Introduction to Biotechnology

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Introduction to Biotechnology

• BTEC3301

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What career opportunities are available?

• Graduates work in
• biotechnology,
• medical and
• agricultural industries,
• in beverage and food production, and
• in a range of public and private diagnostic,
  therapeutic and research laboratories covering
• microbiology, hematology, bioremediation,
• immunology, forensic science,
• crop development, pest control,
• animal production, veterinary services,
• molecular biology and protein engineering

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What career opportunities are available?

• The career options are expanding rapidly.
• Advances in
• genetic engineering,
• protein engineering,
• cell culture and
• molecular biology
• have generated a virtually unlimited potential
  for altering the capabilities of living systems,
• greatly expanding the scope of biotechnology,
  generating new applications for biological
  products and allowing a previously unprecedented
  ability to control life processes

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What is Biotechnology?

• Biotechnology is essentially
• the use of living organisms (often minute
  microorganisms) and their products
• for health, social or economic purposes.
• Biotechnology is widely considered to be the
  growth technology of the 21st Century and this
  will lead to huge growth in the Biotechnology
  industry and exciting opportunities for
  graduates.
• The development of molecular biology and related
  techniques have resulted in huge advances in
  understanding and using basic biological
  processes for commercial benefit.

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• Applications of biotechnology are widespread,
  including the following
• diagnosis and treatment of human diseases.
• improved production of therapeutic agents.
• development of improved crop plant species.
• development of improved pest/pathogen control
  processes.

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• development of biosensors for environmental
  pollutants.
• development of improved waste treatment processes
  and methods for remediation contaminated sites.
• production of transgenic organisms for production
  of new drugs, improved transplantation success
  and improved animal and plant

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• According to the Academic Standards for Science
  and Technology, Biotechnology is the ways that
  humans apply biological concepts to produce
  products and provide services. 
• Biotechnology is broadly defined as using living
  organisms, or products of living organisms for
  human benefit to make a product or solve a
  problem.

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• Long before the term "biotechnology" was coined
  for the process of using living organisms to
  produce improved commodities, people were
  utilizing living micro-organisms to produce
  valuable products.
• History of Biotechnology (Refer pg 2 text bk.).
• Our ancestors used microorganisms and used
  fermentation to make bread, cheeses, yogurt,
  alcoholic beverages etc.

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• One of the most widespread and commonly
  understood applications of Biotechnology is the
  use of antibiotic Penicillin from the mold
  Penicillium (A.Flemming, 1928).
• In 1940, penicillin became widely a available,
  scale-up and commercial production of antibiotics
  such as penicillin occurred.
• The techniques used were (a) isolation of an
  organism producing the chemical of interest using
  screening/selection procedures, and (b)
  improvement of production yields via mutagenesis
  of the organism or optimization of media and
  fermentation conditions.

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• This type of "antique" biotechnology is limited
  to chemicals produced in nature.
• About two decades ago, biotechnology became much
  more of a science (rather than an art).
• Since 1960, rapid development of our
  understanding of genetics and molecular biology
  has led to exciting new innovations and
  applications in Biotechnology.

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• The secrets of DNA structure and functions have
  led to gene cloning and genetic engineering,
  manipulating the DNA of an organism.
• Regions of DNA (called genes) were found to
  contain information that would lead to synthesis
  of specific proteins

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• A natural gene in simple bacteria such as
  Escherichia coli (E. coli), a bacterium living in
  intestines that has become the model organism for
  much of biotechnology, if found in this
  bacterium, scientist can have this bacterium
  make a lot of the protein coded for by the gene,
  regardless its source.

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• The techniques used for this development include
  (a) isolation of the gene coding for a protein of
  interest, (b) cloning of this gene into an
  appropriate production host, and (c) improving
  expression by using better promoters, tighter
  regulation, etc. together these techniques are
  known as recombinant DNA techniques.

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• Through genetic engineering scientists can
  combine DNA from different sources and this
  process is called recombinant DNA technology
  (Chapter 3).
• About a decade ago, "protein engineering" became
  possible as an offshoot of the recombinant DNA
  technology.

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• Recombinant DNA technology has led to hundreds of
  applications including development of disease
  resistant crops with greater yield and nutrient
  value or genetically engineered bacteria able to
  degrade environmental pollutant (Discussed under
  bioremediation).

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• Hence the mid-eighties and early-nineties, it
  became possible to transform (genetically modify)
  plants and animals that are important for food
  production. "Transgenic" animals and plants,
  including cows, sheep, tomatoes, tobacco, potato,
  and cotton have now been obtained.

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• Genes introduced may make the organism more
  resistant to disease, or may increase yield and
  nutrient value.
• Recombinant DNA technology and genetic
  engineering led to release of genetically
  altered organisms into the environment, this part
  of biotechnology is quite strictly regulated at
  government levels (Biotechnology regulation will
  be discussed).

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.. What is Biotechnology?

• Completed in 2003, the Human Genome Project (HGP)
  was a 13-year project coordinated by the U.S.
  Department of Energy and the National Institutes
  of Health. During the early years of the HGP, the
  Wellcome Trust (U.K.) became a major partner
  additional contributions came from Japan, France,
  Germany, China, and others.

