Genetic Engineering at a Glance
- Genetic engineering is the process of inserting different genes from a donor organism into another organism in order to express a desired trait in the second organism.
- This processes started nearly ten thousand years ago when farmers cross bred plants and animals to obtain a hardier organism.
- This evolved over time, but did not blow up until the late 1800s with the birth of a rabbit via surrogate. This proved that genes could be used to create a species in an unexpected way. Thus leading to an increase of genetics within scientific discoveries.
- Since then, we have developed the ability to genetically modify our food to survive in harsher conditions and even began using this technology with people (A History).
In-Depth History
Circa 10,000 Years Ago
Selections of wild grasses with breeding to form the precursors of modern staples (wheat, rice, and maize).
Considerable knowledge was developed by breeders and procedures evolved from a single wild species to a large difference in form and function (Great Dane and Chihuahua from the wolf).
Creating breeds across species barriers (the mule, a cross between a male donkey and a female horse has been used as a pack animal in Europe for at least 3,000 years).
1859
Charles Darwin published the first edition of The Origin of the Species which gives extensive information on the knowledge of breeding at that time.
1865
Gregor Mendel's publication of his discoveries with the breeding of peas which became the foundation of modern genetics.
1866
Ernst Haeckel proposes that the cell nucleus is the bearer of an organism's heritable characteristics.
1869
Friedrich Miescher discovered nuclein, a major component of DNA, in the cell nucleus.
1875
Oscar Hertwig observes sea urchin sperm entering the egg and the two nuclei fusing.
1890
Birth of a rabbit from an embryo implanted in the uterus of a surrogate.
1902
Walter Sutton & Theodor Boveri propose the chromosome theory of inheritance.
Archibald Garrod suggested that a defective gene gave rise to a defective enzyme from studies of alkaptonuria, a disease in which a symptom is the appearance of a black pigment in the urine.
1910
T. H. Morgan demonstrated that the chromosomes are the concrete entities which carry the genes.
1913
A.H. Sturtevant constructed a genetic map.
1927
H. J. Muller demonstrated that X-rays could cause genetic mutation.
1931
Barbara McClintock and Harriet Creighton demonstrate direct physical recombination with maize chromosomes.
1941
George Beadle and E. L. Tatum pinned a gene defect down to a single step. They restored normal growth to a mutant microorganism by adding a missing enzyme.
1944
Oswald Avery demonstrates that DNA carries the genetic information.
1949
Development of a technique for freezing and storing bovine sperm.
1951
Implantation of an embryo in a cow's uterus.
1952
Birth of a calf by artificial insemination.
Cloning of frog embryo cells.
In vitro regeneration of plants.
1953
James Watson and Francis Crick proposed the double helix structure of DNA.
Human artificial insemination was used for first time.
1954
In vitro fertilization done to a rabbit.
1958
Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl demonstrated the semi-conservative replication of DNA.
1961
Sidney Brenner, François Jacob, and Matthew Meselson discovered messenger RNA.
1962
Cloning of adult toad cells.
1966
Marshall Nirenberg and Har Gobind Khorana finished unravelling the genetic code.
Late 1960s
Stewart Linn and Werner Arber discovered restriction enzymes in E. coli. These enzymes split DNA at specific sites.
1970
Plants regenerated from protoplasts (plant cells with the cell wall removed).
1972
Paul Berg made the first recombinant DNA in vitro.
Mouse born from an embryo which had been stored frozen.
1973
Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen performed the first recombinant DNA cloning experiment using restriction enzymes to insert DNA into a plasmid and use the transgenic plasmid to transform bacteria.
A calf was born from an embryo which had been stored frozen.
Identification of the Ti plasmid used for genetically engineering plants.
1975
The "Council of Asilomar" met to discuss how the newly discovered recombinant DNA technology (genetic engineering) should proceed.
J. B. Gurdon cloned frog skin cells and they survived to the tadpole stage.
1977
Phillip Sharp and Richard Roberts discovered interruptions within genes.
1978
Birth of Louise Brown, the first "test-tube" baby born from in vitro fertilization.
1979
Twin lambs born through artificial embryo splitting.
First production of insulin through genetic engineering.
1980
First genetically modified mouse.
1982
Giant mouse produced by transferring growth hormone genes from a rat.
Calf born after in vitro fertilization.
1983
First transgenic plant (tobacco).
Richard Palmiter and Ralph Brinster placed the gene for the human growth hormone in a mouse embryo. The adult was double normal size.
1984
Birth of a baby from an embryo which had been stored frozen.
1985
First transgenic pig.
First transgenic plant produced which was resistant against a certain insect species.
1986
Cloning of embryo cells from sheep.
1987
Transgenic mice produced whose milk had an artificially altered composition.
