GENETICS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. NATURAL SELECTION………………………………….. 1
Biography on Charles Darwin………………………………1
Galapagos Island…………………………………………… 1
Theory of Natural Selection....………………………………3
Galapagos Finches…………………………………………...3
Galapagos Tortoises………………………………………… 4
Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Selection………. 5

2. BIOTECHNOLOGY.. ……………………………………… 6
Definition of Biotechnology..……………………………….. 6
Vaccine production.…………………………………………..6
Antibiotics……………………………………………………7
Pest Resistant Crops(Bt Corn).……………………………….7
Advantages and Disadvantages of Biotechnology…………. .8

3. ARTIFICIAL SELECTION………………………………… 9
Definition of Artificial Selection.……………………………. 9
The Jamaica Hope……………………………………………. 9
In plants-corn………………………………………………… 9
Dog breeding...………………………………………………. 10
Advantages and Disadvantages of Artificial Selection……… 11

4. GENETIC ENGINEERING...……………………………… 12
Definition of Genetic Engineering……………………………12
Golden Rice………………………………………………….. 13

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 Genetically Modified Crop………...………………………… 13
Insulin Production…………………………………………… 14
Advantages and Disadvantages of Genetic Engineering

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY...…………………………………………. 15

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 NATURAL SELECTION

Biography on Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist,
geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His
proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally
accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred
Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution
resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a
similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described
as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by burial in
Westminster Abbey.
Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of
Edinburgh; instead, he helped to investigate marine invertebrates. His studies at the University of
Cambridge's Christ's College from 1828 to 1831 encouraged his passion for natural science. His
five-year voyage on HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836 established Darwin as an eminent geologist
whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell's concept of gradual geological change.
Publication of his journal of the voyage made Darwin famous as a popular author.

Galapagos Island

Galapagos Islands, Spanish Islas Galápagos, officially Archipiélago de Colón (“Columbus

Archipelago”), island group of the eastern Pacific Ocean, administratively a province of

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Ecuador. The Galapagos consist of 13 major islands (ranging in area from 5.4 to 1,771 square
miles [14 to 4,588 square km]), 6 smaller islands, and scores of islets and rocks lying athwart the
Equator 600 miles (1,000 km) west of the mainland of Ecuador. Their total land area of 3,093
square miles (8,010 square km) is scattered over 23,000 square miles (59,500 square km) of
ocean. The government of Ecuador designated part of the Galapagos a wildlife sanctuary in
1935, and in 1959 the sanctuary became the Galapagos National Park. In 1978 the islands were
designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, and in 1986 the Galapagos Marine Resources
Reserve was created to protect the surrounding waters. The Charles Darwin Research Station on
Santa Cruz (Indefatigable) Island promotes scientific studies and protects the indigenous
vegetation and animal life of the Galapagos.
The Galapagos Islands are formed of lava piles and dotted with shield volcanoes, many of which
are periodically active. The striking ruggedness of the arid landscape is accentuated by high
volcanic mountains, craters, and cliffs. The largest of the islands, Isabela (Albemarle), is
approximately 82 miles (132 km) long and constitutes more than half of the total land area of the
archipelago; it contains Mount Azul, at 5,541 feet (1,689 metres) the highest point of the
Galapagos Islands. The second largest island is Santa Cruz.
The Galapagos Islands were discovered in 1535 by the bishop of Panama, Tomás de Berlanga,
whose ship had drifted off course while en route to Peru. He named them Las Encantadas (“The
Enchanted”), and in his writings he marveled at the thousands of large galápagos (tortoises)
found there. Numerous Spanish voyagers stopped at the islands from the 16th century, and the
Galapagos also came to be used by pirates and by whale and seal hunters. The area had been
unclaimed for almost 300 years before colonization began on what is now Santa María Island in
1832, when Ecuador took official possession of the archipelago. The islands became
internationally famous as a result of their being visited in 1835 by the English naturalist Charles
Darwin; their unusual fauna contributed to the groundbreaking theories on natural selection
presented in his On the Origin of Species (1859).

