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Splicing Interspecies DNA
Name: Robert
Status: Student
Grade: 9-12
Location: N/A
Country: United States
Date: March 2005
Question:
Is it possible to splice the dna of a human nd the dna
of a cat? To make it multiply in-side of someone(me)?
Replies:
It is possible to splice a limited amount of DNA from one species into
the cells (DNA) of another species but whether the recominant DNA
would be expressed could not be predicted. Even if this could be done
with some of your cells, there is no way to get this recombinant DNA
to become a part of a high percentage of the approximately
100,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion) cells comprising your body.
Ron Baker, Ph.D.
Well, yes, it would be possible. But gene splicing usually involves one or
a few genes only. The gene will be the directions for making a protein, and
hopefully that protein would not be recognized as foreign by your body and
be rejected. Even if it is theoretically possible, I would wonder why one
would WANT to have a cat gene spliced in, because humans and cats already
have many genes in common, and just having one or two genes from a cat would
not give you cat-like characteristics.
vanhoeck
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Update: June 2012
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