genetic engineering

- the identification of genes coding for useful traits and their introduction into other species of plants and animals ('transgenic species'). Genetic engineering offers the possibility of correcting genetic defects at source, or introducing new, desirable genetic characteristics that will stay with the subject and may be passed on to its successors. - manipulation of DNA to form a hybrid molecule, a new combination of non-homologous DNA (so-called recombinant DNA). The technique allows the bypassing of all the biological constraints to genetic exchange and mixing and may even permit the combination of genes from widely differing species. Genetic engineering developed in the early 1970s. [CUB]