Genetic Engineering Basics New Applications and Responsibilities Part 1 pdf

GENETIC ENGINEERING –
BASICS,
NEW APPLICATIONS
AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Edited by Hugo A. Barrera-Saldaña










Genetic Engineering – Basics, New Applications and Responsibilities
Edited by Hugo A. Barrera-Saldaña


Published by InTech
Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Copyright © 2011 InTech
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Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors
and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the
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Publishing Process Manager Gorana Scerbe
Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic
Cover Designer InTech Design Team
Image Copyright Aspect3D, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com

First published January, 2011
Printed in Croatia

A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com
Additional hard copies can be obtained from

Genetic Engineering – Basics, New Applications and Responsibilities,
Edited by Hugo A. Barrera-Saldaña
p. cm.
ISBN 978-953-307-790-1

Contents

Preface IX
Part 1 Technology 1
Chapter 1 Expression of Non-Native Genes
in a Surrogate Host Organism 3
Dan Close, Tingting Xu, Abby Smartt,
Sarah Price, Steven Ripp and Gary Sayler
Chapter 2 Gateway Vectors for Plant Genetic Engineering: Overview
of Plant Vectors, Application for Bimolecular Fluorescence
Complementation (BiFC) and Multigene Construction 35
Yuji Tanaka, Tetsuya Kimura, Kazumi Hikino, Shino Goto,
Mikio Nishimura, Shoji Mano and Tsuyoshi Nakagawa
Part 2 Application 59
Chapter 3 Thermostabilization of Firefly
Luciferases Using Genetic Engineering 61
Natalia Ugarova and Mikhail Koksharov
Chapter 4 Genetic Engineering of Phenylpropanoid
Pathway in Leucaena leucocephala 93
Bashir M. Khan, Shuban K. Rawal, Manish Arha, Sushim K. Gupta,
Sameer Srivastava, Noor M. Shaik, Arun K. Yadav,
Pallavi S. Kulkarni, O. U. Abhilash, SantoshKumar, Sumita Omer,
Rishi K. Vishwakarma, Somesh Singh, R. J. Santosh Kumar,
Prashant Sonawane, Parth Patel, C. Kannan, Shakeel Abbassi

Chapter 5 Genetic Engineering of Plants for Resistance to Viruses 121
Richard Mundembe, Richard F. Allison and Idah Sithole-Niang
Chapter 6 Strategies for Improvement of Soybean Regeneration via
Somatic Embryogenesis and Genetic Transformation 145
Beatriz Wiebke-Strohm, Milena Shenkel Homrich,
Ricardo Luís Mayer Weber, Annette Droste and
Maria Helena Bodanese-Zanettini
VI Contents

Chapter 7 Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology of Growth Hormones 173
Jorge Angel Ascacio-Martínez and Hugo Alberto Barrera-Saldaña
Part 3 Biosafety 197
Chapter 8 Genetically Engineered
Virus-Vectored Vaccines – Environmental
Risk Assessment and Management Challenges 199
Anne Ingeborg Myhr and Terje Traavik
Part 4 Responsibility 225
Chapter 9 Genetic Engineering and Moral Responsibility 227
Bruce Small

Preface

In the last three decades since the application of genetics to plants and animals, we
have witnessed impressive advances best illustrated by the fact that almost one-tenth
of all cultivated land on our planet is now planted with transgenic crops. Also,
although no transgenic animals can be found in the prairies, some do live on
specialized farms, replacing bioreactors from biotech facilities in the production of
therapeutic proteins.
While the targets of the first efforts of genetic engineering were to increase plant
resistance to pests and herbicides, some ingenious and provocative applications also
started emerging, such as longer lasting fruit on the shelf and mice, even pet animals,
expressing the sea medusa green fluorescent protein.Genetic engineering has proven
that it is not a threat to mankind but rather a powerful tool for solving not only food
shortages, especially by reducing losses due to pests and by contributing to the
development of inexpensive and safer fertilizers, but also for decreasing the shortage
of sophisticated biologicals from natural sources and for coping with the explosive
demand of these in medicine. A good example are antigens and therapeutics, which
are now produced even by cows in modern biotech farms.
At the same time, we are exposed to novel applications of genetic engineering in
practically all fields. This book illustrates some of these applications, such as thermo-
stabilization of luciferase; engineering of the phenylpropanoid pathway in a species of
high demand for the paper industry; more efficient regeneration of transgenic
soybean; viral resistant plants; and a novel approach for rapidly screening, in the test
tube, properties of newly discovered animal growth hormones.
To make the technology more user-friendly and easy to understand, two chapters
focus on the basics of making the expression of transgenes in plants and biotech hosts
possible. They also illustrate the state-of-the-art tools (mainly expression vectors) that
are capable of coping with the hosts´ requirements for expressing their own genes.
Finally, there are chapters concerned with safety issues in manipulating plants,
viruses, and introducing genetically modified organisms into the environment, and

with how to raise consciousness of the great responsibility we now carry to use genetic
engineering wisely and planet-friendly.
X Preface

The book contributes chapters on the basics of genetic engineering, on applications of
the technology to attempt to solve problems of greater importance to both society and
industry, and comes to a close by reminding us of the moral responsibility we have to
always keep in mind, that nature is a very fragile equilibrium and that we have
already put it at risk. We should always pay attention to the ethical, moral and
environmental consequences of applications that have not been tested enough in the
laboratory and in controlled field facilities to avoid unexpected and unintentional
harm to our and other species and as well as the environment.

Prof. Dr. Hugo A. Barrera-Saldaña

Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
UANL School of Medicine
Monterrey,
Director, Vitaxentrum
Monterrey,
México




Part 1
Technology