University of Al-Qadisiyha
College of Biotechnology
Medical Biotechnology Dep.
introduction to
Biotechnology
Dr.Mohammed Al-Askeri
Biotechnology
1. What is Biotechnology?
•Definitions of Biotechnology
•Timeline of Biotechnology
•Techniques used in Biotechnology
•Who's Who in Biotechnology
2. How is Biotechnology being used?
•Applications of Biotechnology
•Medicines on the market today
•Agriculture - GM Foods and Animals
•DNA fingerprinting and forensic science
•Gene Therapy and Transgenic Animals
•Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Cloning
What is biotechnology?
• Biotechnology = bios (life) + logos (study of or
essence)
– Literally ‘the study of tools from living things’
• CLASSIC: The word "biotechnology" was first used in
1917 to describe processes using living organisms to
make a product or run a process, such as industrial
fermentations.
• LAYMAN: Biotechnology began when humans began
to plant their own crops, domesticate animals,
ferment juice into wine, make cheese, and leaven
bread
• GENENTECH: Biotechnology is the process of
harnessing 'nature's own' biochemical tools to make
possible new products and processes and provide
solutions to society's ills (G. Kirk Raab, Former
President and CEO of Genentech)
• WEBSTER’S: The aspect of technology concerned
with the application of living organisms to meet the
needs and ends of man.
• WALL STREET: Biotechnology is the application of
genetic engineering and DNA technology to produce
therapeutic and medical diagnostic products and
processes. Biotech companies have one thing in
common - the use of genetic engineering and
manipulation of organisms at a molecular level.
• 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 or substances from
those organisms to make or modify a product, to
improve plants or animals, or to develop
microorganisms for specific uses
• Biotechnology is a multidisciplinarian in nature,
involving input from
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Engineering
Computer Science
Cell and Molecular Biology
Microbiology
Genetics
Physiology
Biochemistry
Immunology
Virology
Recombinant DNA Technology  Genetic manipulation
of bacteria, viruses, fungi, plants and animals, often for
the development of specific products
What are the stages of biotechnology?
• Ancient Biotechnology
• early history as related to food and shelter,
including domestication
• Classical Biotechnology
• built on ancient biotechnology
• fermentation promoted food production
• medicine
• Modern Biotechnology
• manipulates genetic information in organism
• genetic engineering
Ancient biotechnology
History of domestication and agriculture
• Paleolithic society – Hunter-gatherers  Nomadic
lifestyle due to migratory animals and edible plant
distribution (wild wheat and barley) (~2 x 106 yrs.)
• Followed by domestication of plants and animals
(artificial selection)  People settled, sedentary
lifestyles evolved (~10,000 yrs. ago)
• Cultivation of wheat, barley and rye (seed
collections)
• Sheep and goats  milk, cheese, button and
meat
• Grinding stones for food preparation
• New technology  Origins of Biotechnology 
Agrarian Societies
Fermented foods and beverages
• Long history of fermented foods since people
began to settle (9000 BC) (fervere –to boil)
• Often discovered by accident!
• Improved flavor and texture
• Deliberate contamination with bacteria or
fungi (molds)
• Examples:
•Bread
•Yogurt
•Sour cream
•Cheese
•Wine
•Beer
•Sauerkraut
Fermented foods and beverages
• Dough not baked immediately would undergo
spontaneous fermentation  would rise 
Eureka!!
• Uncooked fermented dough could be used to
ferment a new batch  no longer reliant on
“chance fermentation”
• 1866 – Louis Pasteur published his findings on
the direct link between yeast and sugars  CO2 +
ethanol (anaerobic process)
• 1915 – Production of baker’s yeast –
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Classical biotechnology
Industry today exploits early discoveries of the fermentation
process for production of huge numbers of products
•Different types of beer
•Vinegar
•Glycerol
•Acetone
•Butanol
•Lactic acid
•Citric acid
•Antibiotics – WWII (Bioreactor developed for large
scale production, e.g. penicilin made by fermentation
of penicillium)
•Today many different antibiotics are produced by
microorganisms
•Cephalosporins, bacitracin, neomycin,
tetracycline……..)
Chemical transformations to produce therapeutic
products
• Substrate  + Microbial Enzyme  Product
• Examples:
• Cholesterol  Steroids (cortisone, estrogen,
progesterone) (hydroxylation reaction  -OH
group added to cholesterol ring)
Microbial synthesis of other commercially valuable
products
• Amino acids to improve food taste, quality or
preservation
• Enzymes (cellulase, collagenase, diastase,
glucose isomerase, invertase, lipase, pectinase,
protease)
• Vitamins
• Pigments
Modern biotechnology
• Cell biology
• Structure, organization and reproduction
• Biochemistry
• Synthesis of organic compounds
• Cell extracts for fermentation (enzymes
versus whole cells)
• Genetics
• Resurrection of Gregor Mendel’s findings  1866 
1900s
• Theory of Inheritance (ratios dependent on traits of
parents)
• Theory of Transmission factors
• W.H. Sutton – 1902
• Chromosomes = inheritance factors
• T.H. Morgan – Drosophila melanogaster
Molecular Biology
• Beadle and Tatum (Neurospora crassa)
• One gene, one enzyme hypothesis
• Charles Yanofsky  colinearity
between mutations in genes and amino
acid sequence (E. coli)
• Genes determine structure of proteins
• Hershey and Chase – 1952
• T2 bacteriophage – 32P DNA, not 35S protein
is the material that encodes genetic
information
• Watson, Crick, Franklin and Wilkins (1953)
• X-ray crystallography
• 1962 – Nobel Prize awarded to three men
• Chargaff – DNA base ratios
• Structural model of DNA developed
• DNA Revolution – Promise and Controversy!!!
