How is it Done?

          Genetic engineering  can be done either at birth or at conception. It is easier to do it when the sperm and the egg have just merged. There are three steps to genetic engineering,1. cloning, 2. screening, 3. gene transfer.

            Cloning   

          To start the process, you must first clone a gene of a human with the desired attribute . You then take the cloned gene and insert it into a type of bacterial DNA called Plasmid. The Plasmid then becomes "infected" with the gene. Not all of the Plasmids will have successfully acquired the gene so you must pick out the ones that have done so. You then grow each of these cells as a pure cell culture. Each of these cultures is a clone of the same cell, but each one has a different gene.

           Screening  

          After the cloning is finished, you start the screening. You now have several clones of the same cell but each one containing a different gene. You then pick the cell that contains the gene that you want. To see which cell is which, scientists use a radioactive probe. The probe is made of DNA and it sticks only to the desired gene.

           Gene Transfer

          The final step is gene transfer. For this step, you insert the cell to the person. To do this, scientists use a special gun that literally shoots the gene into the organism. The gun is called a particle gun. To do this, you coat the gene onto a gold pellet. Gold is non toxic so it will not be harmful.

           This process is basically the same with plants and animals (including humans). With plants, it is more difficult to penetrate the cell because plant cells have cell walls and animal cells do not. Theoretically, a human gene could be placed in a plant or vise versa.