In traditional recombinant DNA technology, a desirable gene from one organism is inserted into the DNA of a host organism. However, to create a synthetic life form, Craig Venter's team actually builds the entire DNA molecule from individual DNA nucleotides. Why would it be harder to create a synthetic life form than to use recombinant DNA technology

Question

Derrick Allen

Biology

3 November, 09:49

In traditional recombinant DNA technology, a desirable gene from one organism is inserted into the DNA of a host organism. However, to create a synthetic life form, Craig Venter's team actually builds the entire DNA molecule from individual DNA nucleotides. Why would it be harder to create a synthetic life form than to use recombinant DNA technology

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Answers (1)

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Grace Hill · Answer 1

The correct answer is "In order to create a synthetic life form it would be necessary to know the function of every gene and include them in the organism".

Explanation:

The most common approach of studies using recombinant DNA technology is to insert a desirable gene from one organism into a host organism. This approach is much more feasible that creating a synthetic life form because, in order to create a synthetic life form, it would be necessary to know the function of every gene and include them in the organism. Even though the whole DNA sequence of many organisms is known (including humans), the function of the entire sequences of the genome is yet to be understood.