What is Genetic Engineering?

          Genetic engineering is the process where humans can change the  makeup or DNA of an organism, hoping to improve it. The type of genetic engineering that this website is mainly focused on is Human Genetic Engineering. This is the alteration of the human genotype. A genotype is the allele, or coding sequence, that makeup of an individual.

          There are two types of human genetic engineering- somatic and germline. Somatic modifications involve adding genes to a cell rather than changing the makeup of the cell. Germline modifications actually change the genes in the sperm, egg, and young embryos. Unlike somatic modifications, germline modifications affect not only the person's genes, but it will affect all of the offsprings of the person. So a person who has germline modifications, will have children, grandchildren, great grandchildren etc., who will be affected by those modifications. Because of this, germline modifications are like evolution controlled by humans.