Bobby+Chapman


 * __Geno-Pets__**



**Summary of company:**

Geno-Pets is a company that sells customized animals genetically modified as pets using recombinant DNA. The customizable features that Geno-Pets offers are things like color, hair length, and amount of shedding. Geno-Pets also offers a wide selection of genetically engineered hypo-allergenic pets. One of the company’s largest groups of pets is a certain group that can be genetically modified to glow. These include cats, certain breeds of dogs, mice, monkeys, and pigs. Also, Geno-Pets offers glowing fish, or as the company calls them, fish night lights. The mice that are offered by Geno-Pets offer multiple uses. Not only can they be used as pets, but as better lab mice. The mice can be genetically modified to contract diseases and gain certain conditions that they otherwise could not.



**Who I am:**

I, Bobby Chapman, am the CEO of Geno-Pets. I grew up in Glenville, New York and graduated Niskayuna High School. Following high school, I attended Cornell University, majoring in biological Engineering. My undergraduate minor was business. Immediately after I graduated I decided to take a risk and pursue an idea I came up with during my childhood. Growing up, I was never allowed to have any pets because my family members were allergic. Thus the original goal of Geno-Pets was to genetically engineer hypo-allergenic pets. From there, the company expanded and took off.

**History of recombinant DNA:**

Peter Lobban was the first person to come up with the idea of recombinant DNA. He was a graduate ofStanfordUniversity’s medical program and Stanford was given a patent on recombinant DNA in 1980. Because recombinant DNA had changed since Lobban proposed the idea, the inventors listed on the patent were Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer. Cohen and Boyer, along with fellow scientist Paul Berg, conducted one of the first successful recombinant DNA experiments. They were able to take a gene from ribosomal frog DNA, put it into a plasmid that also contained tetracycline resistance, and insert the plasmid into bacteria. The bacteria were then exposed to, the bacteria that survived and grew were tested and confirmed to contain ribosomal frog DNA, making the experiment successful. This was the biggest advancement in the field of recombinant DNA at the time, and Cohen and Boyer were credited as the inventors.

**Science behind recombinant DNA:**

There are four different methods for constructing recombinant DNA. These include transformation, non-bacterial transformation, microinjection, and phage introduction. The most common method, transformation, consists of inserting genes from DNA into plasmids, and inserting the plasmids into cells of bacteria. The gene is cut out of DNA using a restriction enzyme, commonly EcoRi. The separated gene is then inserted into a plasmid that usually contains another genetic code that is used as a marker. The marker is usually genetic code for resistance to an antibiotic such as tetracycline. When the plasmid is inserted into another organism, the marker is used to tell if that organism properly received the plasmid and the targeted gene. Non-bacterial transformation is the same process as transformation, but using something other than bacteria as a host cell to deliver the targeted gene to. Microinjection is the process in which the targeted gene is directly injected into the nucleus of the host cell. It is injected via small objects coated with DNA projected into the nucleus. Phage introduction involves using transformation to insert DNA into phages, which in turn produce phage plaques containing more recombinants. The primary method used by Geno-Pets is non-bacterial transformation. The targeted gene, such as a certain color or a fluorescent gene, is inserted into a newly fertilized egg of the desired pet.



**Current uses of recombinant DNA:**

Recombinant DNA currently has many uses in the real world. For instance, many crops such as fruits, vegetables, and grains are genetically modified to make them more efficient to produce or more desirable to consumers. These modifications can make them last longer, resistant to insects, or even make them ripen at ideal times for harvest. Recombinant DNA is also used to make bacteria produce certain medical products like growth hormones and prourokinase, a substance used in heart attack treatments. Recombinant DNA procedures are also used on some animals. For instance, a hormone can be inserted into a cow to help it produce more milk. Recombinant DNA can also be used to manufacture vaccines using small host organisms.

**Geno-Pets’ future uses of recombinant DNA:**

In the near future, Geno-Pets is hoping to expand and create a new branch, Geno-Crops. The company will still use recombinant DNA, but instead of just modifying animals to sell as pets, Geno-Pets will modify agricultural products as well. The newest gene that Geno-Pets is currently working on isolating is in rhizobium bacterium. This special type of bacteria converts nitrogen into a different form that plants process, as opposed to atmospheric nitrogen which they can not. As all plants need nitrogen to grow, this could potentially give different crops the ability to grow in different places. If the company can isolate the gene in the bacterium that converts nitrogen, Geno-Crops could potentially use non-bacterial transformation to create genetically modified plants that can grow outside of their natural environment. This would make domesticating certain crops incredibly easier and more efficient.

** Works cited: **

"recombinant DNA technology." //Encyclopædia Britannica.// //Encyclopædia Britannica Online//. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 22 Jan. 2012. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/493667/recombinant-DNA-technology.

Pray, L. (2008) Recombinant DNA technology and transgenic animals. Nature Education 1(1)

. "Recombinant DNA." //Wikipedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan 2012. .

"DNA Technology Applications." //infoplease.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan 2012. .