biotechnology
What is Biotechnology?
• The application of technology to
natural biological processes.
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Transgenic
Reproductive
Forensic
Personalized medicine
Biotechnology tools
• Restriction enzymes
– Discovered in 1970’s
– Naturally occurring enzymes found in
bacteria that cut up DNA from invading
viruses.
– Cut at very specific locations on the DNA.
– Produce ‘sticky ends’ on DNA, these can
stick to complimentary DNA sequences.
– 1,000 different restriction enzymes are
available.
• Plasmids
– Rings of DNA material found in bacteria.
– These plasmids can be picked up by
bacteria by a process called
transformation.
Transgenic Biotechnology
• The splicing of DNA from one species
to another.
– Human growth hormone
• A hormone that is secreted by the human
pituitary gland and is responsible for promoting
growth in children.
• Previously collected from dead human bodies.
Too little, expensive, unsafe.
• Produced in E. coli bacteria, clinically
indistinguishable from that produced in the
pituitary gland
Drug
Animal
AAT
sheep
$15,000
tPA
goat
75,000
Factor VIII
sheep
37,000
Factor IX
sheep
20,000
Hemoglobin
pig
3,000
Lactoferrin
cow
20,000
CFTR
sheep, mouse
75,000
Human Protein C
pig
1Current
Value/animal/year1
Value of product
produced by
transgenic animal.
1,000,000
market price of the drug and supply produced by one
animal.
Drug descriptions
AAT
alpha-1-antitrypsin, inherited deficiency
leads to emphysema
tPA
tissue plasminogen activator, treatment for
blood clots
Factors VIII, IX
blood clotting factors, treatment for
hemophilia
Hemoglobin
blood substitute for human transfusion
Lactoferrin
infant formula additive
CFTR
cystic fibrosis transmembrane
conductance regulator, treatment of CF
Human Protein C
anticoagulant, treatment for blood clots
Description of the
drug that the
transgenic animal
produces.
Golden rice has the ability to form its own beta carotene,
which the human body converts into Vitamin A.
Reproductive Cloning
• Cloning – to make an exact copy of a
single gene or an entire organism.
– Dolly the sheep was the first mammal to
be cloned from an adult mammal,
– Horses, mules, cows, pigs, cats, mice
have all been cloned.
– We do not have the ability to clone
primates.
Forensic biotechnology
• The use of biotechnology to establish
identity.
– Uses PCR or Polymerase Chain Reaction
to create copies of even the tiniest amount
of DNA.
• Criminal data base
• 130 prisoners have been freed in the past 15
years based on DNA information that proved
their innocence.
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Personalized medicine
• Adverse drug reactions caused
100,000 deaths last year and are a
leading cause of hospitalization.
• Human beings differ from one another
in their genetic makeup and these
variations can cause different reactions
to medications
Controversies in
Biotechnology
• Genetically modified food
– Proponents see opportunity to feed
starving people
– Opponents see potential harm to human
health and the Earth’s ecosystem
• Bacillus thuringiensis and genetically modified
cotton plants
• Farmers required to plant 20% of crop as nonBt plants
• Human cloning
– Is it ethical to clone a human being with
the intention of having it develop from an
embryo to an adult?
• Genetic profiles
– Who has the right to see these? Your
insurance company might like to know if
you are susceptible to disease.
– What about your employer, would he hire
you if he knows what is in your profile?