What Genetic Engineering Is

In one line

Genetic engineering is moving a piece of heritable material into an organism from outside it, and Indian law defines it in a rule of 1989.

In exam wording: rule 3(iv) of the Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro-organisms, Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells 1989 defines genetic engineering as the technique by which heritable material, which does not usually occur or will not occur naturally in the organism or cell concerned, generated outside the organism or the cell, is inserted into that cell or organism, and as the formation of new combinations of genetic material by incorporation of a cell into a host cell where they occur naturally, called self cloning, as well as the modification of an organism or a cell by deletion and removal of parts of the heritable material; and article 3(i) of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety 2000 defines modern biotechnology by reference to the application of techniques that overcome natural physiological reproductive or recombination barriers.

The vocabulary, from zero

A gene is a stretch of heritable material that carries an instruction.

Heritable material is the material passed from parent to offspring, usually deoxyribonucleic acid.

Recombinant DNA is DNA assembled from more than one source. Cutting a gene out of one organism and joining it to material from another produces recombinant DNA.

Transformation is the process of getting that recombinant material into a living cell so that the cell uses it.

A transgenic organism is one carrying a gene from a different species. A genetically modified organism is the wider term used in policy, and a living modified organism is the treaty term used in the Cartagena Protocol.

The Indian definitions

Rule 3(i), biotechnology. The application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to produce goods and services.

Rule 3(ii), cell hybridisation. The formation of live cells with new combinations of genetic material through the fusion of two or more cells by means of methods which do not occur naturally.

Rule 3(iii), gene technology. The application of the gene technique called genetic engineering, including self cloning and deletion, as well as cell hybridisation.

Rule 3(iv), genetic engineering. Three limbs. The insertion into a cell or organism of heritable material, generated outside it, which does not usually occur or will not occur naturally in it. The formation of new combinations of genetic material by incorporating a cell into a host cell where they occur naturally, which is self cloning. And the modification of an organism or a cell by deletion and removal of parts of the heritable material.

The third limb matters today. Modern gene editing often deletes rather than inserts. A definition that covered insertion alone would leave editing outside the Rules. Rule 3(iv) covers deletion in terms, and rule 2(3) provides that the Rules apply to new gene technologies apart from those referred to in clauses (ii) and (iv) of rule 3, and to organisms and cells generated by using them.