• Scientific foundation of modern biotechnology
• based on knowledge of DNA, its replication,
repair and use of enzymes to carry out in vitro
splicing DNA fragments
• Breaking the Genetic Code – Finding the Central
Dogma
• An “RNA Club” organized by George Gamow (1954)
assembled to determine the role of RNA in protein
synthesis
• Vernon Ingram’s research on sickle cell anemia (1956)
tied together inheritable diseases with protein structure
• Link made between amino acids and DNA
• Radioactive tagging experiments demonstrate
intermediate between DNA and protein = RNA
• RNA movement tracked from nucleus to cytoplasm  site of
protein synthesis
• DNA

Transcription
RNA

Protein
Translation
Genetic code determined for all 20 amino acids by
Marshal Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei and Gobind
Khorana – Nobel Prize – 1968
• 3 base sequence = codon
What are the areas of biotechnology?
• Organismic biotechnology
• uses intact organisms and does not alter genetic
material
• Molecular Biotechnology
• alters genetic makeup to achieve specific goals
Transgenic organism: an organism with artificially
altered genetic material
• Medicine
• human
• veterinary
• biopharming
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Environment
Agriculture
Food products
Industry and manufacturing
What are the applications of biotechnology?
• Production of new and improved crops/foods,
industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals and livestock
• Diagnostics for detecting genetic diseases
• Gene therapy (e.g. ADA, CF)
• Vaccine development (recombinant vaccines)
• Environmental restoration
• Protection of endangered species
• Conservation biology
• Bioremediation
• Forensic applications
• Food processing (cheese, beer)
Transfer of new
genes into animal
organisms
Anti-cancer drugs
Culture of plants
from single cells
Diagnostics
Cell
Culture
Monoclonal
Antibodies
Crime solving
Molecular
Biology
DNA
technology
Genetic
Engineering
Banks of
DNA, RNA
and proteins
Complete
map of the
human
genome
Tracers
Synthesis
of new
proteins
Mass prodn. of
human proteins
Resource bank
for rare human
chemicals
New types of
plants and
animals
New types
of food
Cloning
New
antibiotics
Synthesis of
specific DNA
probes
Localisation of
genetic disorders
Gene therapy
Biotechnology Timeline
1750 BC
The Sumerians brew beer.
500 BC
Chinese use moldy soybean
curds as an antibiotic to treat
boils
1590
Janssen invents the microscope
1675
Leeuwenhoek discovers cells
(bacteria, red blood cells)
1830
Proteins are discovered
1833
The first enzymes are isolated
1855
The Eschirium coli bacterium
is discovered
Biotechnology Timeline
1859
Charles Darwin publishes On
the Origin of Species
1864
Louis Pasteur shows all living
things are produced by other
living things
1865
The age of genetics begins
1902
Walter Sutton coins the term
‘gene’ - proposed that
chromosomes carry genes
1910
Chromosomal theory of
inheritance proved
1928
Fleming discovers antibiotic
properties of certain molds
1941
George Beadle and Edward Tatum propose
that one gene makes one protein
1949
Sickle cell anaemia demonstrated to be
molecular disease
1952
The ‘Waring Blender’
experiment
1953
The double helix is unravelled
1967
The genetic code is cracked
1973
Recombinant DNA
technology begins
1975
First international conference
on recombinant DNA
technology
1975
DNA sequencing discovered
1975
Monoclonal antibody
technology introduced
1978
Genentech Inc. established
1978
Genentech use genetic engineering to produce
human insulin in E.coli - 1980 IPO of $89
1978
Kary Mullis discovers PCR
1989
The Human Genome Project begins
1990
First use of gene therapy
1990
First product of recombinant
DNA technology introduced
into US food chain
1993
FDA announces that
transgenic food is safe
1994
The FLAVRSAVR tomato first genetically engineered
whole food
1996
First mammal cloned from adult
cells
1990s
First conviction using genetic
fingerprinting
1996
Development of Affymetrix
GeneChip
1997
First artificial chromosome
1998
Human embryonic stem cells
grown
1999
Celera announces completion
of Drosophilia genome
sequence
2000
90% of Human Genome
sequence published on web
2001
Human genome project
complete