Genetic engineering interesting facts cases. Cellular engineering. genetically modified trees

The first article in this series - about American folk myths about genetically modified plants - can be read.

Myth: Medical biotechnology can only benefit humans.

Fact: In 2005, more than $5 billion was planned to be spent on biotechnology products and veterinary services in the United States. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 105 licenses have been issued for various types of animal biotech products. These are veterinary vaccines, biological products and diagnostic tools. Investments in scientific research in this area amount to more than 400 million dollars annually. 18 billion dollars are spent annually on maintaining health, as well as on treating sick animals, of which 2.8 billion are spent on biotech products.

Myth: Genetic engineering and animal cloning is science fiction, far in the future.

Fact: The first genetically engineered living creatures, GloFish ornamental fish, hit the market in January 2004. They have been implanted with the sea anemone gene, and if you watch these fish in the dark, they fluoresce with a bright red light. The first pet to be cloned to order - a cat genetically identical to the deceased prototype - "returned" to his owner in December 2004. Everyone can afford to buy a glowing green or red fish; cloning a cat is a $50,000 treat. Various biotech companies have cloned hundreds of cattle, but neither meat nor dairy products from these animals have yet entered the market. And not only cattle, but also sheep, pigs, mice, rabbits, horses, rats, mules, cats - all these animals have been successfully cloned in the laboratory.

Myth: There is no benefit to pets from biotechnology.

Myth: Clones are different from normal animals.

Fact: Studies have shown that clone animals eat, drink and behave in exactly the same way as ordinary animals.

Myth: For domesticated animals, there is no benefit from biotechnology.

Fact: Biotechnologists are creating new methods to improve animal health and increase the productivity of poultry and livestock. These improved methods allow better detection, treatment and prevention of animal diseases and other problems. Genetically modified forage crops contain more nutrients and are easier to digest, improve forage quality and reduce livestock costs. Just like the long-established artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization, cloning can significantly improve the methods of breeding new breeds, reduce the risk of hereditary diseases and improve the health of animals.

Myth: Cloning technology certainly does not threaten wild animals. Why is she to them?

Fact: Researchers around the world are using cloning technology to save endangered species. Over the past four years, scientists have successfully cloned at least three species of endangered animals: the European mouflon and the wild bulls gaur and banteng. You can see a cloned banteng at the zoo in San Diego, California (in the picture taken in January 2004, a bull named Yahava is 8 months old). Several zoos and endangered species conservation organizations, including the Zoological Society of London and the zoos in San Diego and Cincinnati, have created so-called “frozen zoos”, in other words, cryobanks, in which tissue samples and eggs of endangered bird species are stored at extremely low temperatures. , mammals and reptiles.

Myth: Genetic engineering can contribute to outbreaks of bird flu, mad cow disease, West Nile virus, which can subsequently be transmitted from animals to humans.

Fact: Diseases such as bird flu or mad cow disease have nothing to do with genetic engineering. Biotechnologists around the world are working very intensively on the creation of vaccines against various infectious diseases. And scientists in South Korea, using genetic engineering, bred a breed of cows in whose body prions are not synthesized - proteins whose altered form is the cause of mad cow disease. Work is also underway on the biological control of mosquitoes - carriers of malaria and other diseases transmitted through blood.

Myth: The transplantation of animal organs into humans is nothing more than fiction.

Fact: The idea of ​​xenotransplantation - the transplantation of organs from one animal species to another - has been keeping pundits awake for decades. In 1984, in one of the American clinics, a patient was implanted with a baboon heart, which worked for 20 days. Today, doctors routinely use pig heart valves to graft them into humans, and also graft the skin of these animals into people who have suffered burns. Several groups of researchers in different countries are working on the creation of genetically modified pigs, the organs of which, when transplanted to a person, will not be rejected by his immune system.

Myth: Applying biotechnology methods to animals, we only use them.

Fact: From the application of biotechnology methods, the health and well-being of animals will only improve. The health of pets will significantly improve from the use of various vaccines, such as rabies, and additional research and diagnostics will help to identify, for example, feline HIV. Farm animals will also not be left out. Biotechnology methods will help to increase the population and significantly improve the health of the entire herd, while eliminating hereditary diseases. Genetically modified animals will get sick less - for example, the first few mastitis-resistant cows have recently been produced. Artificial insemination and in vitro culture of embryos will help restore the decline in the number of endangered wild species.

