Gene Jury

Genetic Modification

Living thing!

Wee baldy sheep

Cell

Nucleus

Chromosomes

DNA

size gene (wee)

Coatgene

(baldy)Genes

DNA

Coatgene

size gene

size gene

Coatgene

I have big woolly sheep and wee baldy sheep,

but I want BIG BALDY sheep! How can I get them?

I know! I’ll cross the two types

together.

Now we just need to breed from the big baldies to make a flock

X X

X X

“baldy” gene

“wonky” gene

Linkage

How could we get rid of the wonky

gene?

“baldy” gene

“wonky” gene

Wee baldy Big woollyBIG baldy!

“wee” gene

“big” gene

“baldy” gene

Genetic modification (GM)

Changing the genes of a living thing, often by adding genes

from another living thing.

How is it done?

This is a video of microinjection of a sheep pronucleus. The Sheep egg has been fertilized and is about to divide for the first time.

The microinjection needle is delivering genetically modified DNA to the nucleus.

If successful, this GM DNA will be incorporated into the nucleus DNA and will appear

in every cell that divides afterwards, eventually resulting in a GM sheep.

GM can be used to combine genes from different organisms

without breeding

What do you think? When is GM ok?

If you cannot see the diamond nine image file on this page, you can find it on the Gene Jury website (GM diamond nine page).

GM: Changing Genes