A transgenic microorganism is a microbe, usually a bacterium, into which genetic information has been introduced from the outside and which possesses the ability to pass that information on to subsequent generations in a stable manner. This is not an entirely novel idea in microorganisms, since bacteria have been practicing and perfecting this art over billions of years of evolution. We, on the other hand, have only recently learned to duplicate this phenomenon and turn it to our own purposes. Genetic engineering is the field that has developed as a consequence of research into this process. Its commercial application forms the basis of the biotechnology industry today.

Moving Genes Between Species

The process by which scientists introduce new genetic material into a microorganism is called molecular or gene cloning. It involves the isolation of DNA from a source other than the microorganism itself. Source organisms span...