc.

Also Read:  Bioinformatics 

Process of Recombinant DNA Technology

The complete process of recombinant DNA technology includes multiple steps, maintained in a specific sequence to generate the desired product.

Step-1.  Isolation of Genetic Material.

The first and the initial step in Recombinant DNA technology is to isolate the desired DNA in its pure form i.e. free from other macromolecules.

Step-2. Cutting the gene at the recognition sites.

The restriction enzymes play a major role in determining the location at which the desired gene is inserted into the vector genome. These reactions are called ‘restriction enzyme digestions’.

Step-3. Amplifying the gene copies through Polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

It is a process to amplify a single copy of DNA into thousands to millions of copies once the proper gene of interest has been cut using restriction enzymes.

Step-4. Ligation of DNA Molecules.

In this step of Ligation, the joining of the two pieces – a cut fragment of DNA and the vector together with the help of the enzyme DNA ligase.

Step-5.  Insertion of Recombinant DNA Into Host.

In this step, the recombinant DNA is introduced into a recipient host cell. This process is termed as Transformation. Once the recombinant DNA is inserted into the host cell, it gets multiplied and is expressed in the form of the manufactured protein under optimal conditions.

As mentioned in Tools of recombinant DNA technology, there are various ways in which this can be achieved. The effectively transformed cells/organisms carry forward the recombinant gene to the offspring.

Also Read:  R-Factor

Application of Recombinant DNA Technology

• DNA technology is also used to detect the presence of HIV in a person.
• Gene Therapy – It is used as an attempt to correct the gene defects which give rise to heredity diseases.
• Clinical diagnosis – ELISA is an example where the application of recombinant
• Recombinant DNA technology is widely used in Agriculture to produce genetically-modified organisms such as  Flavr Savr tomatoes, golden rice rich in proteins, and Bt-cotton to protect the plant against ball worms and a lot more.
• In the field of medicines, Recombinant DNA technology is used for the production of Insulin.

Also Refer:  Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)

A clone is a cluster of individual entities or cells that are descended from one progenitor. Clones are genetically identical as the cell simply replicates producing identical daughter cells every time. Scientists are able to generate multiple copies of a single fragment of DNA, a gene which can be used to create identical copies constituting a DNA clone. DNA cloning takes place through the insertion of DNA fragments into a tiny DNA molecule. This molecule is made to replicate within a living cell, for instance, a bacterium. The tiny replicating molecule is known as the carrier of the DNA vector.

Yeast cells, viruses, and Plasmids are the most commonly used vectors. Plasmids are circular DNA molecules that are introduced from bacteria. They are not part of the main cellular genome. It carries genes, which provide the host cell with beneficial properties such as mating ability, and drug resistance. They can be conveniently manipulated as they are small enough and they are capable of carrying extra DNA which is weaved into them.

Explore more:  Genetic Disorders.

Listed below are the applications of gene cloning:

• Gene Cloning plays an important role in the medicinal field. It is used in the production of hormones, vitamins and antibiotics.
• Gene cloning finds its applications in the agricultural field. Nitrogen fixation is carried out by cyanobacteria wherein desired genes can be used to enhance the productivity of crops and improvement of health. This practice reduces the use of fertilizers hence chemical-free produce is generated
• It can be applied to the science of identifying and detecting a clone containing a particular gene which can be manipulated by growing in a controlled environment
• It is used in gene therapy where a faulty gene is replaced by the insertion of a healthy gene. Medical ailments such as leukaemia and sickle cell anaemia can be treated with this principle.

Also Refer-   Gene Therapy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Explain the roles of the following:   (a) restriction enzymes   (b) plasmids, explain pcr., discuss the applications of recombination from the point of view of genetic engineering..

• For the production of vaccines like the hepatitis B vaccine.
• Production of transgenic plants with improved qualities like insect and drought resistance and nutritional enrichment.
• Therapeutic protein production like insulin.
• Gene therapy in diseases like cancer, SCID etc.
• Production of transgenic animals with improved quality of milk and egg.

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Select the correct answer and click on the “Finish” button Check your score and answers at the end of the quiz

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Thanks it is useful to send as a lecture notes during lock down period

Thank you so much. This module is really of great help in preparing an online class with my students.

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Recombinant DNA Technology

Recombinant DNA technology involves using enzymes and various laboratory techniques to manipulate and isolate DNA segments of interest. This method can be used to combine (or splice) DNA from different species or to create genes with new functions. The resulting copies are often referred to as recombinant DNA. Such work typically involves propagating the recombinant DNA in a bacterial or yeast cell, whose cellular machinery copies the engineered DNA along with its own.

Recombinant DNA Technology. Recombinant DNA technology is an extremely important research tool in biology. It allows scientists to manipulate DNA fragments in order to study them in the lab. It involves using a variety of laboratory methods to put a piece of DNA into a bacterial or yeast cell. Once in, the bacteria or yeast will copy the DNA along with its own. Recombinant DNA technology has been successfully applied to make important proteins used in the treatment of human diseases, such as insulin and growth hormone.

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