Essays on DNA Technology

The rediscovery of Mendel's works on heredity in 1900 became the foundation to investigate more on genetics. However, the acceleration of the study of genetics was slow, taking more than half a century later for Watson and Crick to crack the chemical basis of heredity. In fact, their proposal, the double helical structure of DNA, became the beginning of modern biology. Over the next 30 years, the advent of recombinant DNA technology allowed us to sequence specific DNA segments (Collins & McKusick, 2001). Note that mapping specific regions of a particular DNA offers explanations to many traits, including behaviors, disorders, ...

Science has permeated several aspects of people’s lives. Every little thing uses one scientific principle or the other. Therefore, science does not exist in a vacuum. This paper focuses on Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology as one area of science. Apart from exploring how DNA got discovered and how this technology can be applied in the real world, the paper also focuses on the influence philosophy has had on the contextual development of DNA technology. It will be worth noting that DNA technology is quickly taking center stage in various aspects of our lives. As with other modern advances, DNA ...

Introduction

Liver is an important organ in the digestive system. The selected infection is hepatitis C. This viral infection affects the liver and then results in the liver enlargement. This form of hepatitis is one of the major challenges worldwide since its discovery and this could be attributed to the absence of a vaccine against the viral infection. Another important contributory factor is that of the prolong period of inactivity of the virus within the host before clinical manifestation. These all contribute to the level of destruction of the liver caused by the virus.

Etiology

The main aetiology is by the hepatitis ...

Introduction

The term “risk factor” is very common in epidemiology. In general sense, it refers to a particular variable that is associated with an elevated risk of infection or disease. Since the number of diseases in the world is very large, the number of risk factors is also every large. The risk factors however vary from one disease or infection to another. However, there are a number of risk factors that are very common and play a significant role in many infections. One of these factors is molecular genetics. As the name suggest, molecular genetics is a genre that mainly deals with the functions ...

Synopsis

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, is a nonfiction book written by John Grisham in 2006 telling the false arrest story of a former minor league baseball player, Ronald ‘Ron’ Keith Williamson from Ada, Oklahoma . He was falsely convicted in 1988 for murdering and raping Debra ‘Debby’ Sue Carter in Ada and sentenced to death. After serving for 11 years in prison as a convict on death row, he was found not guilty after new technology DNA tests were done and other materials introduced by Innocence Project in 1999.Before Debra’s death Ron Williamson had returned in his hometown ...

(Author)

Use of Restriction Enzymes in Pharmaceuticals Restriction enzyme, which is also referred to as restriction endonuclease, is a class of enzyme that is helpful in cutting DNA at restriction sites. Restriction sites are particular recognition nucleotide sequences on double stranded DNA having the length of 4-5 base pairs. Restriction enzymes are also known deoxyribonucleases (DNases). Presently, there are four different types of restriction enzymes: - Type I enzymes that are “classical” in nature, e.g. EcoKI, EcoBI, and EcoR124; - Type II enzymes that are “orthodox” in nature, e.g. EcoRI, HindIII, EcoRV; - Type III enzymes ...

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

Objective This report targets to study a group of people that has developed resistance to malaria. It will focus on the use of recombinant DNA technology to study this cohort and gain insights into the nature of this observation. This ...

Organization:

The term biotechnology refers to any process that involves biology and technology. Though the term was coined as far back as 1919 by Karl Ereky (Verma et al., 2011), biotechnology was established as a field of applied science only in the late twentieth century with the advent of recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant DNA technology is the generation and application of recombinant DNA molecules or rDNA. In a nutshell, recombinant DNA technology involved the cutting of a fragment of DNA and its insertion into a specific circular DNA molecule called a vector. The DNA is cut by enzymes called restriction endonucleases, and joined to a vector ...

Abstract:

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) is hereditary material found in most organisms and carries the genetic information required to build and maintain a living organism. DNA was first discovered in the late 1800's, but it was not until scientists unraveled its structure in the 1950s that its importance in genetics and the whole field of biological sciences became realized. This paper assesses the structure, history and applications of DNA into solving real world problems in medicine, agriculture, biochemical research and forensics. DNA can replicate itself which ensures that genetic information and consequently biological traits can be passed on from one generation to ...

The use of forensic science was under estimated about the benefits it could provide to professions including the police and other law enforcement agencies. DNA analysis is one such methodology that is increasingly used by the police force as an investigative method. In instances where the police have been unable to identify witnesses or there was lack of evidence at the crime scene, DNA has proved to be helpful in uncovering useful details. Adding on, at times other investigative techniques have failed, but the DNA has helped in the progress of the case. One of the greatest uses of ...

Application of DNA technology to solve crime:

Literature review: DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid is found in the nuclei of the living cells of all living organisms. DNA is the hereditary material and its structure is unique to a specific organism. It is considered as the building block of the body. It has extensive application in forensic science mainly due to its specificity and accuracy. It is particularly important in solving crimes, ranging from petty crimes, property crimes to violent crimes. What the research wants to find out is whether it is an efficient way of solving crime and what challenges it faces. This research paper ...

According to Mit.edu (Para 1), man has modified the nature of agricultural organisms for thousands of years. However, the growth in technology has driven this to a higher level where man has derived ways of using the recombinant DNA technology. This technology allows scientists to genetically engineer the genetic composition of an organism by inserting DNAs into the genomes of organisms, especially plants. This leads to the creation of new species which have the desired traits. Of course, there are both the positive and negative effects of this technology and each has won a good share of supporters. The proponents of ...

Introduction

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.

DNA profiling on the other hand is a technique that is majorly used by forensic scientists and other criminal investigations agencies to identify criminals based on the information found in their ...