DNA Transfer into Cells

Hi in this video we're gonna be talking about D. N. A. Transfer into sales. So often scientists need to be able to get some type of D. N. A. Into cells whether they're studying those cells or they're studying that D. N. A. Or they're studying a mutation. Being able to actually put DNA into cells is super important for being able to study biology. And so there's a few different ways we can do this. The first we're gonna talk about is transaction. And that is putting D. N. A. Into cultured cells. So those are cells you're growing in a laboratory usually in some kind of dish media on top things like that and how you can get D. N. A. Into these cells cells being cultured and grown in a laboratory. There there's processes that uses chemicals you can use electricity that's called electro operation. Where you can actually just take like a little kind of needle and inject it in there. And all of these ways will get D. N. A. Into cultured cells. So that's transaction. Now we have transaction. And this is actually getting D. N. A. Into cells using viruses. So it's viral mediated. And so what you do here is you take virus generally what's used as a retrovirus. Remember that's a virus that contains the RNA. Um But then it's turned into D. N. A. Inside the cell. And so usually use a retrovirus. And this retrovirus. The scientists have made it perfectly however they want it. So it's genetically engineered and it contains the DNA that they want. So generally this retrovirus will only contain um some of its own DNA. But mostly the D. N. A. That the scientists want to put into the cell. And so they create the virus that way so that it contains the D. N. A. Of interest instead of its normal viral D. N. A. Now luckily with viruses they just automatically infect cells. Right? That's what they're meant to do. So you don't have to worry about how you're getting the virus into the cell. Usually you just introduce the retrovirus that contains the DNA of interest and put it into wherever the cells of the organism are growing. And then that virus is gonna infect that's what it does best. And when it infects that DNA gets into the cell now we call this there's a special type and it's called a stable transformation when the D. N. A. Is actually integrated into the host cell genome. So not only is the D. N. A. Getting into the cell which we could have done through chemicals or electricity or micro injection but stable transaction these retroviruses have special D. N. A. And special proteins doesn't allow that D. N. A. That the scientists are studying to actually integrate into that genome. So now not only is it in there for a short period of time but it's in there for the life of the cell. As long as the cell has its genome that D. N. A. That you're studying will all so be there And that's a really important technique that's stable transformation where that D. N. A. Stays there for the life cycle of the cell. And then also when the cell divides right that it remains in the genome it gets copied like a normal cell division would and then that gets passed on to all the other progeny cells. So that stage transformation stays in the cell. So this one is super important. Um And it's a bit stronger than this transaction process because that the D. N. A. Is only going to be in there for a little while. It never gets integrated once the cell replicates and divides it's gonna be it's not passed on. So transaction is a stronger and longer term process. So we talked about transaction, we talked about transaction. Let's talk about transgenic organisms. The transgenic organisms they've been genetically altered in some way. So the D. N. A. Of the organism has been changed. This can be through the addition of D. N. A. Called trans. Gene. Which can usually genes from other organisms. So if you have a transgenic mouse you maybe would put in a gene from a jellyfish which is something that people do to make mice glow. It could also be mutated genes or genes with extra parts on them. Anything that's different than a normal gene. That organism would have those were called trans genes. The other type is a knockout. And that's going to be exactly what it sounds. It sort of knocks out that gene. It either it activates it or deletes it inactivating. It would be something like it puts a mutation a stop code on really early in the sequence that would potentially that would inhibit it or inactivate it. Or it can delete it meaning that it just chops it out altogether and then that D. N. A. Piece is lost for good. So these transgenic organisms, their DNA is being altered either through the addition of genes from other organisms or mutations or whatever the addition of this D. N. A. Or through the for losing this DNA through knockouts. So this is an example of transaction and stable transformation. So you don't need to know these steps and you don't need to know this at all either. But essentially this is the cell that creates the virus that's used in transaction stable transformation. So what happens is you can see all these process this is the virus being created. And here we have our virus and we collect scientists collect this virus and then they infect the cell that they want to have that D. N. A. So the virus gets in, you can see that the R. N. A. Remember this is a retrovirus. So it starts out as R. N. A. Is changed into D. N. A. And then that D. N. A. Actually goes into the nucleus and integrate itself into the host cell chromosome which you can see here in purple. So trans deduction is the process of using the virus transaction, and the stable transformation is the process of making sure that D. N. A integrates into the host cell genome. So with that, let's move on.