Test: Transgenic Animals & Ethical Issues (February 3) - NEET MCQ

In 1997, an American company got patent rights on Basmati rice through the US Patent and Trademark office. This allowed the company to sell a 'new' variety of Basmati, in the US and abroad. This 'new' variety of Basmati had actually been derived from Indian farmer's varieties. Indian Basmati was crossed with semi-dwarf varieties and claimed as an invention or a novelty. The patent extends to functional equivalents, implying that other people selling Basmati rice could be restricted by the patent.

Early diagnosis of disease cannot be done by transgenic animals but through techniques such as PCR and ELISA.

Dolly, the sheep, was cloned in 1997, Ian wilmur and his colleagues at the Roslin Research Scotland, took cells from ewe (mother sheep’s udder) They stored these udder cells in low nutrient culture. This stopped the starved cells from dividing switched of their active genes. One compete udder cell with its nucleus was selected, because its nucleus carries the mother's genetic information in the mean time, an unfertilised egg cell was taken from a different ewe. Its nucleus was removed leaving an empty cell containing all the essential machinery to produce an embryo. They then fused udder cell nucleus with the empty egg cell by electrical stimulation. The altered egg was cultured for six days.
Out of many resulting embryos, one was implanted in the uterus of the surrogate mother, where it grew into a lamb, So Dolly was born, genetically identical to mother sheep because her first cell nucleus came from mother’s cell. Dolly's birth proved that adult cells could acquire the cloning potential of embryonic cells.

Transgenic mice are being formed for use in testing the safety of vaccine before they are used on human beings. They are being used to test the safety of the polio vaccine. The first transgenic cow, Rosie produced human protein enriched milk (2.4 gms per litre). The milk contained the human alpha-lactalbumin. It is a more balanced product for human babies than natural cow-milk. Bulls with more power are produced by animal breeding not by genetic engineering.

The patent granted for biological entities and the products derived from them are called biopatents.
Oryza has been covered under the broad patent category.

Genetic modification of organisms can have unpredictable results when such organisms are introduced into the ecosystem. Therefore, the Indian Government has set up organisations such as GEAC (Genetic Engineering Approval Committee), which will make decisions regarding the validity of GM research and the safety of introducing GM-organisms for public services.

A human protein which is obtained from transgenic animals and is used to treat emphysema is α−1-antitrypsin. Transgenic animals that produce useful biological products can be created by the introduction of the portion of DNA which codes for particular product such as human proteins. 

India is a country rich in tradition and expertise in natural medicines, spices, food preparations, biological pesticides and divers agriculture. Through painting without consist, foreign companies have collared at least 22 plants for their beneficial derivatives. Patients have been taken out on plants such as black papper (Piper nigrum), basmati rice (Oryaza sativa) Indian mustard (Brassica Campestris). Pomegranate (Punica granatum), turmeric (Curcuma domestica) and neem (Azadirachta indica). US, Japanse and German companies are the principal patenting pirates.