The film Jurassic Park is a film that takes place on an island in the Caribbean Ocean where the main inhabitants are various reproduced dinosaur species. Paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler and mathematician Ian Malcolm are invited to the island by the owner of Jurassic Park, John Hammond, and his lawyer Donald Gerraro to confirm that the island is safe for public interaction. Hammond’s grandchildren are also invited to view the island. On this island, researchers who work for Hammond’s biotechnology company have genetically engineered dinosaurs using DNA extracted from the blood within a mosquito that was trapped in amber. The extracted DNA, then was inserted into frog egg cells for the dinosaurs to be reproduced. To prevent any uncontrolled reproduction of these dinosaurs on the island, they have been strategically engineered to all be female. While they are hesitant to the ideas of re-creating dinosaurs, Grant, Sattler and Malcolm continue on their tour of the island and its facilities. As they tour the island, an employee of Jurassic Park, Dennis, disrupted the park’s security system to steal dinosaur embryos to sell off to a rival company. In doing so, the power on the island was lost which allowed for many of the dinosaurs to roam free since the electrical fences keeping them at bay were nonfunctional. In their quest to get off the island, the characters had to fight against a Tyrannosaurus Rex and Raptors just to turn on the island’s power and security defenses. What was discovered while they were trying to survive was that there were broken dinosaur eggshells. Due to the fact that frogs can alter their sex in a single sex environment, the dinosaurs that have been infused with frog DNA have this trait allowing them to reproduce. Ultimately, Hammond, his guests, and his grandchildren were able to restore power and the security defenses on the island and nearly escape deaths. While very entertaining and informative about the general aspects of genetic engineering, Jurassic Park had various errors in the biological concepts that were incorporated into the film. These fallacies include the ability to extract viable dinosaur DNA from a mosquito trapped in amber, conducting somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning of dinosaurs with the use of frog eggs, and conducting transgenic cloning with closely related species. Before these fallacies can be analyzed, the concepts such as gene cloning, somatic nuclear transfer, and transgenic cloning that surround the biology that took place in the film must be discussed at length. Genetic cloning is a concept in which a specific gene that codes for s specific protein is located on a specific DNA sequence from an organism and is to be replicated. To complete this process, the DNA sequence that possesses the gene that is to be copied
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To do this, the donor egg cell must have its nucleus and DNA extracted. The nucleus from a somatic cell is then inserted into the donor egg of another organism. The somatic cell nucleus and the egg cell "develop into an embryo and is then implanted into a surrogate mother" (Genetic Science Learning Center 2014).The purpose for this is so that the somatic cell will provide the two chromosome copies that the developing embryo will have. In the case of the movie Jurassic Park, the somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning that occurred in the film was applied with transgenic cloning. Transgenic cloning refers to the process in which an organism is genetically engineered to produce a specific protein or express specific traits from inserted DNA. This is done using the processes of gene cloning and somatic cell nuclear transfer as referenced earlier. The specified gene is isolated and combined with bacterial plasmids and restriction enzymes and is further replicated in bacterial colonies creating recombinant DNA. This recombinant DNA is then extracted from the colonies and is then inserted into a fertilized egg cell, via the process of the somatic cell nuclear transfer. In regards to transgenic cloning, fertilized egg cells where the desired DNA is to be …show more content…
Whether it was replicating dinosaur DNA extracted from a mosquito trapped in amber to using frog eggs to produce the dinosaurs, the biological concepts in this movie were rooted in fact but how they were applied were merely a work of
To do this, the donor egg cell must have its nucleus and DNA extracted. The nucleus from a somatic cell is then inserted into the donor egg of another organism. The somatic cell nucleus and the egg cell "develop into an embryo and is then implanted into a surrogate mother" (Genetic Science Learning Center 2014).The purpose for this is so that the somatic cell will provide the two chromosome copies that the developing embryo will have. In the case of the movie Jurassic Park, the somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning that occurred in the film was applied with transgenic cloning. Transgenic cloning refers to the process in which an organism is genetically engineered to produce a specific protein or express specific traits from inserted DNA. This is done using the processes of gene cloning and somatic cell nuclear transfer as referenced earlier. The specified gene is isolated and combined with bacterial plasmids and restriction enzymes and is further replicated in bacterial colonies creating recombinant DNA. This recombinant DNA is then extracted from the colonies and is then inserted into a fertilized egg cell, via the process of the somatic cell nuclear transfer. In regards to transgenic cloning, fertilized egg cells where the desired DNA is to be …show more content…
Whether it was replicating dinosaur DNA extracted from a mosquito trapped in amber to using frog eggs to produce the dinosaurs, the biological concepts in this movie were rooted in fact but how they were applied were merely a work of