GENETIC ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE
The Restoration of Food
applications
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Medicine
RNAi used to silence genes could be used in medicine, its first instance performed by Guo and Kemphues in 1996. Later, McCaffrey and scientists targeted sequences of Hepatitis C, a virus that affects the liver, in transgenic mice and later influenced others to do the same. RNAi could additionally be applied to cancer by approaching the problem with a targeted viewpoint. Chemotherapy focuses on all rapidly growing cells, an example being hair, which is why patients experience hair loss during treatment. RNAi specifies in ceasing cancerous genes like the oncogene, stopping or decreasing tumor growth in the process. This process is regulated the kidneys.
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Other neurological diseases have been also been targeted by RNAi like alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Aβ peptide is can be significantly reduced when amyloid beta producing genes are targeted which are correlated to the cause of Alzheimer's disease.
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[A.4] This diagram displays the process of RNAi.
gene knockdown
RNAi can be used to examine experimental biology, its purpose to decrease the expression of the targeted gene. To do so, "double-stranded RNA is synthesized with a sequence complementary to a gene of interest and introduced into a cell or organism, where it is recognized as exogenous genetic material and activates the RNAi pathway." [A.] This aids scientists in understanding the duties of genes and how they work.
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[A.2] Here displays the structure of the Aβ peptide.
[A.3] Here shows the difference between a healthy liver and one infected with Hepatitis.
difficulties
Difficulties associated with these applications include the transportation small interfering RNA (siRNA), a crucial step to RNAi. "Naked" RNA could be degraded,decreasing the effectiveness of the method once siRNA is entered into the bloodstream. "Naked" RNA can also stimulate the innate immune system, examples including the skin, eyelashes, the gastrointestinal tract, and more. This is the body's first response to a foreign organism. It is stated, "siRNA molecules cannot readily enter the cells through the cell membrane. Therefore, artificial or nanoparticle encapsulated siRNA must be used."
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