1. What was one of the first applications of recombinant DNA? 2. Before 1922, what happened to diabetics? 4. During most of the 20^th century, what were the main sources of insulin? 5. Why did we stop using cows and pigs to get insulin? 6. Summarize the basic idea behind using recombinant DNA to produce insulin: 7. Scroll up and click on the tab labeled "Pieces of the Puzzle". The scroll over the puzzle piece and click on the P4 piece. Watch the video clip to see the precautions scientists must take when working in a biotech lab. 8. Scroll up and click on the tab labeled "Putting it together". 9. Besides bacteria, what other organism is used to produce insulin? 10. What was used to make the DNA for insulin? __

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1. What was one of the first applications of recombinant DNA? 2. Before 1922, what happened to diabetics? 4. During most of the 20^th century, what were the main sources of insulin? 5. Why did we stop using cows and pigs to get insulin? 6. Summarize the basic idea behind using recombinant DNA to produce insulin: 7. Scroll up and click on the tab labeled "Pieces of the Puzzle". The scroll over the puzzle piece and click on the P4 piece. Watch the video clip to see the precautions scientists must take when working in a biotech lab. 8. Scroll up and click on the tab labeled "Putting it together". 9. Besides bacteria, what other organism is used to produce insulin? 10. What was used to make the DNA for insulin? __

Answer 1

1. One of the first applications of recombinant DNA was the production of human insulin.2. Before 1922, diabetes was often a fatal disease. People with diabetes were unable to regulate their blood sugar levels, leading to serious complications and ultimately death.4. During most of the 20th century, the main sources of insulin for treating diabetes were the pancreases of cows and pigs.5. We stopped using cows and pigs as the primary source of insulin for several reasons: The animal-derived insulin could cause allergic reactions in some people, the purification process was complex and expensive, and the supply of animal pancreases was limited and could not keep up with the growing demand for insulin.6. Recombinant DNA technology allows scientists to insert the human gene for insulin into a host organism (like bacteria or yeast). The host organism then produces large quantities of human insulin, which can be purified and used to treat diabetes. This eliminates the need to rely on animal sources.9. Besides bacteria, yeast (specifically *Saccharomyces cerevisiae*) is also used to produce insulin.10. A DNA synthesizer was used to create the DNA for insulin. This allowed scientists to precisely construct the gene sequence for human insulin.

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