Myth: Meat, milk and eggs obtained from cloned or genetically modified animals are hazardous to health.

Fact: Animals grown with the help of biotechnology, if they differ from ordinary animals, are for the better: cloning and genetic engineering are just another tool for breeding new breeds, and people have been doing this unconsciously for thousands of years and for about a hundred years - based on data genetics. Scientists and technicians take care of experimental animals much better than a farmer takes care of his herd of ordinary animals (if only because it is thousands of times more expensive and difficult to raise a single genetically modified cow or goat than a normal one). Veterinarians and nutritionists carefully observe them from birth and monitor subsequent growth and development. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regularly and with great care inspect facilities that keep "artificial" animals.

Several groups of scientists in different countries examined the meat and milk of cloned animals for hundreds of indicators and found no differences from the meat and milk of animals conceived in the usual way.

Myth: In cloned animals, mortality rates at birth far exceed those of conventional, traditional animals.

Fact: Indeed, when cloning or obtaining genetically modified animals, many embryos are not viable, and mortality during childbirth is higher than with conventional animal breeding. But even with the usual methods of breeding new breeds, only those few animals that meet the requirements of breeders are left alive, and the rest are allowed for meat. And any farm animal will sooner or later end up in a saucepan ...

Myth: The health of clones is much worse than that of ordinary animals.

Fact: In general, the health status of clones and traditional animals does not differ - this has been proven by decades of research conducted, including by the US National Academy of Sciences.

Myth: Animal cloning can lead to unpredictable consequences.

Fact: The first animal cloning research began in the 1970s. Over more than 30 years, the National Academy of Sciences and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have reviewed the results of more than 40 research groups working in the field. In many cases, several generations of animals born in the usual way from cloned ancestors have been studied. The researchers did not reveal any differences from ordinary animals. US National Academy of Sciences reports published in 2002 and 2004.

Myth: If genetically modified animals get into natural conditions, they can pose a danger to wildlife and the environment.

Fact: Genetic modification applies (and will apply for the foreseeable future) only to farm and domestic animals. The likelihood that such animals themselves will fall into the wild is negligible. However, if a hypoallergenic cat or a mastitis-resistant cow runs away from the owner, they will not pose any danger to wildlife and the environment. In general, most domestic animals (with the possible exception of cats and dogs) are not adapted to life in the wild. Even if a transgenic sheep with a particularly dense coat manages to survive in the mountains and have children with a wild mountain goat, the adaptability to the environment of such hybrids will be lower than that of their wild relatives. Some concerns are raised, for example, by transgenic salmon and fish of many other species, which grow ten times faster than normal fish of the same species. But even if such salmon swim into the sea and interbreed with wild ones, both they themselves and their descendants will not be able to compete with ordinary fish, which require ten times less food. And in the most extreme case, another species of fish will appear in the sea - to the delight of the fishermen.

Myth: During research, animals are simply mocked.

Fact: In fact, it's not like that at all. Clone animals and animals used in genetic engineering are treated with special care, as observed by veterinarians. Unfortunately, animal activist groups often mistakenly believe that all laboratory animals are mistreated and that computer animal models can replace real animals in research. Of course, computer models now occupy one of the important places in medical research, but still, wider research is invariably in need of living models. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Institutes of Health conduct regular audits of research facilities. In recent years, animal activist groups have increasingly carried out violent acts such as vandalism, data theft, harassment and beating of scientists, to the point of death threats against them and their families. Given all these facts and the nature of the threats, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considers the actions of such groups of activists as internal terrorist threats. In response, such measures are being taken to protect biomedical research data. In 1992, the US Congress considered additional amendments to the legislation that impose large monetary fines for crimes against such institutions if the amount of damage caused to them is 10 thousand or more US dollars. Particularly since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, individual states have sought to increase control over the actions of activists and take additional tough legislative measures.

Myth: The well-known sheep Dolly was sickly and died prematurely because she was cloned.

Fact: In fact, Dolly lived even longer than sheep usually live, and died at an advanced age due to the development of arthritis. Death was due to normal old age, and it has nothing to do with the fact that she was cloned. Some opponents of cloning continue to argue that Dolly had shortened telomeres, structures at the ends of chromosomes that determine the number of cell divisions and most likely affect lifespan. However, such a shortening was found in only one early study. These data were not confirmed either by further study of the cells of Dolly herself, or in other cloned animals. Additional studies have shown that cloned animals are no different from normal ones in terms of telomere structure.

