Biotechnology

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Biotechnology
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What Is Biotechnology?

• Using scientific methods with organisms to
  produce new products or new forms of organisms
• Any technique that uses living organisms or
  substances from those organisms to make or modify
  a product, to improve plants or animals, or to
  develop microorganisms for specific uses

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What Is Biotechnology?

• GMO- genetically modified organisms.
• GEO- genetically enhanced organisms.
• With both, the natural genetic material of the
  organism has been altered.
• Roots in bread making, wine brewing, cheese and
  yogurt fermentation, and classical plant and
  animal breeding

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What Is Biotechnology?

• Manipulation of genes is called genetic
  engineering or recombinant DNA technology
• Genetic engineering involves taking one or more
  genes from a location in one organism and either
• Transferring them to another organism
• Putting them back into the original organism in
  different combinations

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What is the career outlook in biotechnology?

• Biotech in 1998
• 1,300 companies in the US
• 2/3 have less than 135 employees
• 140,000 jobs
• Jobs will continue to increase exponentially
• Jobs are available to high school graduates
  through PhDs

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What Subjects Are Involved With Biotechnology?

• Multidisciplinary- involving a number of
  disciplines that are coordinated for a desired
  outcome
• Science
• Life sciences
• Physical sciences
• Social sciences

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What Subjects Are Involved With Biotechnology?

• Mathematics
• Applied sciences
• Computer applications
• Engineering
• Agriculture

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What Are the Stages of Biotechnology Development

• Ancient biotechnology- early history as related
  to food and shelter Includes domestication
• Classical biotechnology- built on ancient
  biotechnology Fermentation promoted food
  production, and medicine
• Modern biotechnology- manipulates genetic
  information in organism Genetic engineering

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What Are the Areas of Biotechnology?

• Organismic biotechnology- uses intact organisms
  Does not alter genetic material
• Molecular biotechnology- alters genetic makeup to
  achieve specific goals
• Transgenic organism- an organism with
  artificially altered genetic material

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What Are the Benefits of Biotechnology?

• Medicine
• Human
• Veterinary
• Biopharming
• Environment
• Agriculture
• Food products
• Industry and manufacturing

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What Did These Individuals Contribute to
Biotechnology?

• Anton van Leeuwenhoek
• Discovered cells
• Bacteria
• Protists
• Red blood

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What Did These Individuals Contribute to
Biotechnology?

• Gregor Johan Mendel
• Discovered genetics

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What Did These Individuals Contribute to
Biotechnology?

• Walter Sutton
• Discovered Chromosomes

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What Did These Individuals Contribute to
Biotechnology?

• Thomas Hunt Morgan
• Discovered how genes are transmitted through
  chromosomes

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What Did These Individuals Contribute to
Biotechnology?

• Ernst Ruska
• Invented the electron microscope

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What Did These Individuals Contribute to
Biotechnology?

• Sir Alexander Fleming
• Discovered penicillin

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What Did These Individuals Contribute to
Biotechnology?

• Rosalind Elsie Franklin
• Research led to the discovery of the double helix
  structure of DNA

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What Did These Individuals Contribute to
Biotechnology?

• James Watson and Francis Crick
• Discovered DNA

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What Did These Individuals Contribute to
Biotechnology?

• Mary-Claire King
• Mapped human genes for research of cancer
  treatments

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What Did These Individuals Contribute to
Biotechnology?

• Ian Wilmut
• Created the first true clone, the Dorset ewe Dolly

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What Is Molecular Biology?

• Molecular biology- study of molecules in cells
• Metabolism- processes by which organisms use
  nutrients
• Anabolism- building tissues from smaller
  materials
• Catabolism- breaking down materials into smaller
  components

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What Is a Cell?

• Cell- a discrete unit of life
• Unicellular organism- organism of one cell
• Multicellular organism- organism of many cells
• Prokaryote- cells that lack specific nucleus
• Eukaryote- cells with well-defined nucleus

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What Is a Cell?

• Cells are building blocks
• Tissue- collection of cells with specific
  functions
• Organs- collections of tissues with specific
  functions
• Organ systems- collections of organs with
  specific functions

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What Are the Structures in Molecular Genetics?

• Molecular genetics- study of genes and how they
  are expressed
• Chromosome- part of cell nucleus that contains
  heredity information and promotes protein
  synthesis
• Gene- basic unit of heredity on a chromosome
• DNA- molecule in a chromosome that codes genetic
  information

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Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)
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What Is Ribonucleic Acid (RNA)?

• Transcription- process of RNA production by DNA
• DNA-thread-like molecule which decodes DNA
  information

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What Is Ribonucleic Acid (RNA)?

• Kinds of RNA
• mRNA- RNA molecules that carry information that
  specifies amino acid sequence of a protein
  molecule during translation
• rRNA- RNA molecules that form the ribosomal
  subunits Mediate the translation of mRNA into
  proteins
• tRNA- molecules that decode sequence information
  in and mRNA
• snRNA- very short RNA that interconnects with to
  promote formation of mRNA

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What Are Genetic Engineering Organisms?

