cumbustion
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HOme genetic manipulation and eugenics (NOT ON PEPLE!)
Is there any way to experiment with genetic manipulation or eugenics at home? For example: breeding bacterium that produce useful lab reagents, flat
headed beavers, bats with genes that cause them to excrete nitrates, other such things. In particular, is there any 'home' way to transfer a
specific gene to another species?
In genetics, there is the rare chimera phenomenon. Is there a way to produce chimeras of different yet similar species?
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chemoleo
Biochemicus Energeticus
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Jeez do I really have to answer this or was that a question designed for detritus?
Breeding bacteria to produce useful lab reagents - acetic acid is one. Ethanol (in the case of yeast) another. Making various antigens and proteins of
course is the crown of bacterial production.
Flat headed beavers? ...........wtf
How about intelligent humans? That's probably easier!
Bats excreting nitrates? I only know of horses making manure which is good for making nitrates, but bacteria are at play. Com'on!
No you cant transfer genes 'at home'. It requires restriction enzymes, DNA polymerases and so on.
Producing chimera? Fuse blastocytes of different origins, and look at the outcome.
Quite easy really.
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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cumbustion
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The navy is using a GMO bacteria to produce a precursor for missile fuel which is ordinarily rather expensive. If it were possible to do something
similar...
Sorry about the flat headed beavers, just a very random thought..
"Producing chimera? Fuse blastocytes of different origins, and look at the outcome.
Quite easy really."
In terms of equipment though.
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Oxydro
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I thought bat guano was very high already in nitrates? Or am I thinking of something else.
I'd say the best you can do at home is to do a controlled evolution sort of thing... breed as many as possible of an organism, pick the ones
which come closest to the goals, let those ones reproduce, repeat.
Maybe use chemicals/radiation (?) to cause higher levels of mutations?
Tell us more about the missile fuel thing... sounds cool. I can find bacteria in my fridge that will make fuel, though  . Probably in my intestines too. Not the kind of fuel you speak of I'm sure, but
hey! Its fuel!
"Our interest's on the dangerous side of things" -- Browning
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12AX7
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I think bat guano is nitrified by the same natural processes that any decaying matter is broken down by... old heaps of the shit are just good sources
of nitrate because of the environment and essentially geologic time (i.e., it didn't happen overnight, say a few thousand years of crappiness).
Tim
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Oxydro
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say a few thousand years of crappiness
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I love the way you put that!
Now that I think about it, I can't remember hearing anything specifically about nitrates.... but I know bat guano is one of the most prized
manures. Don't know exactly why.
Ah.... for everything you might want to know about guano, go to
http://wwwguano.com/
Edit: I broke the link... but now its fixed.
[Edited on 30-8-2005 by Oxydro]
"Our interest's on the dangerous side of things" -- Browning
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kazaa81
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I've heard about a bacterium called Bav1 which can eat polyvinyl chloride or similar.....
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neutrino
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I once saw a story about a bacterium that can eat CDs. But, alas, I can't find the link.
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kyanite
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Maybe it's that oil-eating bacteria.
I think I heard somewhere that the bacteria(oil eater) was one of the first living things to be patented.
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epck
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There is also a lot of work being done on using bacteria to decompose PCBs. They work in the lab but in the wild they can find other sources of
carbon which are easier to digest than PCBs.
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neutrino
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No, it was another kind.
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