Video: How Does Genetic Modification Work?

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Gene modification is a general term that can refer to something that's been engineered, some variation that already exists or changes such as those that may be needed for enzyme production. Find out how gene modification can be used to produce a great deal of a particular enzyme product with help from an assistant professor of biology in this free video on gene modification.

Video Transcript

So genetic modification is I guess even a more general term. Sometimes it means something you engineered, either in a microorganism or in an agricultural plant or even in therapy. Sometimes it means just looking for a variation that already exists, and using that. And that process of modification, we are choosing what to look for or what to make. So in that sense theres, we're thinking about what we want to see happen for our benefit. That's why we call it modification, is that we're doing something that is for our benefit. Some of the modifications that you might want for enzyme production are those that change the way the enzyme is produced so that you can make lots more of it. So very often these are single based changes that make common codons for protein production, to get a little technical. You can select for those naturally or you can engineer those. And that allows you to produce a lot more of the particular enzyme product that you want because the cell that you put it in has a lot more of that raw material that it can use. Okay, so that's one of the kinds of modifications that you might find.

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How Does Genetic Modification Work?

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