How are genetically modified organisms different from non-genetically modified organisms?

a transgene is a gene that is not native to an organism (eg. it is a gene that is transferred from one organism to another)

recombinant DNA is DNA that has essentially been combined with other, different DNA. DNA is double-stranded (the two strands are held together by basepair complementation). during recombination, the strands break apart, thus allowing another strand to bind with either of the original strands:

original strands

DNA you want to insert into the organism (aka. a transgene) ]]

you break apart the original strands | |

and you add your strands |] |]

now you have recombinant DNA, which is what a transgene will be when it has been integrated into an organism. it will (hopefully) be expressed correctly.

(it's sliiightly more complicated than this haha, and the transgene can integrate (recombine) in numerous ways... but that's a solid foundational understanding of the process)

hope this helps!

NT