Most people think of gene technology as adding genes from other life forms to plants and animals. While this is certainly part of it, the technology is broader than that, and has many more uses. Gene technology is developing at a rapid rate and it will continue to revolutionise basic biological research and development. It provides the potential to improve our health, create a safer and more secure food supply, generate greater prosperity and attain a more sustainable environment. The technology has given us vital new products like human insulin for diabetes, interferon and other drugs for treating certain cancers, and vaccines against diseases like hepatitis B. Millions of human lives are protected by gene technology every day.
Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms.
These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body uses food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves. A genome is the entire DNA in an organism, including its genes. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases. Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order is called DNA sequence and variations in sequence underlie all of life's genetic diversity.