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Theory of Natural Selection
Darwin had the following ideas regarding the theory of natural selection:
● Species keep on evolving or changing with time. As the environment changes, the
requirements of an organism also change and they adapt to the new environment. This
phenomenon of changing over a period of time as per the natural requirements is called
adaptation.
● As per Darwin’s theory, only the superior changes are naturally selected and the inferior
ones are eliminated. Thus, not all adaptations contribute to progressive evolution. For
example, people living in tropical countries have more melanin in their bodies to protect
them from the sunlight.
● Almost all organisms share common ancestry with some organisms. According to
Darwin, all organisms had one common ancestor at some point in time and kept on
diverging ever since. His evolutionary theories support the convergent theory and
divergent theory of evolution with examples.
● He also studied that the birds of Galapagos Island (Darwin’s finches) developed different
beaks as per the availability of the food. This proved adaptive radiation. Similarly, he also
observed the Australian Marsupials which showed a number of marsupials emerging
from an ancestor.
● According to Charles Darwin, evolution is a very slow and gradual process. He
concluded that evolution took place over a very long period of time. As we talk about the
time period in evolution we usually refer to billions of years. The generation of a species
from another takes a long period of time. It is a very steady process as the changes and
adaptation take a long time to stabilize and give rise to a new species.

Galapagos Finches
Darwin’s finches from the Galápagos archipelago have historic importance in the field of
evolutionary biology as they provided some of the fundamental insights into processes of natural
selection and adaptive radiation. Evolution in Darwin’s finches is characterized by rapid
adaptation to an unstable and challenging environment leading to ecological diversification and
speciation. This has resulted in striking diversity in their phenotypes (for instance, beak types,
body size, plumage, feeding behavior and song types). Beaks are one of the most diversified
features in these birds and are well adapted to the type of food they eat; ranging from fine
needle-like beaks in warbler finches that are perfect for picking up insects; long, sharp and
pointed beaks in cactus finches for probing into cactus or deep, broad and blunt beaks in large
ground finches suited for cracking large nuts and seeds.

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Galapagos Tortoises
The Galapagos giant tortoise is one of the most famous animals of the Islands, with the
Archipelago itself being named after them (Galapágo is an old Spanish word for tortoise). The
giant tortoise arrived in Galapagos from mainland South America 2-3 million years ago, where
they underwent diversification into 14 species, differing in their morphology and distribution.
After the death of Lonesome George in 2012, the last Pinta island tortoise, twelve living species
are thought to remain in Galapagos across ten islands.

Giant tortoises show large variation in size and shape but all species can be classed into two main
shell types: domed and saddle-backed. Dome-shelled tortoises lack an upward angle to the front
of their carapace (shell), restricting the extent to which they can raise their heads. They tend to
live on large, humid islands where there is lots of vegetation to eat. Saddle-backed tortoises have
an upward curve to the front of their carapace, which allows them to stretch up to reach higher
growing plants. They tend to live on arid islands in Galapagos, where food is less abundant.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Selection

Advantages:
1. Determines the fitness of an organism by direct application.
2. Employs a wide range of criteria
3. Provides for opportunism

Disadvantages:
1. Involves a lot of chance.
2. Some organisms escape the full range of possible criteria
3. Under employed in boom times, over-employed in lean times.

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 BIOTECHNOLOGY

Definition of Biotechnology

Biotechnology is the manipulation (as through genetic engineering) of living organisms or their
components to produce useful usually commercial products (such as pest-resistant crops, new
bacterial strains, or novel pharmaceuticals).

Vaccine Production
Vaccine is a biological substance which stimulates the immune system by introducing a killed,
weakened disease causing organism, or its surface protein in healthy body. The traditional
vaccines are either killed microorganism or attenuated one to generate immune response in body
after their inoculation. Biotechnology has revolutionized the field of biomedicines. Recombinant
Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was the first recombinant vaccine cloned and expressed in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae and currently used as vaccine against HBV globally.
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vaccines are basically genetically engineered DNA that when
injected produce antigen and induce strong immune response. Messenger RNA (mRNA)
vaccine, reverse vaccinology and reverse genetics platforms are utilized in variety development
of vaccines and had shown promising results. Biotechnology has transformed the field of
vaccinology and its utmost demand of time to put efforts in research to find cure for diseases for
betterment of humankind. Biotechnology is influential towards minimizing health risks of a
vaccine. Therefore, biotechnology can ensure the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine.

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Antibiotics

The antibiotic is the chemical substance produced by the microorganisms that can kill or inhibit
the growth of the other microorganisms. It can be produced biotechnologically by identifying
and culturing the antibiotic-producing microorganisms.To conduct such a screen, isolates of
many different microorganisms are cultured and then tested for production of products that
inhibit the growth of test organisms. The best candidates are examined and modified by inserting
isolated antibiotic coding genes with the help of vector such as plasmid.

