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Horizon Education and Media
Unit 3, Set 1
Petri dish of bacteria transformed by the addition of a pink jellyfish gene. Hannah Robinson CC BY NC 4.0
Bugs (microorganisms) are used in biotechnology. We add genes to bacteria or fungi, such as the gene for insulin, in order to produce human insulin for diabetic people to use as medicine. Or we use the bugs to put genes in us, such as using engineered viruses to carry a gene to fix muscular dystrophy in people, a genetic disorder that weakens muscles.
In this section you will learn the basics about these organisms. Later, we will explore biotechnology in more detail.
Bacteria
Bacteria
Look at the cell structure of bacteria to see how these simple organisms work.
Viruses
Viruses
Viruses are not alive, but they take over cells and inject their genetic material to make the cell make more viruses.
Fungi
Fungi
Fungi are useful to humans in many ways, such as by producing penicillin antibiotic.
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