Translated by Alexander Mikhailov, Encyclopedia of Delusions
Online Journal "Commercial Biotechnology"

Since scientists succeeded in cloning a sheep, disputes about the consequences of human intervention in nature have not ceased in the world. On store shelves are smooth, even apples, which owe their ideal shape to the genes of one northern sea fish, potatoes themselves kill Colorado beetles. It is not known for what purpose, but scientists from South Korea managed to breed cats that glow red. True, this does not always happen, but only when an ultraviolet beam is directed to a cat placed in a dark room.

Undoubtedly, there will be more benefit from kids who have inherited wool from a modified mother, with silkworm genes. Goat hair has always been highly valued, and thanks to the efforts of Professor Randy Lewis of the University of Wyoming, it will find application in a variety of areas.

In American supermarkets, a new type of salmon will soon appear on the shelves. This fish, without a doubt, can be called a super-salmon, because it is twice as large as the usual one. Scientists from the Aqua Bounty firm introduced the genes of Chinook salmon, which grows faster than ordinary fish, and ground fish - eelpout, which is able to gain weight throughout the year. The US State Food and Drug Administration has recognized the new salmon as not only safe, but also beneficial to humans.

Taking care of people's health, scientists from India conducted a series of experiments on growing bananas that help cure hepatitis B. In addition to bananas, carrots, lettuce, potatoes, and even tobacco leaves have useful properties. For many years, doctors and scientists around the world have been looking for a universal cure for cancer. Dr. Helen Sang from the UK was able to breed chickens with human DNA. Eggs from such chickens contain special proteins that, when eaten, will help cure skin cancer.

It is no secret that pigs and calves are raised on special eco-farms, whose organs are already saving the lives of many people. Parts of the heart are taken from pigs, from which bioprostheses for human hearts are made, from calves the upper shell of the liver. Healthy animals grown without the intervention of geneticists are suitable for this. Scientists have gone even further and are trying to grow organs in the body of animals that can be completely transplanted into humans. To eliminate tissue rejection, pigs are injected with special genes. A successful experiment has already been carried out transplanting a mouse pancreas grown in the body of a rat. This is done by the Scottish scientific laboratory, which introduced the world to the famous Dolly the sheep.

The military department could not miss such a chance, and not use the achievements of scientists for their own needs. A universal soldier, a super-strong and hardy person is the dream of any army in the world. Gene experiments on humans are prohibited by the UN Convention, but can this stop the military? No one will openly declare their successes and achievements in the production of a superman. More than $40 million was allocated for research alone in 2013. This amount should cover scientific research in the field of influence on the nervous system and the human psyche. If these experiments are successful, living zombies, subject to someone else's will, will become a reality! And all this can be achieved with the help of genetic engineering. It becomes scary.

Cats that glow in the dark? It may seem fantastic, but they have been living with us for several years now. A cabbage that releases scorpion venom? And such a plant has already been created. Oh, and the next time you go for a shot, the doctor might just give you a banana.

These and many other genetically modified organisms already exist today because their DNA has been altered and combined with other DNA to create an entirely new set of genes.

You may not realize it, but many of the genetically modified organisms are part of your daily routine - part of your daily diet. Today, 45 percent of US corn and 85 percent of soybeans are genetically engineered.

Here are some of the strangest genetically modified plants and animals that either already exist or will soon come your way.

In 2007, South Korean scientists altered a cat's DNA so that it could glow in the dark. Then they took that same DNA and cloned other cats—creating a series of fluffy, luminous felines.

The researchers took skin cells from a Turkish Angora cat and used a virus to insert the genetic code for a red fluorescent protein. They then placed the altered cell nuclei into eggs, and the cloned embryos were implanted back into the cell donor cat.

What is the point of making a pet that glows like a night light? Scientists say the ability to genetically modify animals with fluorescent proteins will allow them to artificially create animals with human genetic diseases and research them further.

An eco-pig, or "Frankenswein" as the animal of criticism is called, is a pig whose genes have been altered in order for the animal to better digest and assimilate phosphorus.

Pig manure is rich in phytate, a form of phosphorus. For this reason, farmers even use manure as fertilizer. When chemicals enter water bodies, they cause algal blooms that destroy oxygen in the water and kill life.

