Genetic engineering Much of the explosive increase in our knowledge of genetics and molecular biology during this century has been due to work on micro-organisms, particularly bacteria such as E. coli. Although the term genetic engineering might loosely include such long-established techniques as selective breeding, it has come to be associated with direct manipulation of individual genes. In fig 2.12 an outline of the normal procedure is given, but it should be noted that some knowledge of DNA and genetics wil be necessary to understand this(chapters 22 and 23)