[Myrddin]

Just looking at the book titles tells me what I learned in college is ancient history. What we had in 1974 is like a kid's toy toolbox in comparison to the present capability.

[Myrddin]

The big deal when I was in school was the EcoR1 mutant. It was E. coli with the restriction and modification enzymes removed. That left the organism defenseless against insertion of foreign DNA. You could insert a sequence for something useful like human insulin and get the organism to replicate massive amounts of the protein.