Pest Resistant Crops (Bt Corn)

Humans have searched for crop plants that can survive and produce in spite of insect pests, and
corn is one of the many commercial crops targeted for Bt insect resistance. Scientists would
identify a strain of Bt that kills the targeted insect. Then they isolate the gene that produces the
lethal protein. That gene is removed from the Bt bacterium, and a gene conferring resistance to a
chemical (usually antibiotic or herbicide). The Bt gene with the resistance gene attached is
inserted into plant cells. At this point, scientists must determine which corn plant cells have
successfully received the Bt gene and are now transformed. Any plant cell with the Bt gene must
also have the resistance gene that was attached to it. Researchers grow the plant cells in the
presence of the antibiotic or herbicide and select the plant cells unaffected by it. These
genetically transformed plant cells are then grown into whole plants through tissue culture. The
modified corn plant produces the same lethal Bt protein produced by Bt bacteria because the
plants now have the same gene. This enhances the corn to protect itself against insect pests.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Biotechnology

Advantages:
1. Highly Beneficial to Healthy Food Production
2. Reduces the Rate of Infectious Diseases
3. Helps To Conserve And Preserve

Disadvantages:
1. Destroy Cropland
2. Turns Human Life Into a Commodity
3. Lack of Genetic Diversity

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 ARTIFICIAL SELECTION

Definition of Artificial Selection

Artificial selection or selective breeding describes the human selection of breeding pairs
to produce favorable offspring. This applies to all organisms – from virus to four-footer,
and from pet to food source. Artificial selection aims to increase the productive or
esthetic value of an organism to our advantage.

The Jamaica Hope

Artificial selection was used in the breeding of the Jamaica Hope cattle. The dairy cattle breed
originating from Hope Farm in Jamaica and is also known as Jersey-Zebu or
Montgomery-Jersey. In 1910 the breeding of the cattle was an attempt to develop an animal that
would adjust to the climate of the island, a high heat tolerance, high resistance to ticks and
tick-borne diseases, and can produce much milk even in the poor pasture land. The breed
consists of approximately 80% Jersey, 15% Zebu and 5% Holstein.

In Plants (Corn)
Selective breeding of corn was originally done by ancient farmers by choosing kernels with
specific traits such as the ability to grow well in various climates, soil types and produced the

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largest number of kernels. A kernel is a seed that has resulted from a female egg fertilised by a
male pollen grain. This means only the best or most suitable kernels will grow and reproduce.
The offspring of selectively bred corn plants will inherit similar genes, traits and DNA from its
selectively bred parents. Farmers can now deliberately cross two members of the same species
that both possess either homozygous dominant or homozygous recessive genes and almost
guarantee a purebred offspring. Over time, the quality of the crop will increase as the favoured
offspring reproduce repeatedly.

Dog Breeding

Dog breeding is another prime example of artificial selection. Although all dogs are descendants
of the wolf, the use of artificial selection has allowed humans to drastically alter the appearance
of dogs. Dogs were the first species and the only large carnivore to have been domesticated. The
domestication of the dog occurred due to variation among the common ancestor wolf population
in the fight-or-flight response where the common ancestor wolves with less aggression and
aversion. For centuries, dogs have been bred for various desired characteristics, leading to the
creation of a wide range of dogs, from the tiny Chihuahua to the massive Great Dane.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Artificial Selection

Advantages:
● It can provide an improvement to plants and animals.Fruits can become seedless,
vegetables can taste better, yields can be higher. Animals can be bred to producemore
meat or have a specific appearance.
● New plant and animal varieties can be created. For example, rice. In the wild, when you
touch rice, the seeds fall off. Domestic rice has been bred to hold onto seeds so a tractor
can collect it. This is for human benefit.
● Future generations of plants and animals can maintain the improvements of their parents.

Disadvantages:

● It may lead to a lack of variety in plant and animal species – selective breeding can lead
to in-breeding.

● Genetic mutations could make the process useless and not guarantee the desired outcome.
● There is no guarantee that desired traits will pass to the offspring.

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 GENETIC ENGINEERING

Definition of Genetic Engineering

Genetic Engineering, the artificial manipulation, modification, and recombination of DNA or

other nucleic acid molecules in order to modify an organism or population of organisms. The
term genetic engineering is generally used to refer to methods of recombinant DNA technology,
which emerged from basic research in microbial genetics.

