Chapter 15 Biotechnology Flashcards

Start Studying for Chapter 15 Biotechnology and practice with our easy and simple flashcard quizzes. Learn key terms, vocabulary, and definitions, and much more of Chapter 15 Biotechnology and make learning easier with the help of our flashcards quizzes.

19 cards   |   Total Attempts: 182
  

Cards In This Set

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Biotechnology
The use of technology to control biological processes as a means of meeting societal needs
Transgenic organism
An organism whose genome has stably incorporated one or more genes from another species
Restriction enzymes
Enzymes that occur naturally in bacteria and are used in biotechnology to cut DNA into desired fragments (in nature, bacteria use them to cut up the DNA of invading viruses); enabled scientists to cut genomes at particular places
Plasmids
Small DNA-bearing units of bacteria that lie outside their single chromosome; can replicate independently of the bacterial chromosome & can move into bacterial cells
Transformation
A cell's incorporation of genetic material from outside its boundary; some bacterial cells are naturally adept at transformation while others can be induced to perform it by means of chemical treatment
Recombinant DNA
Two or more segments of DNA that have been combined by humans into a sequence that does not exist in nature
Cloning vectors
Self-replicating agents that serve to transfer and replicate genetic material; the most common cloning vector (next to plasmids) is a type of virus that infects bacteria (a bacteriophage)
Clone
"to make an exact genetic copy of"
Reproductive cloning
Cloning intended to produce adult mammals of a defined genotype
Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)
A means of cloning mammals through fusion of one somatic (non-sex) cell with an egg cell whose nucleus has been removed (an "enucleated" egg cell)
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
A technique for quickly producing many copies of a specific segment of DNA; DNA, DNA nucleotides, DNA polymerase, & 2 DNA "primer" sequences (short sequences of single-stranded DNA that act as signals to DNA polymerase to start adding nucleotides)
Human genomes are filled with short sequences of DNA that are repeated over and over from _ to __ times
3; 50
Short tandem repeat (STR)
At a given location in the genome, one person will have one number of tandem repeats, while another person is likely to have a different number of repeats; the chances are small that 2 unrelated individuals will have an identical number of repeats at even one location in the genome
Commitment
A developmental process that results in cells with roles that are completely determined
Stem cells
Adult and embryonic cells that have a continuing capacity to produce more cells of their own type, along with at least one type of specialized daughter cell