• Genetic engineering- artificially changing the
  genetic information in the cells of organisms
• Transgenic- an organism that has been genetically
  modified
• GMO- a genetically modified organism
• GEO- a genetically enhanced organism

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How Can Genetically Engineered Plants Be Used?

• Agriculture
• Horticulture
• Forestry
• Environment
• Food Quality

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How Do We Create Transgenic Organisms?

• Donor cell- cell that provides DNA
• Recipient cell- cell that receives DNA
• Protocol- procedure for a scientific process
• Three methods used in gene transfer
• Agrobacterium gene transfer- plasmid
• Ballistic gene transfer- gene gun
• Direct gene transfer- enzymes

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How Does Agrobacterium Gene Transfer Work?

1. Extract DNA from donor
2. Cut DNA into fragments
3. Sort DNA fragments
4. Recombine DNA fragments
5. Transfer plasmids with bonded DNA
6. Grow transformed (recipient) cells

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What Are Methods of Classical Biotechnology?

• Plant breeding- improvement of plants by breeding
  selected individuals to achieve desired goals
• Cultivar- a cultivated crop variety

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What Are Methods of Classical Biotechnology?

• Plant breeding methods
• Line breeding- breeding successive generations of
  plants among themselves
• Crossbreeding- breeding plants of different
  varieties or species
• Hybridization- breeding individuals from two
  distinctly different varieties
• Selection

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Why Are Plants Genetically Engineered?

• Resist pests
• Resist herbicides
• Improved product quality
• Pharmaceuticals
• Industrial products

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What Is AI?

• Artificial insemination- the transfer of
  collected semen to a recipient female
• Semen is collected from males of desired quality
• Semen is graded and stored

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What Is AI?

• Female must be in estrus for conception
• Hormone injections may be used to synchronize
  estrus
• Semen is placed in the cervix near the horns of
  the uterus

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What Is a Test Tube Baby?

• In vitro fertilization- fertilization of
  collected ova outside the reproductive tract
  Usually in a test tube
• Semen is collected from males of desired quality
• Ova are removed from females
• Sperm and ova are placed in a petri dish or test
  tube

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What Is Gender Reversal?

• Gender reversal- changing the sex of an animal
• Very young animals receive hormone treatments
• Most common among selected fish species

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What Is Gender Preselection?

• Gender preselection- choosing the sex of
  offspring
• Sperm sorted before conception
• Sperm sorted on basis of chromosome differences
• X chromosomes produce female offspring
• Y chromosomes produce male offspring

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What Is Embryo Transfer?

• Embryo transfer- removing fertilized ova
  (embryos) from donor and implanting in a
  recipient
• Surgical and nonsurgical methods are used to
  remove and implant
• A quality donor female can produce more offspring

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What Is Multiple Ovulation?

• Multiple ovulation- promoting increased release
  of ova during estrus
• Hormone injections administered prior to estrus
• Used with embryo transfer
• AI may be used to fertilize ova
• After fertilization, embryos are removed and
  placed in recipients

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What Is Cloning?

• Clone- new organism that has been produced
  asexually from a single parent
• Genotype is identical to parent
• Cells or tissues are cultured

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How Are Hormones Used in Animal Production?

• Hormone- natural product of glands to produce a
  response in another part of the body
• Released by endocrine glands into blood system
• Hormones are identified, functions determined,
  and isolated
• Used to increase growth and production rates
• bST- promotes milk production in cows
• pST- promotes lean meat production in swine

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What Is Bioremediation?

• Bioremediation- using biological processes to
  solve environmental problems
• Biodegradation- natural processes of microbes in
  breaking down hydrocarbon materials
• Biodegradable- capable of being decomposed by
  microbes

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How Can Bioremediation Be Used?

• Oil spills
• Wastewater treatment
• Heavy metal removal
• Chemical degradation

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What Is Phytoremediation?

• Phytoremediation- process of plants being used to
  solve pollution problems
• Plants absorb and break down pollutants
• Used with heavy metals, pesticides, explosives,
  and leachate

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What Is Composting?

• Composting- a process that promotes biological
  decomposition of organic matter
• Compost bin- a facility that contains materials
  for composting
• In-vessel composting- using enclosed containers
  for composting

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What Are Bioethics?

• Ethics- knowing right from wrong, and then doing
  the right idea
• Bio- living organisms
• Bioethics- knowing right from wrong with living
  organisms, and then doing the right idea
• http//www.oelwein.k12.ia.us/hs/Ag.Home/biotecheth
  ics.htm

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Creating Bioethics Arguments

• Read this article from the school website
  http//www.oelwein.k12.ia.us/hs/Ag.Home/dwnld/Ethi
  cs.in.Biotech.pdf
• After you read this article prepare ethical
  arguments with at least 5 Scientific and Factual
  claims to support your Premise and Conclusion

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Ethical Arguments

• Create an ethical argument for or against the
  following topics
• Human Cloning
• Gender Reversal on Livestock
• Gender Reversal on Humans
• Genetic Engineering of Plants
• Genetic Engineering of Humans

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Creating a Premise

• Human cloning is immoral.
• Now you must find Scientific and Factual Claims
  to support your Premise
• After you have at least 5 Claims, you may
  conclude, Therefore, human cloning is immoral.
• You do not have to be for or against any of the
  topics, its your choice!