A series of transgenic mice produced carrying human genes.
A transgenic plant produced resistant to a particular kind of herbicide.
1988
Nancy Wexler, Michael Conneally and James Gusella located the Huntington disease gene on human chromosome 4.
First transgenic plant producing a pharmaceutical.
Transgenic maize produced.
First animal patented; the Harvard University 'oncomouse', a transgenic mouse genetically engineered to develop cancer.
1990
Lap-Chee Tsui, Francis Collins, and John Riordan found the gene that is responsible for cystic fibrosis.
Gene Pharming produced the first transgenic bull.
1991
First gene therapy trials on humans.
First transgenic cows that produce human lactoferrin in their milk.
1994
In vitro fertilization performed on a corn.
1994
Transgenic tomatoes sold in the shops.
1995
Birth of first baby produced by the fertilization of an egg cell with a sperm.
Duke University Medical Center researchers transplanted hearts from genetically altered "humanized" pigs into baboons.
1997
Ian Wilmut and colleagues announced the birth of a lamb cloned by nuclear transfer using a mammary cell from an adult sheep.
Cloning of two monkeys by embryo splitting.
A transgenic tobacco variety produced hemoglobin, a human blood protein.
Birth of the first transgenic cloned sheep.
1998
A UK supermarket chain bans the use of GMOs in its products.
Discovery of premature ageing of cells in Dolly the cloned sheep.
US scientist clones one of his own cells in a cow's egg.
1999
First publicly reported patient death in a gene therapy trial caused by the gene therapy itself.
2000
The leaders of the publicly sponsored Human Genome Project announce completion of the first draft of the human genome.
Successful treatment of SCID in France
Successful treatment of heart muscle blood supply using vascular endothelial growth factor gene.
Birth of Adam Nash, wrongly hailed in the press as world's first 'designer' baby. In fact, he was born after in vitro fertilization following pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of the embryos was carried out to ensure that they did not carry the genes for Fanconi's anemia.
World's first germ-line genetically modified monkey was born in Oregon, USA.
Birth of first genetically modified primate, a rhesus monkey named ANDi (inserted DNA backwards) and containing a fluorescent marker gene from a jellyfish.
2001
UK Parliament passes a regulation believed to allow the cloning of human embryos for the purposes of research into serious disease. Embryos may be experimented on only up to their 14th day of life.
World's first genetically modified humans. US scientists announce that babies have been born carrying the DNA of three parents: two women and a man.
First human embryo cloned. Advanced Cell Technologies USA used somatic adult cell nuclear transfer to create a clone, which developed to six cells before dying.
2002
News released of worlds first cloned cat.
2004
First human embryos created that were true clones of the sixteen women who provided the cells to make them.
Selections of wild grasses with breeding to form the precursors of modern staples (wheat, rice, and maize).
Considerable knowledge was developed by breeders and procedures evolved from a single wild species to a large difference in form and function (Great Dane and Chihuahua from the wolf).
Creating breeds across species barriers (the mule, a cross between a male donkey and a female horse has been used as a pack animal in Europe for at least 3,000 years).
1859
Charles Darwin published the first edition of The Origin of the Species which gives extensive information on the knowledge of breeding at that time.
1865
Gregor Mendel's publication of his discoveries with the breeding of peas which became the foundation of modern genetics.
1866
Ernst Haeckel proposes that the cell nucleus is the bearer of an organism's heritable characteristics.
1869
Friedrich Miescher discovered nuclein, a major component of DNA, in the cell nucleus.
1875
Oscar Hertwig observes sea urchin sperm entering the egg and the two nuclei fusing.
1890
Birth of a rabbit from an embryo implanted in the uterus of a surrogate.
1902
Walter Sutton & Theodor Boveri propose the chromosome theory of inheritance.
Archibald Garrod suggested that a defective gene gave rise to a defective enzyme from studies of alkaptonuria, a disease in which a symptom is the appearance of a black pigment in the urine.
1910
T. H. Morgan demonstrated that the chromosomes are the concrete entities which carry the genes.
1913
A.H. Sturtevant constructed a genetic map.
1927
H. J. Muller demonstrated that X-rays could cause genetic mutation.
1931
Barbara McClintock and Harriet Creighton demonstrate direct physical recombination with maize chromosomes.
1941
George Beadle and E. L. Tatum pinned a gene defect down to a single step. They restored normal growth to a mutant microorganism by adding a missing enzyme.
1944
Oswald Avery demonstrates that DNA carries the genetic information.
1949
Development of a technique for freezing and storing bovine sperm.
1951
Implantation of an embryo in a cow's uterus.
1952
Birth of a calf by artificial insemination.
Cloning of frog embryo cells.
In vitro regeneration of plants.
1953
James Watson and Francis Crick proposed the double helix structure of DNA.