Golden Rice

Golden Rice is a new type of rice that contains beta carotene (provitamin A, a plant pigment that
the body converts into vitamin A as needed). This compound is what gives this grain its
yellow-orange or golden color, hence its name. It is developed through genetic engineering.
While ordinary rice does produce beta carotene, it is not found in the grain. Thus, scientists used
genetic engineering to add the compound to the grain - a minor tweak that improved the grain’s
nutritive value. The beta carotene in Golden Rice, which was made possible by the addition of
two new enzymes, is identical to the beta-carotene found in green leafy and yellow-colored
vegetables, orange-colored fruit, and even in many vitamin supplements and food ingredients.
This rice is a more enhanced version of ordinary rice designed to handle a specific nutrition
issue, without any additional cost or difference in taste.

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Genetically Modified Crop

People have been altering the genomes of plants for many years using traditional breeding
techniques. Artificial selection for specific, desired traits has resulted in a variety of different
organisms. But this artificial selection, in which organisms that exhibit specific traits are chosen
to breed subsequent generations, has been limited to naturally occurring variations. In recent
decades, however, advances in the field of genetic engineering have allowed for precise control
over the genetic changes introduced into an organism. Today, we can incorporate new genes from
one species into a completely unrelated species through genetic engineering, optimizing
agricultural performance. Crop plants are one of the more prominent examples of organisms that
have been subject to genetic engineering. Agricultural plants are one of the most frequently cited
examples of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Some benefits of genetic engineering in
agriculture are increased crop yields, reduced costs for food or drug production, reduced need for
pesticides, enhanced nutrient composition and food quality, resistance to pests and disease,
greater food security, and medical benefits to the world's growing population. For example, corn
has been engineered to exhibit resistance to insect pests, specifically the European corn borer,
through expression of the insecticidal protein Cry1Ab from Bacillus thuringiensis.

Insulin Production

Insulin has been used for many years to treat diabetes. Diabetes is well managed by taking
insulin. Earlier insulin was extracted from the pancreas of killed cattle and pigs. This source of
insulin had minor differences in the amino acid composition to the insulin produced in humans
and also contained trace impurities. As a result some patients were allergic to insulin sourced

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from animals and had damaging side effects as a result of treatment from these injections.
Another challenge was to cater to the ever increasing demand and large scale production. The
solution to this problem was solved by genetic engineering. The gene for human insulin is
inserted into the gap in the plasmid. This plasmid is now genetically modified. The genetically
modified plasmid is introduced into a new bacteria or yeast cell. This cell then divides rapidly
and starts making insulin. To create large amounts of the cells, the genetically modified bacteria
or yeast are grown in large fermentation vessels that contain all the nutrients they need. The more
the cells divide, the more insulin is produced in larger quantities at the same time.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Genetic Engineering

Advantages:
1. Genetic engineering allows us to create food products that have a better nutritional
profile. That means we can get what we need nutritionally from fewer food products.
2. Genetic engineering can also increase the rate of maturity that can be achieved for
products within our food chain.
3. Genetic engineering does more than create healthier and faster products for our food
chain. It can also create specific traits that make food products become more attractive.

Disadvantages:

1. It is a technology that can be easily abused.

2. It creates difficult legal liabilities with unintended consequences.
3. It may have negative consequences when interacting with other species.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Darwin
https://www.britannica.com/place/Galapagos-Islands
https://byjus.com/biology/darwins-contribution-theory-evolution/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150211141238.htm
https://galapagosconservation.org.uk/
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/biotechnology.asp
https://i3l.ac.id/the-role-of-biotechnology-in-the-development-of-vaccines/
https://www.britannica.com/science/genetic-engineering
https://www.irri.org/golden-rice-faqs#:~:text=Golden%20Rice%20is%20developed%20through,i
mproved%20the%20grain's%20nutritive%20value.
https://brandongaille.com/21-advantages-disadvantages-genetic-engineering/
https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/ncr553#:~:text=Corn%2C%20cotton%20and%20pot
atoes%20are,targeted%20for%20Bt%20insect%20resistance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_Hope#:~:text=Jamaica%20Hope%20
https://byjus.com/neet/genetically-engineered-insulin/
https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/genetically-modified-organisms-gmos-transgenic-cro
ps-and-732/
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/artificial-selection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestication_of_the_d

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