How is genetic engineering done? Is it a precise science?
Plants and animals have natural defences that prevent them from incorporating foreign DNA into their cells. This prevents different species from reproducing in nature. Because of these natural barriers, genetic engineers have to force the DNA sequences they wish to introduce into the organism they are trying to engineer. The methods genetic engineers use to inset these foreign genes are incredibly imprecise. One of the primary methods they use to insert the DNA is by using something called a “gene gun.” This is an instrument that fires thousands and thousands of tiny pellets coated in the DNA sequence the engineers are trying to introduce into a plate of cells. They then hope that some of the DNA from those pellets will end up in the right place in the cells of the organism they wish to engineer. Engineers don’t know where the DNA they fire into the cells will land; most of the DNA sequences are never incorporated into the cells at all, and those that are could be inserted in the wrong
