History Main / LegoGenetics

* ''VideoGame/PlanetCrafter'': During the Mammals stage, you can extract genetic traits from other life forms (fish eggs, frog eggs, larvae, even ''plants'') and recombine them into a genetic template for a mammal. Each trait represents a specific feature, such as size, primary and secondary colors, and bioluminescence.

* In the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'', Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically altered spider and develops SuperStrength, a "SpiderSense", and the ability to WallCrawl (among other powers) ''overnight''. In the display room where he got bitten by the spider, we see a plasma screen showing the bits of DNA added to the spider to create the "super-spider". Later, there is a CGI sequence in which we see the rungs in the DNA double helix changing to the exact same colors as the spider's. Though it might help to not look at the CGI shots as literal, but more a creative way to show the audience what's happening quickly.

** The logic of Cell's creation in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': he is a unique life form created from the DNA of the strongest people to have been on Earth, such as Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Frieza. Furthermore, he's born [[GeneticMemory knowing all their techniques]] and possesses all of their strengths. His DNA is formed from at least 4 species (Human, Sayian, Namekian, whatever Freeza and his father are) if not more (the various soldiers Freeza brings), and whatever splicing his creator performed, allowing him to regrow lost limbs, get stronger from his life threatening injuries and survive the vacuum of space. It is worth noting however that part of his creation involved dozens on tiny cameras filming the various battles the main heroes have, learning their fighting styles and then collecting their genetic material. Cell also says that a lot of information (including prerecorded messages from his creator) was fed to him during his incubation stage, which explains how he knows the various moves and techniques he does.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks Evolution of the Dalels]]", when [[spoiler:the Dalek-Humans]] are created, they all look completely human; this does, however, make them ''think'' like Daleks, [[spoiler:except not, because the Doctor's DNA got mixed in]] by being too close to the freaking power source . . . Interestingly, the Daleks are a classic case of this trope and HollywoodEvolution. Their ancestors, the Kaleds, were HumanAliens who suffered {{muta|nts}}tions due to the rigors of life in a ForeverWar and were subsequently re-engineered into StarfishAliens by a crazed EvilutionaryBiologist -- so technically, by trying to become more humanoid, they were actually moving ''back'' towards what their species originally was.

* Creator/EdmondHamilton's 1931 short story "The Man Who Evolved" (reprinted in ''Before the Golden Age'', edited by Creator/IsaacAsimov) is probably the UrExample (or one of them, at least). The protagonist, before his friends, uses concentrated cosmic rays to "evolve" in a few minutes to successive stages of human evolution (each an improvement on the last). The story ends when he decides to "evolve" one last time, to the final stage of human evolution. [[spoiler:This turns out to be [[{{Irony}} the primaeval slime from which the human race first evolved]].]]

* In ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'', the titular doctor is quite happy to explain the ForcedTransformation he's about to inflict on Semi and Miranda -- he's going to remove some of their bone marrow and adjust their cells to turn them back into stem cells, then splice them with a mixture of genes from different fish and bird species and re-implant them. Soon the new genetic code will spread and they're [[SlowTransformation slowly assume new forms]]. He's already got a [[MenagerieOfMisery zoo]] full of animals that the process was developed on -- piglets with human hands, a capybara with human lips and back legs, parrots with floppy featherless growths -- and informs them that the results are unpredictable but ideally will make Semi into a girl who can breathe water and Miranda into a girl who can fly. It does work, but they both become ''very'' inhuman in the process, with Semi only retaining [[EyeDentityGiveaway her eyes]] and Miranda having eerily human limbs for a bird.

In fictional media, look for characters ending up an {{Animorphism}} or a HalfHumanHybrid because GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke. Related to ChemistryCanDoAnything and MagicGenetics. See also: NoBiochemicalBarriers, UnstableGeneticCode, and BioAugmentation is a likely application. Compare OurClonesAreDifferent; media likes to treat cloning in this way.

In fictional media, look for characters ending up an {{Animorphism}} or a HalfHumanHybrid because GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke. Related to ChemistryCanDoAnything and MagicGenetics. See also: NoBiochemicalBarriers, UnstableGeneticCode, and BioAugmentation is a likely application.

->''"Remember, genes are ''not'' blueprints. This means you can't, for example, insert "the genes for an elephant's trunk" into a giraffe and get a giraffe with a trunk. There '''are''' no genes for trunks. What you ''can'' do with genes is chemistry, since DNA codes for chemicals. For instance, we can in theory splice the native plants' talent for nitrogen fixation into a terran plant."''

