Genetic engineering

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR, pronounced crisper) are segments of prokaryotic DNA containing short repetitions of base sequences.

Biosafety is the prevention of large-scale loss of biological integrity, focusing both on ecology and human health.

(For related content, see Genetic engineering, Genetically modified organism, Genetically modified crops, Genetically modified food controversies, and Regulation of the release of genetically modified organisms.) Genetically modified foods or GM foods, also genetically engineered foods, are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering.

Gene therapy is the therapeutic delivery of nucleic acid polymers into a patient's cells as a drug to treat disease.

A plasmid is a small DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from a chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (also known as iPS cells or iPSCs) are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from adult cells.

A restriction enzyme or restriction endonuclease is an enzyme that cuts DNA at or near specific recognition nucleotide sequences known as restriction sites.

Genetically modified food controversies are disputes over the use of foods and other goods derived from genetically modified crops instead of conventional crops, and other uses of genetic engineering in food production.

Genetically modified crops (GMCs, GM crops, or biotech crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering techniques.

A designer baby is a baby that is the result of genetic screening or genetic modification.

A hypervariable region (HVR) is a location within nuclear DNA or the D-loop of mitochondrial DNA in which base pairs of nucleotides repeat (in the case of nuclear DNA) or have substitutions (in the case of mitochondrial DNA).

Blasticidin S is an antibiotic that is produced by Streptomyces griseochromogenes.

Genetic erosion is a process whereby an already limited gene pool of an endangered species of plant or animal diminishes even more when individuals from the surviving population die off without getting a chance to meet and breed with others in their endangered low population.

Genetic engineering techniques enable modification of the DNA of living organisms.

The term human–animal hybrid or animal–human hybrid refers to an entity that incorporates elements from both humans and non-human animals.

The regulation of genetic engineering begins before the experiment has started with approval processes, through to protocols that must be followed in the laboratory and finally the conditions under which the resultant product may be released.