Scientists from the University of Washington have created poplars that can clean up polluted areas of the earth by absorbing through the roots substances that pollute groundwater.

Plants convert pollutants into harmless products that remain in their roots, stems, and leaves or are released into the air.

In laboratory tests, transgenic plants were found to be able to remove 91 percent of trichlorethylene, the most common groundwater pollutant in the United States.

Recently, scientists isolated a gene that programs the production of scorpion venom and tried to combine it with cabbage genes.

Why do they want to create poisonous cabbage? These measures are taken in order to limit the use of pesticides. This dangerous substance is used to protect cabbage from its malicious enemy - caterpillars.

Genetically modified cabbage will produce scorpion venom that kills caterpillars when they bite the leaves. At the same time, the toxin is modified in such a way that it is absolutely harmless to humans.

The strong, flexible strands of spider silk are one of nature's most valuable materials. It can be used for industrial production of a range of products - from artificial joints to parachute cords.

In 2000, Nexia Biotechnologies announced they had the answer: they had created goats that had the proteins to produce cobwebs in their milk.

AquaBounty's GM salmon grows twice as fast as regular varieties. The photo shows two salmon - the same age, one of which is genetically modified.

The company says the fish meat has the same taste, texture, color and smell as regular salmon meat. However, the debate over whether fish is safe to eat continues.

Genetically modified Atlantic salmon have additional growth hormone from Chinook salmon, which allows the salmon to produce growth hormone all year round. Scientists were able to keep the hormone active with the help of eelpout fish genes.

The Flavre Savre tomato was the first commercial GM food to be approved for human consumption.

The California company Calgene, by adding an antisense gene, tried to slow down the ripening process of tomatoes to prevent them from softening and rotting, while still allowing the tomato to retain its natural taste and color.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Flavor Savre in 1994, however, the tomatoes were so delicate that they were difficult to transport.

Therefore, they did not appear on the market until 1997. Also, the tomatoes were practically tasteless. Now these shortcomings have been eliminated.

People may soon be able to get vaccinated for diseases like hepatitis B or the flu just by taking a piece of banana. Researchers have successfully developed bananas, potatoes, lettuce, carrots, and tobacco products for vaccine production, but they argue that bananas are ideal for production and delivery.

An altered form of the virus is injected into banana seedlings - the genetic material of the virus quickly becomes an integral part of the plant's cells.

As the plant grows, its cells produce the proteins of the virus - but not the infectious part of the virus. When people eat genetically engineered bananas that are full of viral proteins, their immune systems create antibodies to fight the disease - just like traditional vaccines.

Cows produce significant amounts of methane due to the nature of their digestion process. Methane is produced by a bacterium that is an endemic product of a cow's high-cellulose diet, which includes hay and grass.

In turn, methane is one of the main causes - second only to carbon dioxide - of the greenhouse effect, so scientists are working to genetically modify the cow and make her body produce less methane.

Research scientists at the University of Alberta have identified the bacteria responsible for methane production and have created a range of cattle that produce 25 percent less methane than the average cow.

Genetically modified trees grow faster, produce better wood, and even detect biological attacks. Proponents of genetically modified trees say that biotechnology can help stop the deforestation of the planet, as well as meet the demand for wood and paper products.

For example, Australian eucalyptus trees have been modified to withstand frost. In 2003, the Pentagon even awarded Colorado researchers a $500,000 prize. Scientists have grown pine trees that change color during a biological or chemical attack.

However, critics argue that we still lack knowledge about the effects of tree modification in their natural environment. Altered trees can spread their genes to normal trees or increase the risk of forest fires.

However, the USDA in June gave biotech company ArborGen permission to start field trials on 250,000 trees in seven southern states.

Glow in the dark cats? It may sound like science fiction, but they have been around for years. A cabbage that produces scorpion venom? Made. Oh, and the next time you need a vaccine, the doctor might just give you a banana.

These and many other genetically modified organisms exist today, their DNA has been altered and mixed with other DNA to create an entirely new set of genes. You may not know it, but many of these genetically modified organisms are part of life and even part of our daily diet. For example, in the US, about 45% of corn and 85% of soybeans are genetically modified, and an estimated 70-75% of grocery products on grocery store shelves contain genetically engineered ingredients.

Below is a list of the strangest genetically engineered plants and animals in existence today.