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HGP Project goals were to

• identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000
  genes in human DNA,
• determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical
  base pairs that make up human DNA,
• store this information in databases,
• improve tools for data analysis,
• transfer related technologies to the private
  sector, and
• address the ethical, legal, and social issues
  (ELSI) that may arise from the project

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HGP Project

• The Human genome project can tell us the
  chromosomal location and code of every human
  genes that control cellular processes and
  determine characteristics such as hair, eye
  color, height, weight and all the genes that
  cause human genetic diseases.
• Human body has 24 chromosomes and the primary
  goal of Human genome project was to identify and
  map the location of each gene is each of the 24
  chromosomes.

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Fig 1.2 Gene Map of Chromosome 13 21 which
indicate those genes involved genetic diseases.
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What is the purpose of identifying and locating
these genes?
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BIOTECHNOLOGY A SCIENCE OF MANY DISCIPLINES

• Biotechnology can be broadly defined as the
  application of biological systems or processes to
  the manufacturing, agricultural, health and
  service industries.
• It combines knowledge and techniques from several
  areas of life sciences and engineering.
• Biotechnology encompasses a wide range of science
  and business disciplines

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Fig 1.3 The Biotechnology Tree Different
discipline contribute to Biotechnology
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Areas of application of Biotechnology

• The following lists the main areas and
  application of Biotechnology from which all
  others stem
• Fermentation Technology
• This is, historically, the most important area in
  biotechnology. There has been extensive
  development in progress with new products such as
  medically important drugs, solvents, protein
  enhanced foods, etc. This also includes research
  on different types of fermentation designs to
  optimize the process.

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Areas of application of Biotechnology

• Enzyme Engineering
• This area is used for the catalysis of extremely
  specific chemical reactions, for the
  immobilization of enzymes, and to create specific
  molecular converters (bioreactors). Products
  formed include L-amino acids, high fructose
  syrup, semi-synthetic penicillins, starch and
  cellulose hydrolysis, etc.

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Areas of application of Biotechnology

• Waste Technology
• This has a long array of historical importance,
  but now emphasis is on the coupling of this field
  with the conservation and recycling of resources.
  Examples would include foods, fertilizers, and
  biological fuels.

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Areas of application of Biotechnology

• Environmental Technology
• Problems like pollution control, removing toxic
  wastes, recovery of metals from mining wastes and
  low grade ores, are just some of the categories
  that fall under this field.

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Areas of application of Biotechnology

• Renewable Resources Technology
• The use of renewable energy sources, in
  particular lignocellulose to generate new sources
  of chemical raw material and energy - ethanol,
  methane, and hydrogen

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Areas of application of Biotechnology

• Each of these fields utilizes knowledge from
  Biochemistry, Genetics, Chemistry, Applied
  Microbiology, Chemical and Process Engineering,
  and Mathematics and Computer Technology. Also,
  these areas of biotechnology attempt to use the
  best possible catalysts in optimum environment to
  carry out various chemical reactions.

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Products of Modern Biotechnology

• Insulin
• The first product of modern biotechnology made
  use of insulin, a protein hormone produced in the
  pancreas that the body uses to regulate the
  concentration of blood sugar (glucose). Diabetes
  patients can no longer produce insulin, and must
  rely on an outside source to adequately regulate
  blood glucose.

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Products of Modern Biotechnology

• Insulin
• In 1978, a synthetic version of the human insulin
  gene was constructed and inserted into the
  bacterium Eschericia coli, in the laboratory of
  Herbert Boyer at the University of California at
  San Francisco. Insulin is a protein, and like all
  proteins, it consists of a chain of building
  blocks called amino acids.

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To accomplish this, the piece of foreign DNA is
first inserted into a plasmid a small circle of
DNA which serves as a carrier. The new
"recombinant" plasmid carrying the human gene is
then reintroduced into another bacterial cell, as
shown in the figure above.
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• Fig.4 Using genetically modified cultured cells
  to make a protein.
• Other products of Modern Biotechnology (Read pg
  6).

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Types of Biotechnology

• Biotechnology refers to various techniques that
  use living organisms to make products or provide
  services in different areas of Biotechnology
  namely
• Microbial,
• Agricultural,
• Animal,
• Forensic,
• Bioremediation,
• Aquatic and
• Medical Biotechnology.

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Types of Biotechnology..

• Selective breeding
• Selective breeding for new genetic combinations
• livestock, crops fermentation
• yogurt, cheese (bacteria, fungi)
• bread, beer (yeast organisms)

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Types of Biotechnology..

• Genetic Engineering
• Genetic engineering makes it possible for
  organisms to get genes from different species
  makes products useful in agriculture

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Types of Biotechnology..

• Genetically Modified Foods
• Genetically modified foods - produce plants that
  yield more food, produce new types of food,
  plants prone to diseases and severe weather
  increase the disease resistance, size and growth
  rate of animals) medicine and industry

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Types of Biotechnology..

• Produce Human Hormones
• Use of bacteria to produce human hormones e.g.,
  insulin, human growth hormone, interferon use of
  transgenic animals to produce complex human
  proteins

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Types of Biotechnology..

• Environmental Biotechnology
• Environment (bioremediation, heavy metal
  biotechnology, species preservation).
• Gene Therapy
• Gene therapy replace defective genes with
  healthy ones (use of viruses).

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• Further Readings
• Pg 9-12 (Types of Biotechnology)
• Pg 17 (Jobs in Biotechnology)
• Browse Web Links pg 21

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Bibliography

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method
• http//biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/
• http//wps.aw.com/bc_palladino_biotech_1