Recombinant DNA has become a crucial research tool for molecular biology, biochemistry and the life sciences cluster in general. Recombinant DNA is used to gain deeper knowledge of disease formation and hence the development of cures. Additionally, Recombinant DNA (rDNA) builds the platform for the development of recombinant antibodies, allowing huge leaps in the therapy of numerous medical conditions.
Moreover, rDNA is employed in making crops more productive and increases their resistance and robustness under challenging conditions in order to reduce hunger in developing countries.
Naturally, such groundbreaking new technologies come with downsides, risks and bring ethical issues of mankind’s new abilities to the surface. This article will discuss the advantages, pros of recombinant DNA as well as the disadvantages, cons of recombinant DNA.
Recombinant DNA, in short rDNA, denotes any piece of DNA that results from artificial combinations of DNA segments, in particular genetic material of different species in vitro (“in test tubes”).
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In 1974, the Stanford University filed a patent application concerning recombinant DNA, listing S. N. Cohen and H. W. Boyer as the inventors. Paul Berg received the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his studies “with particular regard to recombinant DNA”1,2
Since DNA sequences contain the molecular blueprints for transcription of mRNA which defines the amino acid sequence for protein synthesis (gene expression), molecular cloning of bacterial plasmids, amplification using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and insertion into living cells allows scientists to design and produce novel proteins.
The development of restriction enzymes such as restriction endonucleases to create DNA strands capable of taking up foreign genetic material allowed to confer e.g. antibiotic resistance or promoter regions to enhance transcription. Subsequent joining of the strands with DNA ligase led to recombinant plasmids that could be inserted into host cells to perform DNA replication and further use in recombinant DNA research.
The next step was to move this technology from bacterial cells such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) to eukaryotic cells: plants and animals, allowing the laboratory production of medically relevant recombinant proteins like human growth hormone and human insulin to treat diseases.
Recombinant DNA technology received a lot of negative media coverage in the early 2000s, when transgenic plants were marketed in the U.S. and a public discussion of its ethical, economical, social, intellectual property and religious implications ensued:
Some of these topics were considered verging on science-fiction, but several have become reality, e.g. in the form of gene therapies. Ethical and religious implications are still debated heatedly.
Recombinant DNA technology has many advantages. Nowadays, rDNA and its applications are ever present due to their numerous beneficial effects and advantages:
These applications have a huge positive impact on our everyday lives and countless patients, even though many of us do not know about them.
While recombinant DNA is the basis for many every-day commodities in the agriculture, health and environmental sectors, we touched upon several of the downsides and potential risks of applying rDNA.
Current research trends in the life sciences seem to make the further use of rDNA and gene cloning pronouncedly worthwhile. The list of new and even better therapeutics made possible by virtue of rDNA is growing steadily: enhanced human insulin for diabetics, Epoetin alfa for anemia patients and human growth hormone for pediatric patients lacking the ability to produce it are just a few examples, with literal hundreds of potential therapeutics in the fields of hereditary diseases, oncology, infectious diseases in the pipeline.
Recombinant DNA is predestined to be a useful tool to shape the future.
1.The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1980. The Nobel Prize. Accessed December 2022. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1980/summary/
2.Jackson DA, Symons RH, Berg P. Biochemical Method for Inserting New Genetic Information into DNA of Simian Virus 40: Circular SV40 DNA Molecules Containing Lambda Phage Genes and the Galactose Operon of Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. Published online October 1972:2904-2909. doi:10.1073/pnas.69.10.2904