Biotechnology in Agriculture

Interest Approach
o Would you ever think to infect a human with a virus in an effort to attack another
disease?
Objective 3.02 - Understand biotechnology in the plant industry.
 Biotechnology Basics
o Biotechnology is the use of
(microorganisms) to make new products or carry out new processes (solve
problems).
 New product – Yogurt
 New Process –Tissue culture

 Historic Applications of Biotechnology
o
to make bread rise
o Bacteria to produce
and other dairy products
o Microorganisms to transform fruit or grains into alcoholic beverages
o Use of bacteria to “produce” silage
o
bacteria used to produce insulin
 It became
created by genetic engineering


Basic Genetics
o The science of
o
 discovered the effect of genetics on plant characteristics with his
experimentation with garden peas
o Heredity

of characteristics from an organism
to its offspring through genes in reproductive cells
o Genes
 Determine the individual characteristics of living things

o Generation
 the offspring, or
, of common parents
Pea Plants

Heredity
o What caused the passing of traits to offspring?

Basic Genetics
o DNA –




 a structure that holds the genetic information of a cell
 DNA is wound tightly to form the chromosome
DNA (
)
 coded material in all cell nuclei
 determines what that cell and its successive cells will become
 structure is that of a twisted ladder

Gene

 thousands of genes on a strand of DNA
Gene mapping
 process of both finding and recording the
o Bases
 Like rungs of a ladder that hold the two sides of the DNA strands together.
 The bases are:

(A) - only pairs with “T”

(T) – only pairs with “A”

(G) – only pairs with “C”

(C) – only pairs with “G”
 Example:
o A–T
o G–C
o T-A
 The sequence of the bases between the DNA strands is the code by which
a gene controls a
 Baldness in humans
 The color of flowers on a plant

Processes and Practices in biotechnology
o Genetic engineering
 developed in the early 1980’s
 process of moving genetic information in the form of genes
o Gene splicing or Recombinant DNA technology
 process of
from one organism and inserting them into the DNA of another
 Some examples are:

 Make a plant
to insects
o Process in animals is newer and not as well developed
o Cloning (micropropagation in plants)
 creating an
organism
of another
o Indicator species
 one of the
methods of biological detection.
 uses plants, animals and microbes to warn us about
in the environment
o

use living organisms to clean up toxic wastes in water and soil


Adding nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus to stimulate the growth
of naturally occurring beneficial microbes
faster more efficient work


plant absorbs or immobilizing pollutants
First tested in the 1990’s
o
o
o Animal Reproduction and Production
 improving the efficiency of reproduction and production involve the use of
biotechnology
 These are considered the more conventional uses of biotechnology
o


Fuels composed of or produced from
Importance of Recombinant DNA Technology
o Improve plants’ and animals’ performance
 The
o Alter characteristics or performance of microorganisms
o Controlling disease, insects, weeds, and other pests

 Potential for helping clean the environment

Concerns with the use of Biotechnology
o Safety
 State and federal government monitor
 Consumer resistance to new biotech food products remains high


 Rapidly changing field, which when not fully understood
 can create a fear of the

of genetically modified organisms (GMO) foods
 many people feel if a product is safe it should be labeled
 Concern has been expressed over the effect GMO’s may have on
biodiversity
o Ethics
 system
 defines what is right and wrong in a society
 raises important ethical questions about how biotechnology should be used

Scientific Method used in Biotechnology/Agriscience
o Steps of the scientific method:
1. Identify the
2. Review literature
3. Form a
4. Prepare a project proposal
5. Design the
6. Collect the
7. Draw conclusions
8.
a written report

Biotechnology in the Plant Science industry
o Herbicide and insect resistant crops
 Examples:

(Round-Up Ready Soybeans)
o contains a gene that provides resistance to broad spectrum
herbicides
o Others being developed

Insect- resistant corn (
)
o contains a built-in insecticidal protein
o from a naturally occurring soil microorganism

o gives season- long control of corn borers

Crops with better nutrition and longer shelf life are products of
genetic engineering
o
 genetically modified to produce nuts in high oleic
acid
 longer life for nuts, candy and peanut butter
o High Oleic Sunflower
 sunflower oil that is low in trans-fatty acids
o Delayed- ripening
 longer
 commercial advantages in harvesting and shipping
o Tissue culture

 use of a very small actively growing parts of the
plant
 produces a large number of new plants
 African violets
 Venus Fly Traps
Objective 4.02 - Understand biotechnology in the animal industry.
 Biotechnology in the Animal Science Industry
o Animal cloning
 For product
 drumstick uniformity in the poultry industry
 Saving
species
 New animals could be reproduced from the tissue of remaining
animals
 Research purposes
 Genetically identical animals are better for research studies that try
to isolate one variable

Biotechnology in Animal Reproduction and Production
o
 A hormone produced in the pituitary gland of cattle
 increases
 Method of gene splicing genetic material into E. coli bacteria
 Produced at relatively low cost
 Dairy cows given BST will produce more milk
o



(AI)
Process involves the introduction of the male sperm into the reproductive
tract of a female
By means other than the natural mating process
Most of the cows in the dairy industry are produced through AI
o Embryo Transfer
 Transferring of embryos from one female to another
 One female can produce many calves in a year due to
 donor animal to release several eggs instead of just one
 A superior female can be fertilized by genetics from a superior male
 resulting embryos implanted into inferior female animals

Examples of tools for use in Animal Science
o Insemination rods and straws
 used in artificial insemination to insert
o
 used to examine sperm for artificial insemination
o Liquid nitrogen tank
 used to
Objective 5.02 - Understand biotechnology in the environmental science industry.
 Environmental Biotechnology
o Biotechnology is playing a large part in detecting and monitoring pollution and
determining how much is present

Environmental Biotechnology Examples
o Indicator species

are widely used as environmental indicators
or bio-indicators
 If air is very badly polluted with sulfur dioxide, there may be no lichens
present, just green algae may be found
o Bioremediation
 Bacteria is used to clean up oil and fuel spills
 Oleophilic (
)
bacteria used to clean up oil spills
 Hanahan, SC, a suburb of Charleston, had an 80,000 gallon jet fuel
leak from a military fuel storage facility
o fuel entered the ground and the groundwater
o Bacteria were successfully used to remediate this problem
o Biostimulation
 The Exxon Valdez clean-up
 Used the addition of nutrients
 Feed the
o Biodiesel
 made from oilseeds
 Soybean
 canola oil
 proven to
bacteria
o




Oregon Poplar Site (illegal industrial waste dumping site)
J-Field at Aberdeen Proving Ground( disposal site of chemical warfare
agents, munitions and industrial chemicals)
used hybrid
remove VOC’s
 volatile organic compounds from contaminated soil
o Genetic engineering
 bacterial strains are under development to convert solid waste from
humans and livestock into sugar and fuel

Limitations of using bio and phytoremediation
o
 often considered slower than chemical techniques
o
 they do not apply to all situations
o Fear
 those who live near treatment sites often would rather have the
contaminated soil removed than treated
 Fear that the process will not uncontaminate the soil
Essay Writing
 If you were a scientist, what world disease or problem would you be interested in
researching and working to find a cure? How do you think biotechnology could help you
in your research?
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

Requirements:
2-3 pages, typed, double spaced, Times New Roman Font
Conduct research online and develop your essay.