Glow in the dark cats

In 2007, a South Korean scientist altered a cat's DNA to make it glow in the dark, then took that DNA and cloned other cats from it, creating a whole group of fluffy, fluorescent felines. And here's how he did it: The researcher took the skin cells of male Turkish Angoras and, using a virus, introduced the genetic instructions for producing a red fluorescent protein. He then placed the genetically altered nuclei in eggs for cloning, and the embryos were implanted back into the donor cats, making them surrogate mothers for their own clones.

So why do you need a pet working part-time as a night light? Scientists say that animals with fluorescent proteins will make it possible to artificially study human genetic diseases on them.

Eco pig

The eco-pig, or Frankenspig as critics call it, is a pig that has been genetically modified to better digest and process phosphorus. Pig manure is rich in a form of phosphorus called phytate, so when farmers use it as fertilizer, this chemical enters watersheds and causes algae blooms, which in turn destroy the oxygen in the water and kill aquatic life.

Pollution-fighting plants

Scientists at the University of Washington are working to develop poplar trees that can clean up polluted areas by absorbing pollutants from groundwater through their roots. The plants then break down the pollutants into harmless by-products that are absorbed by the roots, trunk and leaves or released into the air.

In laboratory tests, transgenic plants remove as much as 91% of trichlorethylene from liquid solution, the most common groundwater pollutant chemical.

poisonous cabbage

Scientists have recently isolated the venom gene in the scorpion's tail and have begun looking for ways to inject it into cabbages. Why do we need poisonous cabbage? To reduce the use of pesticides and still keep the caterpillars from spoiling the crop. This genetically modified plant will produce a poison that kills caterpillars after biting the leaves, but the toxin has been altered to be harmless to humans.

Goats weaving web

Strong and flexible, gossamer silk is one of nature's most valuable materials, and could be used to make a range of products from man-made fibers to parachute lines if commercially produced. In 2000, Nexia Biotechnologies claimed to have a solution: a goat producing spider web protein in its milk.

The researchers inserted the gene for the spider web into the goat's DNA in such a way that the animal would produce the spider web protein only in its milk. This "silk milk" can then be used to produce a web material called "Biostal".

fast growing salmon

AquaBounty's genetically modified salmon grows twice as fast as regular fish of this species. The photo shows two salmon of the same age. The company says that the fish has the same taste, tissue structure, color and smell as regular salmon; however, there is still debate about its edibility.
Genetically engineered Atlantic salmon have additional growth hormone from chinook salmon, which allows the fish to produce growth hormone all year round. Scientists have managed to keep the hormone active by using a gene taken from an eel-like fish called the eelpout, which acts as a "switch" for the hormone.

If the FDA approves the sale of salmon, it would be the first time the US government has allowed a modified animal to be distributed for human consumption. Under federal regulations, fish will not need to be labeled as genetically modified.

Tomato Flavr Savr

The Flavr Savr tomato was the first commercially grown and genetically engineered food to be licensed for human consumption. By adding the antisense gene, Calgene hoped to slow down the ripening process of the tomato to prevent it from softening and rotting, while still allowing it to retain its natural flavor and color. As a result, the tomatoes turned out to be too sensitive to transportation and completely tasteless.

banana vaccines

Soon people will be able to get hepatitis B and cholera vaccines just by biting into a banana. Researchers have successfully created bananas, potatoes, lettuce, carrots and tobacco to make vaccines, but they say bananas are ideal for this purpose.

When a modified form of the virus is introduced into a young banana tree, its genetic material quickly becomes a permanent part of the plant's cells. As the tree grows, its cells produce viral proteins, but not the infectious part of the virus. When people eat a piece of a genetically engineered banana filled with viral proteins, their immune systems create antibodies to fight the disease; the same thing happens with conventional vaccines.

Less Flatulent Cows

Cows produce significant amounts of methane as a result of their digestion processes. It is produced by a bacterium that is a by-product of a cellulose-rich diet that includes grass and hay. Methane is the second largest greenhouse pollutant after carbon dioxide, so scientists have been working to create a cow that produces less of this gas.

Agricultural researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered the bacterium responsible for producing methane and have created a line of cattle that emit 25% less gas than a normal cow.

genetically modified trees

Trees are genetically modified to grow faster, better timber, and even to detect biological attacks. Proponents of genetically engineered trees say biotechnology can help stop deforestation and meet the demand for wood and paper. For example, an Australian eucalyptus tree has been modified to be resistant to low temperatures, and frankincense pine has been created with a lower content of lignin, a substance that gives trees hardness. In 2003, the Pentagon even awarded the creators of a pine tree that changes color during a biological or chemical attack.

