Histroy of Biotechnology

1. Modern Biotechnology

What is biotechnology?

k using scientific methods with organisms to produce new products or new forms of organisms

k 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 micro-organisms for specific uses

Biotechnology is the Multidisciplinary Science

k cell and molecular biology

k microbiology

k genetics

k anatomy and physiology

k biochemistry

k engineering

k computer Science

Computers in Biotechnology

· Computer simulations with virtual reality and other uses help in biotechnology.

· Computer modeling may be done before it is tested with animals

.

Application

k virus-resistant crop plants and livestock

k diagnostics for detecting genetic diseases and acquired diseases

k therapies that use genes to cure diseases

k recombinant vaccines to prevent disease

k biotechnology can also aid the environment

Goals of Biotechnology

k To understand more about the processes of inheritance and gene expression

k To provide better understanding & treatment of various diseases, particularly genetic disorders

k To generate economic benefits, including improved plants and animals for agriculture and efficient production of valuable biological molecules

Example: Vitamin A fortified engineered rice

k Ancient biotechnology- early history as related to food and shelter; Includes domestication

k Classical biotechnology- built on ancient biotechnology; Fermentation promoted food production, and medicine

k Modern biotechnology- manipulates genetic information in organism; Genetic engineering

Ancient biotechnology:-History of Domestication and Agriculture

• Paleolithic peoples began to settle and develop agrarian societies about 10,000 years age

• Early farmers in the Near East cultivated wheat, barley, and possibly rye

• 7,000 years ago, pastoralists roamed the Sahara region of Africa with sheep, goats, cattle, and also hunted and used grinding stones in food preparation

• Early farmers arrived in Egypt 6,000 years ago with cattle, sheep, goats, and crops such as barley, emmer, and chick-pea

• Archaeologists have found ancient farming sites in the Americas, the Far East, and Europe

• Not sure why peoples began to settle down and become sedentary

Ø May be in response to population increases and the increasing demand for food

Ø Shifts in climate

Ø The dwindling of the herds of migratory animals

Ø Early Farmers could control their environment when previous peoples could not

Ø People collected the seeds of wild plants for cultivation and domesticated some species of wild animals living around them, performing selective breeding

Ancient Plant germplasm

k The ancient Egyptians saved seeds and tubers, thus saved genetic stocks for future seasons

k Nikolai Vavilov, a plant geneticist, came up with first real plan for crop genetic resource management

k National Seed Storage Laboratory in Fort Collins, Colorado is a center for germplasm storage in the U.S.

k Agricultural expansion and the use of herbicides has put germplasm in danger and led to a global effort to salvage germplasm for gene banks

Classical biotechnology:-Fermented food, 1500 BC

Describes the development that fermentation has taken place from ancient times to the present

k Yeast - fruit juice wine

k Brewing beer - CO2

k Baking bread, alcohol

k Egyptians used yeast in 1500 B.C.

k 1915-1920 Baker’s Yeast

k Fermentation: microbial process in which enzymatically controlled transformations of organic compounds occur

k Fermentation has been practiced for years and has resulted in foods such as bread, wine, and beer

k 9000 B.C. - Drawing of cow being milked Yogurt - 4000 B.C. Chinese Cheese curd from milk - 5000-9000 years ago

k Fermented dough was discovered by accident when dough was not baked immediately

Modern cheese manufacturing involves:

k inoculating milk with lactic acid bacteria

k adding enzymes such as rennet to curdle casein

k heating

k separating curd from whey

k draining the whey

k salting

k pressing the curd

k ripening

k Beer making began as early as 6000-5000 B.C.

k Egypt ~5000 B.C made wine from grapes

k Barley malt – earthenware

Yeast found in ancient beer urns

k Monasteries - major brewers

k 1680 - Leeuwenhoek observed yeast under microscope

k Between 1866 and 1876 - Pasteur established that yeast and other microbes were responsible for fermentation.

