Technology where living organisms or their parts are used to obtain or transform different products.

It is a type of nucleic acid, in other words, a long chain of nucleotides. It has a double helix shape and the sequence of its nitrogenous bases, is unique for each organism.

Fragments of DNA that contain information to create proteins.

A section of biology that studies genes and their inheritance.

The set of all genes that make up an organism.

Are the morphological units of DNA.

We have a total of 46 chromosomes in all our cells except gametes (egg cells and sperm), which carry only half of the information.

It was an international scientific research project that began in 1990 with the goal of determining the sequence of the human DNA. Researchers from different parts of the world took part and by 2005 had managed to identify and map about 28,000 genes in the human genome.

• In forensic medicine to identify victims.

• To clarify crimes by the police and judges.

• To check the compatibility of organ transplantation.

This technology enables the manipulation and transfer of DNA from one organism to another; creating new species, correcting genetic defects, or obtaining new compounds.

Recombinant DNA can be used, not only in bacteria but also in transgenic plants and foods, as well as to produce medications or other human products such as human insulin, growth hormones, new vaccines...

• An easy technic to produce medications and food.

• Improper use of this technique can have harmful effects on humans and the planet.

• Part of the population is opposed to gene manipulation because it leads to moral dilemmas.

• Embryonic stem cells: they are extracted from embryos left over after in vitro fertilization.

• Stem cells from the bone marrow and umbilical cord.

• Induced stem cells: they come from adult skin cells. Their use is very limited.

This technique can be used to treat many diseases, such as Parkinson and Alzheimer, cerebral blood flow, heart disease, burns, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

• They can only be obtained in very small amounts.

• It is not easy to maintain them alive out of the body, so it's hard to work with them.

• Manipulating cells may induce a mutation.

• It is still an undeveloped process. It is in the experimental phase.

• Ethical problems, there are those who think that this is immoral, specially experimenting with embryos.

Artificial embryo twinning: It mimics the natural process to create identical twins. A very early embryo is separated into individual cells, which are allowed to divide and develop for a short time in the lab. Since all the embryos came from the same fertilized egg, they are genetically identical.

Therapeutic cloning: Embryonic stem cells are used to obtain
tissues or organs.

Reproductive cloning: The technique used is called nuclear transfer. It is used to cloning mammals and the most famous example is Dolly the sheep.

Cloning is used for the development of research in different fields, reproduction of transgenic animals and endangered species, therapeutic applications...

• Cloning can be used to save endangered species.

• Cloning organs and tissues prevents rejection in transplants.

• Cloning helps in the treatment of certain diseases, such as Parkinson or diabetes.

• Cloning can be used to produce stem cells.

• It is still in the experimentation phase.

• Most of the organisms that were cloned showed some problems.

• This issue has caused ethical problems in our society, especially when it comes to cloning humans.

It concerns about ethical aspects that arise in the field of health sciences (biology, medicine...), as well as those that arise in human relationships with each other and with other living beings. The options offered by genetic engineering are excellent to cure or relieve symptoms of certain diseases. However, the use of all these techniques is creating some moral dilemmas in the society. Usually there are no problems when the patient's somatic cells are changed to cope with the disease, but it is different if the germ cells (eggs and sperm) or an embryo are changed, because in these cases the DNA of the descendants changes as well. The problems would be bigger if genetic engineering would be used to change the physical, intellectual, artistic, or moral characteristics of an individual rather than for curing disease. Bioethics should decide what to do in each case, what the purpose is and what resources are used.