However, critics say that knowledge about how the created trees affect the natural environment is still insufficient; among other disadvantages, they can spread genes to natural trees or increase the risk of fire.

medicinal eggs

British scientists have created a breed of genetically modified chickens that produce anti-cancer drugs in eggs. Animals have human genes added to their DNA, and thus human proteins are secreted into egg whites, along with complex drug proteins similar to drugs used to treat skin cancer and other diseases.

What exactly is in these disease-fighting eggs? Chickens lay eggs with miR24, a molecule that can treat malignant tumors and arthritis, as well as human interferon b-1a, an antiviral drug similar to modern drugs for multiple sclerosis.

Plants that actively sequester carbon

Every year, humans add about nine gigatonnes of carbon to the atmosphere, and plants absorb about five of that amount. The remaining carbon contributes to the greenhouse effect and global warming, but scientists are working to create genetically modified plants to capture these carbon residues.

Carbon can stay in the leaves, branches, seeds, and flowers of plants for decades, and what gets into the roots can be there for centuries. In this way, the researchers hope to create bioenergy crops with extensive root systems that can sequester and store carbon underground. Scientists are currently working on genetically modifying perennials like switchgrass and miscanthus due to their large root systems. Read more about it

Every living organism consists of cells: from bacteria to higher mammals. Higher organisms are made up of organs, organs are made up of tissues, tissues are made up of cells. All properties of any organism are determined by its genome, which is located in a cell (in any of the cells of a given organism).

According to some data, the common fly and human genomes coincide by three-quarters. There is nothing surprising in this. The basis of genes - DNA - carries all the information about the construction of all proteins and the biochemistry of a given organism, and apparently not much is allocated to the share of the "appearance", size and weight of the specimen. In short, Darwin is absolutely right, and evolution at a certain key stage connects both the fly and the man. And this does not contradict religion at all, since it affirms only the fact of the creation of life by God, but does not regulate the technology itself in any way.

Genetic and cellular engineering (this is one concept) deals with the relationship between the structure of DNA and the hereditary properties of organisms. Of course, she is armed with such methods, which earlier, for example, in the time of Mendel, they did not even dare to dream of.

The method of cell engineering at the present stage consists in the fact that specialists receive DNA fragments of various organisms and embed them in the DNA of the organism chosen as the object of study. This method, in the language of scientists who love technical terms, is called recombinant DNA expression. Restriction enzymes are special bacterial enzymes that can cleave DNA as a tool. They are called figuratively - biological knives.

Having received the desired gene (transgene), assembled from the mentioned fragments, it is inserted into what is called a vector, and it is transferred into a cell, where it replicates (multiplies) independently or after combining with the “native” chromosome. Here there are great difficulties with the equipment, since the material must be introduced into the microscopic cell forcibly, but without violating its integrity. There are many very sophisticated methods for this, since this cannot be done naturally. Of course, there is no mysticism here, it’s just that evolution did not provide for anything like that, on the contrary, it put a bunch of obstacles within

The goal of cell engineering is to obtain drugs, breed high-quality varieties of cultivated plants, create new breeds of animals, and, as the highest point, rid our civilization of all diseases. Those who argue (I don’t want to call them obscurantists) should keep in mind that synthetic insulin alone has saved and is saving millions of diabetics and prolonging their lives for decades!

Concerns about her originate from the moment of her birth in 1972, when the group of P. Berg (USA) synthesized the first recombinant DNA from the oncogenic monkey virus SV40 and E. coli. The latter is without which a person cannot live. And it has a cancer-causing virus embedded in it. Scientists literally got scared, and did not even continue to work at that moment. There has come a long period of putting research under the strictest control of the state, comparable to control over work on nuclear weapons.

Fortunately, the complexity and cost of biological genetic work is comparable in complexity and cost to atomic research, and therefore is beyond the reach of potential terrorists.

In reality, cell engineering is a double-edged sword - it can give a person as many years of life as he wants, but it can also sow terrible misfortunes for all living things. Do not argue, the opposite has not been proven, and the "issue price" is known. It all depends on whose clean or dirty hands cellular engineering is in. And for objective reasons, it can neither be banned nor pushed forward. The development of science is subject to its own internal laws.