Suppose that you are hired by a biotechnology firm to produce a strain of giant fruit flies by using recombinant DNA technology so that genetics students will not be forced to strain their eyes when looking at tiny flies. You go to the library and learn that growth in fruit flies is normally inhibited by a hormone called shorty substance P (SSP). You decide that you can produce giant fruit flies if you can somehow turn off the production of SSP. Shorty substance P is synthesized from a compound called XSP in a single-step reaction catalyzed by the enzyme runtase: A researcher has already isolated cDNA for runtase and has sequenced it, but the location of the runtase gene in the Drosophila genome is unknown. In attempting to devise a strategy for turning off the production of SSP using standard recombinant DNA techniques, you discover that deleting, inactivating, or otherwise mutating this DNA sequence in Drosophila turns out to be extremely difficult. Therefore, you must restrict your genetic engineering to gene augmentation (adding new genes to cells). Describe the methods that you will use to turn off SSP and produce giant flies.

Human Heredity: Principles and Issues (MindTap Course List)
11th Edition
ISBN:9781305251052
Author:Michael Cummings
Publisher:Michael Cummings
Chapter15: Genomes And Genomics
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 12QP: One unexpected result of the sequencing of the human genome was the finding that mutations in a...
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Suppose that you are hired by a biotechnology firm to produce a strain of
giant fruit flies by using recombinant DNA technology so that genetics
students will not be forced to strain their eyes when looking at tiny flies.
You go to the library and learn that growth in fruit flies is normally
inhibited by a hormone called shorty substance P (SSP). You decide that
you can produce giant fruit flies if you can somehow turn off the
production of SSP. Shorty substance P is synthesized from a compound
called XSP in a single-step reaction catalyzed by the enzyme runtase:
A researcher has already isolated cDNA for runtase and has sequenced
it, but the location of the runtase gene in the Drosophila genome is
unknown. In attempting to devise a strategy for turning off the
production of SSP using standard recombinant DNA techniques, you
discover that deleting, inactivating, or otherwise mutating this DNA
sequence in Drosophila turns out to be extremely difficult. Therefore,
you must restrict your genetic engineering to gene augmentation (adding
new genes to cells). Describe the methods that you will use to turn off
SSP and produce giant flies.

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