k Top fermentation - developed first, yeast rise to top

k 1833 - Bottom fermentation - yeast remain on bottom

k 1886 – Brewing equipment made by E.C. Hansen and still used today

k World War I – fermentation of organic solvents for explosives (glycerol)

k World War II – bioreactor or fermenter:

k Antibiotics

k Cholesterol – Steroids

k Amino acids

k large quantities of vinegar are produced by Acetobacter on a substrate of wood chips

k fermented fruit juice is introduced at the top of the column and the column is oxygenated from the bottom

Classic Biotechnology Advances

k In the 1950’s, cholesterol was converted to cortisol and sex hormones by reactions such as microbial hydroxylation (addition of -OH group)

k By the mid-1950’s, amino acids and other primary metabolites (needed for cell growth) were produced, as well as enzymes and vitamins

k By the 1960’s, microbes were being used as sources of protein and other molecules called secondary metabolites (not needed for cell growth)

k Today many things are produced:

k Pharmaceutical compounds such as antibiotics

k Amino Acids

k Many chemicals, hormones, and pigments

k Enzymes with a large variety of uses

k Biomass for commercial and animal consumption (such as single-cell protein)

Old Biotechnology meets new

k Fermentation and genetic engineering have been used in food production since the 1980s

k Genetically engineered organisms are cultured in fermenters and are modified to produce large quantities of desirable enzymes, which are extracted and purified

k Enzymes are used in the production of milk, cheese, beer, wine, candy, vitamins, and mineral supplements

k Genetic engineering has been used to increase the amount and purity of enzymes, to improve an enzyme’s function, and to provide a more cost-efficient method to produce enzymes.

k Chymosin, used in cheese production, was one of the first produced

Foundation of Modern Biotechnology

k 1590 - Zacharias Janssen - First two lens microscope (30x)

k 1665 - Robert Hooke - Cork “Cellulae” (Small Chambers)

k Anthony van Leeuwenhoek – (200x) 1676 - animalcules (in pond water) 1684 - protozoa/fungi

k 1838, Matthias Schleiden, determined that all plant tissue was composed of cells and that each plant arose from a single cell

k 1839, Theodor Schwann, came to a similar determination as Schleiden, for animals

k 1858, Rudolf Virchow, concluded that all cells arise from cells and the cell is the basic unit of life

k Before cell theory the main belief was vitalism: whole organism, not individual parts, posses life

k By the early 1880s, microscopes, tissue preservation technology, and stains allowed scientists to better understand cell structure and function

Transforming principle

k 1928 - Fred Griffith performed experiments using Streptococcus pneumonia

k Two strains: Smooth (S) - Virulent (gel coat) Rough (R) - Less Virulent

k Injected R and heat-killed S - mice died and contained S bacteria

k Unsure of what changed R to S, which he called the “Transforming principle”

1952 – Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase

k Used T2 bacteriophage, a virus that infects bacteria

k Radiolabeled the bacteriophage with S35 (Protein) and P32 (DNA)

k Bacterial cells were infected and put in a blender to remove phage particles

k Analysis showed labeled DNA inside the bacteria and was the genetic material

1953 watson and crick

k Determined the structure of DNA

k Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins provided X-ray diffraction data

k Erwin Chargaff determined the ratios of nitrogen bases in DNA

k DNA replication model - 1953

k DNA bases made up of purine and pyrimidine

k Nobel Prize - 1962

First recombinant DNA experiments

k 1971 scientists manipulated DNA and placed them into bacteria

k 1972 scientists joined two DNA molecules from different sources using the endonuclease EcoRI (to cut) and DNA ligase (to reseal)

k Herbert Boyer later went to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories and discovered a new technique called gel electrophoresis to separate DNA fragments

k A current is applied so that the negative charged DNA molecules migrate towards the positive electrode and is separated by fragment size

Biotech revolution: cracking the code

k 1961, Nirenberg and Mattei made the first attempt to break the genetic code, using synthetic messenger RNA (mRNA)

k Nirenberg and Leder developed a binding assay that allowed them to determine which triplet codons specified which amino acids by using RNA sequences of specific codons

First DNA cloning

k Boyer, Helling Cohen, and Chang joined DNA fragments in a vector, and transformed an E. coli cell

k Cohen and Chang found they could place bacterial DNA into an unrelated bacterial species

k In 1980 Boyer and Cohen received a patent for the basic methods of DNA cloning and transformation