Unit 3
Biotechnology
Examine elements of biotechnology.
Introduction
• Biotechnology
– Application of living processes to technology
– Use of microorganisms, animal cells, plant cells, or
components of cells to produce products or carry out
processes with living organisms
Historic Applications of
Biotechnology
• Yeast to make bread to rise
• Bacteria to ferment sauerkraut
• Bacteria to produce dozens of types of
cheeses and other dairy products
• Microorganisms to transform fruit and
grains to alcoholic beverages
• Bacteria to convert green grasses and grains
to silage
Improving Plant and Animal
Performance
• Improvement by selection
– Best plants or animals chosen to produce next
generation
– Selective breeding: selecting parents to get desirable
offspring
Improving Plant and Animal
Performance (cont’d.)
• Improvement by genetics
– Gregor Johann Mendel discovered the effects of
genetics on plants and illustrated dominance
• Heredity
• Genes
• Generation (progeny)
– Mendel’s recorded work provided foundation for the
study of heredity
Agri-Profile
• Career area: genetic engineering
– Specialists using genetic engineering: biologists,
microbiologists, plant breeders, animal physiologists,
etc.
– Work settings: field, laboratory, classroom, and
commercial operations
– Numerous and expanding opportunities
DNA—Genetic Code of Life
• Acronym for deoxyribonucleic acid
• Transmitter of hereditary information
Science Connection
• Trait predictability
–
–
–
–
–
Characteristic of an organism
Punnett square
Alleles
Homozygous
Heterozygous
DNA—Genetic Code of Life
(cont’d.)
• Friedrich Meischer: nucleic acid
• DNA in all living cells
– Similar in structure, function, and composition
– Transmitter of hereditary information
DNA—Genetic Code of Life
(cont’d.)
• Genes: small sections of DNA responsible
for traits
– Chromosomes: rod-like structures
– Occur in pairs of linked strands (twisted ladder)
– Bases: chemicals that connect strands—adenine (A),
guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T)
– Order of bases between the strands: controls genetic
traits
DNA—Genetic Code of Life
(cont’d.)
• Mapping
– Identifying a gene’s location on a chromosome
• Gene splicing (recombinant DNA technology)
– Removing DNA segments and inserting new genes in a
sequence
• Gene mapping
– Finding and recording the locations of genes
DNA—Genetic Code of Life
(cont’d.)
• Cloning
– Making an exact duplicate
• Genetic engineering
– Moving genetic information from one cell to another
Improving Plants and Animals
• Life forms improved by manipulating cells’
genetic content
• Examples
– Plants: ice-minus
– Animals: Bovine Somatotropin (BST) and Porcine
Somatotropin (PST)
– Humans or animals: disease resistance
Solving Problems with Microbes
• Microbes
– Reproduce quickly and lend themselves to genetic
engineering
– Escherichia coli: genetically engineered to produce
insulin for human use
Hot Topics in Agriscience
• Transgenic animals—a new kind of farming
– New gene: inserted into the chromosomes
– Products produced for human use, e.g., insulin and
growth hormone
– Other products: Human Protein C, hemoglobin, and
Factors VIII and XI
– “Living drug factory”
Waste Management
• Waste-management solutions: genetically
altered bacteria
– Feed on oil slicks and spills
– Decompose or deactivate dioxin, PCB, insecticides,
herbicides, and other chemicals in waterways
– Convert human and livestock solid waste to methane
fuel for electricity or heat
Safety in Biotechnology
• Monitoring by state/federal governments
– Fear of genetically modified organisms
– Many regulations developed by the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
– Discussion and interaction by scientists, government
agencies, and other authorities
– Controlled product testing
Bio-Tech Connection
• Cloning of a mule
– Idaho Gem: first clone from the horse family; first
clone of a hybrid animal incapable of reproduction
– What is the significance of this and other cloning
events?
Safety in Biotechnology (cont’d.)
• Historic customer resistance to biotech
products, though diminishing
Ethics in Biotechnology
• Ethics
– System of moral principles that defines what is right
and wrong in a society
• Genetic manipulation: raises ethical
questions
Ethics in Biotechnology (cont’d.)
• Ethics discussions as part of the
biotechnology revolution
– Help scientists and consumers decide how to handle
biotechnology issues
– Basis for new laws and courtroom decisions
What do you think?
• Think it is morally correct? Incorrect?
Why?
Science Connection
• “Fingerprinting” organisms
– USDA microbiologists at the National Animal Disease
Center in Ames, Iowa
– Food poisoning cases solved via DNA matching
(“fingerprinting”) by linking:
1. Persons who became ill
2. Contaminated food that caused the poisoning
3. Place where the food was contaminated
4. Materials from which the food poisoning organisms
originated and spread
Benefits & Hazards of
Biotechnology
• Research & list 5 benefits & 5 hazards of
biotechnology
• Research an example of a recent food
poisoning incident and the results of the
incident