History of Genetic Engineering:
- 1970 Smith and Nathans discovered a new class of enzymes, the restriction enzymes that act as chemical scissors and cut a DNA molecule into smaller fragments.
- 1972 Berg and others combined DNAs from two viruses to produce what is called recombinant DNA (rDNA).
- 1973 Cohen and Boyer inserted recombinant DNAs into host bacteria that reproduced or cloned foreign DNAs. With this, the age of genetic engineering begins.
- 1977 Genetech, one of the first genetic engineering companies starts the biosynthesis of important drugs by rDNA Technology.
- 1977 Sanger and Gilbert independently discovered techniques for rapid sequencing of nucleotides in DNA molecules.
- 1982 Human insulin produced by rDNA is marketted under the trade name ‘Humulin’.
- 1983 Tracy Moreno, a ten year old girl born with growth hormone deficiency, grows 5 inches in one year of treatment with engineered hormones. Human growth hormone genes are inserted into mouse embryo producing a giant mouse. For the first time a human gene functions in another animal.
- 1997 Scientists remove the DNA-containing nucleus from a female’s egg and replace it with a nucleus from a different animal of the same species. The scientists then place that egg into the uterus of a third animal.
- The result, first demonstrated by the birth of a cloned sheep named Dolly, is the birth of an animal that is nearly genetically identical to the animal from which the nucleus was obtained. Such an animal is genetically unrelated to the surrogate mother.
- 2002 Brigitte Boisselier, a biochemist and director of Clonaid, hinted that human cloning experiments were already underway. She was very, very pleased to announce that the first baby clone was born on December 26, 2002 at 11.55 a.m. Another British baby conceived at the Reproductive Genetic Institute was born on February 9, 2002.
- 2003 The third cloned baby was born on 3rd January, 2003 to a Dutch woman, the head of Radian sect in Netherlands. Clonaid claims to have produced 13 cloned babies world-wide. Claims of cloned babies have yet to be substantiated primarily because of the risk of incarceration.
- In February, 2003 the Human Cloning Prohibition Act was passed which made it a crime for any one, public or private, to conduct somatic cell nuclear transplantation on fertilized or unfertilized human egg cell for reproductive or therapeutic purposes. The penalty for engaging in such research is US $ 1 million fine and a jail term for 10 years.
- Cloning is still in its infancy, but it may pave the way for improved domestic animals and medical products.
