2. Why was there a need to produce recombinant insulin? A: There was a need to produce recombinant insulin because there were problems with the animal derived insulin. One of these problems encountered involved the patient undergoing adverse immune responses (side effects). These side effects were a result of variations in amino acid structure. It is abnormal in comparison to the human insulin. The recombinant human insulin helped this issue. It is derived from the same species (humans) and resulted in a decreased possibility of side effects. Along with this, in the 1970’s there was a threat of animal shortage (beef and pork). This was another problem because these animals were utilized to produce insulin. It would have led to a lower availability of pancreatic tissue needed to produce insulin. The production of recombinant insulin allows for an exceeding amount of insulin. Diabetes is a fast growing …show more content…
What scientific discoveries provided useful knowledge for the production of therapeutic recombinant insulin? A: The discovery of the amino acid sequence comprised of insulin by F. Sanger, which led to the later discovery of the structure of insulin through the utilization of X-ray crystallography. This provided useful knowledge in the production of therapeutic recombinant insulin pertaining to the chemically, physically, and immunologically aspects of