12+Transgenic+Animals

Transgenic Animals

Describe: Transgenic animals carry foreign genes that were inserted into its genome on purpose. The foreign gene was constructed using the recombinant DNA methodology. Certain animals have been inserted with foreign genes so they could produce certain things, such as milk or eggs. Most of the time, the animal most likely to become a transgenic animal is a mouse.

Analyze: A gene is inserted in the DNA of an organism. It causes the genes to be expressed differently and produce different functions the cell or organism can do. An example would be a sheep or goat being produced to express foreign proteins in the milk.

Apply: Transgenic animals can have many different types of uses. It can be used in industry to use goats to produce spider silk for materials production. Agriculture can also be affected by it because the animals, such as sheep, can be made larger to produce more wool. It also affects medicine because they can use cows for their milk and produce insulin inside the milk.

Synthesize: This reminds me of steroids because it is a foreign substance added to the body that can make you bigger, like they do to sheep to make the sheep larger to produce more wool. Each has had something added to it to make the genes expressed differently and then will produce bigger, and perhaps better, organisms.

Argue: I am for this because it can lead to newer and better things. It can be good because they can produce new types of medicine through the animals and it can also help produce newer and better material for clothing. Once the scientists can study this more and do more tests, they may be able to find cures to diseases such as cancer.

sources: AP Biology textbook, eighth edition http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/T/TransgenicAnimals.html http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/margawati.html

Transgenic Animals Animation