Human artificial insemination was used for first time.
1954
In vitro fertilization done to a rabbit.
1958
Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl demonstrated the semi-conservative replication of DNA.
1961
Sidney Brenner, François Jacob, and Matthew Meselson discovered messenger RNA.
1962
Cloning of adult toad cells.
1966
Marshall Nirenberg and Har Gobind Khorana finished unravelling the genetic code.
Late 1960s
Stewart Linn and Werner Arber discovered restriction enzymes in E. coli. These enzymes split DNA at specific sites.
1970
Plants regenerated from protoplasts (plant cells with the cell wall removed).
1972
Paul Berg made the first recombinant DNA in vitro.
Mouse born from an embryo which had been stored frozen.
1973
Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen performed the first recombinant DNA cloning experiment using restriction enzymes to insert DNA into a plasmid and use the transgenic plasmid to transform bacteria.
A calf was born from an embryo which had been stored frozen.
Identification of the Ti plasmid used for genetically engineering plants.
1975
The "Council of Asilomar" met to discuss how the newly discovered recombinant DNA technology (genetic engineering) should proceed.
J. B. Gurdon cloned frog skin cells and they survived to the tadpole stage.
1977
Phillip Sharp and Richard Roberts discovered interruptions within genes.
1978
Birth of Louise Brown, the first "test-tube" baby born from in vitro fertilization.
1979
Twin lambs born through artificial embryo splitting.
First production of insulin through genetic engineering.
1980
First genetically modified mouse.
1982
Giant mouse produced by transferring growth hormone genes from a rat.
Calf born after in vitro fertilization.
1983
First transgenic plant (tobacco).
Richard Palmiter and Ralph Brinster placed the gene for the human growth hormone in a mouse embryo. The adult was double normal size.
1984
Birth of a baby from an embryo which had been stored frozen.
1985
First transgenic pig.
First transgenic plant produced which was resistant against a certain insect species.
1986
Cloning of embryo cells from sheep.
1987
Transgenic mice produced whose milk had an artificially altered composition.
A series of transgenic mice produced carrying human genes.
A transgenic plant produced resistant to a particular kind of herbicide.
1988
Nancy Wexler, Michael Conneally and James Gusella located the Huntington disease gene on human chromosome 4.
First transgenic plant producing a pharmaceutical.
Transgenic maize produced.
First animal patented; the Harvard University 'oncomouse', a transgenic mouse genetically engineered to develop cancer.
1990
Lap-Chee Tsui, Francis Collins, and John Riordan found the gene that is responsible for cystic fibrosis.
Gene Pharming produced the first transgenic bull.
1991
First gene therapy trials on humans.
First transgenic cows that produce human lactoferrin in their milk.
1994
In vitro fertilization performed on a corn.
1994
Transgenic tomatoes sold in the shops.
1995
Birth of first baby produced by the fertilization of an egg cell with a sperm.
Duke University Medical Center researchers transplanted hearts from genetically altered "humanized" pigs into baboons.
1997
Ian Wilmut and colleagues announced the birth of a lamb cloned by nuclear transfer using a mammary cell from an adult sheep.
Cloning of two monkeys by embryo splitting.
A transgenic tobacco variety produced hemoglobin, a human blood protein.
Birth of the first transgenic cloned sheep.
1998
A UK supermarket chain bans the use of GMOs in its products.
Discovery of premature ageing of cells in Dolly the cloned sheep.
US scientist clones one of his own cells in a cow's egg.
1999
First publicly reported patient death in a gene therapy trial caused by the gene therapy itself.
2000
The leaders of the publicly sponsored Human Genome Project announce completion of the first draft of the human genome.
Successful treatment of SCID in France
Successful treatment of heart muscle blood supply using vascular endothelial growth factor gene.
Birth of Adam Nash, wrongly hailed in the press as world's first 'designer' baby. In fact, he was born after in vitro fertilization following pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of the embryos was carried out to ensure that they did not carry the genes for Fanconi's anemia.
World's first germ-line genetically modified monkey was born in Oregon, USA.
Birth of first genetically modified primate, a rhesus monkey named ANDi (inserted DNA backwards) and containing a fluorescent marker gene from a jellyfish.
2001
UK Parliament passes a regulation believed to allow the cloning of human embryos for the purposes of research into serious disease. Embryos may be experimented on only up to their 14th day of life.
World's first genetically modified humans. US scientists announce that babies have been born carrying the DNA of three parents: two women and a man.
First human embryo cloned. Advanced Cell Technologies USA used somatic adult cell nuclear transfer to create a clone, which developed to six cells before dying.
2002
News released of worlds first cloned cat.
2004
First human embryos created that were true clones of the sixteen women who provided the cells to make them.