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What is biotechnology?

Biotechnology is the application of biological knowledge to obtain  new techniques, materials and compounds of pharmaceutical, medical, agrarian, industrial and scientific use, i.e., of practical use.

What is genetic engineering?

Genetic engineering is the use of genetic knowledge to artificially manipulate genes. Genetic engineering is one of the fields of biotechnology.

At the present level of the biotechnology what are the main techniques of genetic engineering?

The main techniques of genetic engineering today are: the recombinant DNA technology (also called genetic engineering itself) in which pieces of genes from an organism are inserted into the genetic material of another organism producing recombinant beings; the nucleus transplantation technology, popularly known as “cloning”, in which a nucleus of a cell is grafted into a enucleated egg cell of the same species to create a genetic copy of the donor (of the nucleus) individual; the technology of DNA amplification, or PCR (polymerase chain reaction), that allows millions replications of chosen fragments of a DNA molecule.

The recombinant DNA technology is used to create transgenic organisms, like mutant insulin-producing bacteria. The nucleus transplantation technology is in its initial development but it is the basis, for example, of the creation of the “Dolly” sheep. PCR has numerals practical uses, as in medical tests to detect microorganisms present in blood and tissues, DNA fingerprint and obtention of DNA samples for research.