"A research group is looking for a way to use spider silk, valued for its high tensile strength, to make extremely strong ropes,
but spiders only produce small amounts of silk. They have isolated the gene and have inserted it into cows to produce the silk protein in their milk where the scientists can collect it in large quantities. What is this process called?"
Transgenics is a term used to describe the artificial insertion of one or more DNA sequences to an organism that would normally not have it. In this example, the term transgenics applies to the cows that serve as hosts for the production of the spider silk. The process transgenics is what gives the name to terms such as "transgenic food", "transgenic plants" or "transgenic animals".
Mammals give live birth to their offspring. Reptiles and amphibians lay eggs. Mammals are also usually warm blooded while reptiles and amphibians are cold blooded. Most amphibians and reptiles abandon their young at a certain age while most mammals will take care of their offspring forever.