* ''Amazonia'' by James Rollins revolves around [[spoiler:a tree which is implied to be the source of [[Literature/TheBible the Garden of Eden myth]]. It lures animals into its roots, where it keeps them alive indefinitely while playing around with their DNA and using it to modify other animals, including humans.]] Among its creations are piranha-frogs, super-sized caiman, intelligent jaguars, poisonous ant-wasps, and [[spoiler:a tribe of slave humans]]. The catch: [[spoiler:it knew that humans had free will, so it programmed their changes to be unstable. Without living near the tree and eating its fruit]], the changes become a virulent and highly contagious cancer.

* In ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'' the titular doctor is quite happy to explain the ForcedTransformation he's about to inflict on Semi and Miranda - he's going to remove some of their bone marrow and adjust their cells to turn them back into stem cells, then splice them with a mixture of genes from different fish and bird species and re-implant them. Soon the new genetic code will spread and they're [[SlowTransformation slowly assume new forms]]. He's already got a [[MenagerieOfMisery zoo]] full of animals that the process was developed on - piglets with human hands, a capybara with human lips and back legs, parrots with floppy featherless growths - and informs them that the results are unpredictable but ideally will make Semi into a girl who can breathe water and Miranda into a girl who can fly. It does work, but they both become ''very'' inhuman in the process, with Semi only retaining [[EyeDentityGiveaway her eyes]] and Miranda having eerily human limbs for a bird.

** ''Literature/SpeakerForTheDead'' reveals that the alien "Descolada" virus caused this effect on the native life forms of the planet Lusitania, resulting in plants and animals literally giving birth to each other. The Descolada is explained as "ungluing" the DNA double-helix into two separate strands -- this is fatal to humans and most other organisms but essential for the cellular reconfiguration involved in the life cycle of Lusitanian lifeforms in their transition between plant and animal stages. Basically, it's an extremely aggressive and complicated viral molecule that [[NoBiochemicalBarriers goes around trying to make LEGO Genetics work on any DNA it encounters]]; the handful of surviving species on Lusitania have evolved such that they are resistant to the random insertion of DNA while depending on this process to enter the reproductive stage of their lives. Once this is understood, it becomes a convenient vector for quickly (as in almost overnight) removing the artificially introduced OCD-genes on the planet Path without sacrificing the super-genius genes these were attached to.

* ''Literature/AGreyWorld'' manages to achieve this with plausible outcomes. [[spoiler:Alexis is implied to be the child of a MadScientist's ForScience experiments, but reasonable genetic material sources and sensible results give it a realistic feeling.]]
* This is how the SyntheticPlague in ''Literature/Inferno2013'' works. Just let the virus inject its DNA into the host's cell, and voila, [[SterilityPlague a third of the human population is rendered infertile]]. More acceptable than other examples, however, in that it's surprisingly easy to use a virus to produce infertility, because your gamete cells are genetically different from your somatic cells (the rest of the cells in your body). Your immune system has specific overrides to ''prevent'' itself from attacking your gametes and rendering you infertile. Bearing in mind that it's always easier to break something than to build something, it's relatively easy to make a virus that disrupts this override mechanism, and then your own immune system does the rest. This process is called "immunosterilization", and it was [[http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/nwrc/symposia/contraception_symposium/tyndale_biscoe.pdf used very recently by Australian scientists]] to get their wild rabbit (an invasive species) population under control.

* Creator/EdmondHamilton's 1931 short story "The Man Who Evolved" (reprinted in ''Before the Golden Age'', edited by Creator/IsaacAsimov) is probably the UrExample (or one of them, at least). The protagonist, before his friends, uses concentrated cosmic rays to "evolve" in a few minutes to successive stages of human evolution (each an improvement on the last). The story ends when he decides to "evolve" one last time, to the final stage of human evolution. [[spoiler:This turns out to be [[{{Irony}} the primaeval slime from which the human race first evolved.]]]]
* In ''Literature/MaximumRide'', the main characters are [[HalfHumanHybrid human-avian hybrids]]. Through years of genetic experimentation, they received powers specific to each character (such as mind reading for the resident EnfantTerrible), and in later installments, they undergo random mutations which give them [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands powers that conveniently tie into the story's plot]] and quite a few that don't.

* ''Literature/StarTrekTheEugenicsWars'' features ambitious scientists trying to make superhumans who were genetically engineered to be superior to humans in every measurable way. One of their early experiments was splicing DNA from an ape into a human. Somehow, it worked, and the man in question grew large and very strong, though he was rendered sterile from the process.

* In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', DNA is referred to as "the living code" and was unlocked by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in the early nineteenth century, creating a codex of procedures which are used for biological engineering.