The modification of the genetic makeup of cells. Genetic engineering modifies the DNA in cells to alter their behavior. In 1953, the discovery of the DNA double helix, technically deoxyribonucleic acid, became the foundation for making changes in the genes of an organism.
CRISPR and the Human Genome Project
In 1993, it was discovered that parts of the DNA in bacteria were repeated several times, and this led to the development of CRISPR gene editing and the precise cutting of the DNA. By 2003, the entire human genome was mapped, and gene-targeted drug therapy, along with plant and animal cloning, were on their way to becoming a reality. Quite a mouthful, CRISPR stands for "clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats." See
Human Genome Project and
synthetic biology.