The Potentials of Inserting New Genetic Information

Abstract

The concept that new genes can be inserted into living animals is relatively new, but the phenomenon of transmission of genetic material from one organism into the genome of another has probably existed since the early stages of evolution. Mutation of nucleotide sequences in the DNA code has long been seen as the principal mechanism of evolutionary adaptation, while transmission of genetic materials between species was considered to be a rare event. This conventional view requires revision in the light of recent knowledge about genetic elements adapted for shuttling between different regions of a single genome or between different genomes. . . .