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Modern Genetic Analysis
11. Applications of Recombinant DNA Technology
Key Concepts
In vitro mutagenesis allows highly specific changes to be made at specific positions within a gene.
In the chromosomes of an individual organism, specific restriction sites can be either present or absent, resulting in restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs).
RFLPs can be used as loci for genome mapping, as well as in the diagnosis of linked disease genes.
Reverse genetics works in the opposite direction to traditional genetics; it enables the function of an unknown DNA or protein sequence to be identified at the phenotypic level.
A gene with an easily detectable product can be spliced to the regulatory regions of another gene and thereby act as a reporter for that gene's function.
Recombinant DNA technology is used to make microbes, plants, and animals that carry genes from other species.
Recombinant DNA technology can be used in the prenatal diagnosis of human genetic disease.

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