What features of viruses and bacteria make them ideal for use in biotechnology?

VIRUSES


1) small, can carry and implanted DNA to import it into our body cells. This DNA is a normal one that should replace a mutated one in our cell, but that is still a problem in biotechnology as this DNA doesnt replace the mutated one but it replaces nomral ones that can lead to cancer(some tests already lead to cancer in trying to treat cystic fibrosis)


2) its reverse transcriptase enzyme is ideal to form DNA strands from extracted human mRNA and then used in biotechnology.


3) its small size allows it to be *shot* into our cells by special nano guns so it can treat cancer cells immediatly without affecting surrounding cells, or affect a minumum number(still under trial)





BACTERIA


1) contains plasmids(a circular part of its DNA, that can be cut open to add the human DNA ,say, coding for insulin, then it is closed and inserted in the bacteria to form this insulin(its more complicated than that but thats a brief) and then we extract this insulin.


2)many bacteria can be produced, same for viruses.





There are some disadvanteges for both thats why yeast or fungus cells are now used for biotechnology.


Also, bacteria cant produce insulin in a 3d shape, so eukaryotic cells are needed.

What features of viruses and bacteria make them ideal for use in biotechnology?
1. some model viruses and bacteria can be easily manipulated to produce proteins of interest in very large quantites.





2. very rapid replication rates can enhance quickly the products generated from (1.)
Reply:First, their genes are easy to map (at least easier than eukaryotes) and most of those used have been worked out. Then they are capable of transferring their genes since the process is part of their nature. Viruses are therefore great as gene vectors. The cells attacked by viruses then are able to make many copies of the gene. Bacteria on the other hand have plasmids that can be used for transferring genes to another of the same species through conjugation. This makes it easy to clone the genes.

fuchsia