* DNA technology – Methods for studying and manipulating genetic material, has rapidly revolutionized the field of forensics, the scientific analysis of evidence for legal investigators * Has practical applications beyond its use in forensic science * Include the use of gene cloning in the production of medical and industrial products, the development of genetically modified organisms for agriculture, and even the investigation of genealogical questions * DNA evidence was used to solve a double murder in England * Showed that two murders could have been committed by the same person * Showed the innocence of someone who confessed to one of the murders * Showed the absence of a match in 5,000 men tested when the murderer persuaded another man to donate blood in his name * Showed a match with the murder and DNA found with both victims

* Biotechnology: The manipulation of organisms or their components to make useful products * Grew out of discoveries made about 60 years ago by American geneticists Joshua Lederberg and Edward Tatum * Performed a series of experiments with E.coli that demonstrated that two individual bacteria can combine genes * Genetic engineering involves manipulating genes for practical purposes * Gene cloning leads to the production of multiple identical copies of a gene-carrying piece of DNA * Recombinant DNA is formed by joining DNA sequences from two different sources * One source contains the gene that will be cloned * Another source is a gene carrier, called a vector * Plasmids (small, circular DNA molecules independent of the bacterial chromosome) are often used as vectors * Scientists have genetically engineered bacteria to mass-produce a variety of useful chemicals, from cancer drugs to pesticides * Steps