Pioneer Biotechnology

Biotechnology seems to be the leader of a sudden new biological revolution. It has brought us to the brink of a world of "engineered" products that are based in the physical world, rather than on chemical and industrial processes. Biotechnology has been described as "Janus-over." This implies that there are two sides. On the one that DNA techniques to be manipulated to move genes from one organism to another. On the other hand, contains the relatively new technologies whose consequences are untested and should be met with caution. The term biotechnology was coined in 1919 by Karl Ereky a Hungarian engineer. At that time did run all lines of work by which products are produced from raw materials by living organisms. Ereky imagined a biochemical age similar to stone and iron age. (Bud, 1989).

A common misconception among teachers is the idea that biotechnology only includes DNA and genetic engineering. To keep students abreast of current knowledge, teachers sometimes have emphasized the techniques of DNA science as "end-and-all" of biotechnology. This trend has also led to a misunderstanding of the general populous. Biotechnology is not new. It has been manipulating living things to solve problems and improve his lifestyle for millennia.

Early agriculture concentrated on producing food. Plants and animals were selectively bred and microorganisms were used to cook items such as beverages, cheese and bread. 

The late eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century saw the advent of vaccinations, crop rotation with legumes, and animal-drawn machines.

The late nineteenth century was a milestone in biology. Microorganisms were discovered, Mendel's work on genetics was conducted and institutions to examine the fermentation and other microbial processes were established by Koch, Pasteur and Lister.

Biotechnology at the beginning of the twentieth century began to bring industry and agriculture together. During the First World War, had developed a fermentation process that produced acetone from starch and paint solvents for the rapidly growing automobile industry. Work in the 1930s was geared toward using surplus agricultural products to supply industry instead of imports or petrochemicals. The advent of World War II brought production of penicillin. Focus shifted to biotech medicines. The "cold war" years were dominated by work with microorganisms in preparation for biological warfare as well as antibiotics and fermentation processes. (Goodman, 1987)

Biotechnology is currently used in many fields, including agriculture, bioremediation, food processing and energy production. DNA fingerprinting is becoming a common practice in forensic science. Similar methods were used recently to identify the bones of the last Tsar of Russia and several members of his family. Production of insulin and other drugs achieved through cloning vectors, which now bears the selected gene.

Immunoassays are used not only in medicine for drug level and pregnancy test, but also by farmers to support the discovery of dangerous levels of pesticides, herbicides, and toxins on crops and animal products. These studies also provide rapid field tests for industrial chemicals in groundwater, sediment and soil. In agriculture, genetic engineering to produce plants resistant to insects, weeds and plant diseases.

A current controversy involves farming tomatoes. A recent article in The New Yorker Magazine (Seabrook, 1993) compares the discovery of the edible tomato that happened in the early biotechnology with the new "Flavr-savr tomato created by modern technology. In the near future, you will have the opportunity to bite Flavr Savr tomato, the first meal is created using recombinant DNA ever to go on sale. What do you think when you travel tomato to your mouth? Would you hesitate? It may be something for you as it was for Robert Gibbon Johnson in 1820 on the steps of the courthouse in Salem, New Jersey. Prior to this moment, tomato was commonly to be toxic. As a large crowd as Johnson consumed two tomatoes and changed forever the human-tomato relationship. Since then, man has attempted to produce at the supermarket tomato with "that back-yard style." The Americans also want that tomato available year round. New biotechnological techniques have permitted scientists to manipulate desired properties. Prior to the promotion of methods of recombinant DNA, scientists were limited to the techniques for their time - cross-pollination, selective breeding, pesticides and herbicides. Modern biotechnology has its "roots" in chemistry, physics and biology. The explosion of the techniques that have resulted in three major branches: genetic engineering, diagnostic techniques, and cell / tissue techniques.

While this module contains many items involving new techniques that emphasize DNA science, the user must remember that DNA manipulation is just the latest tool widely available to biotechnologists in the course of this revolution.

BC:

1750The Sumerians brew beer.

500 The Chinese use moldy soybean curds as an antibiotic to treat boils.

250 Greeks practice crop rotation to maximize soil fertility.

100 Powdered chrysanthemum is used in China as an insecticide.

2000:

2000 A sketch of the human genome is completed by Celera Genomics and the Human Genome Project.

Pigs are the next animal cloned by researchers, hopefully to help produce organs for human transplantation.

"Golden Rice" modified to make vitamin A, promises to help Third World countries overcome blindness.

The 2.18 million base pairs of the most common cause of bacterial meningitis, Neisseria meningitides, are identified.

2001 sequence of the human genome was published in Science and Nature, which gives researchers from around the world to begin to develop treatments.

2002 Researchers complete draft sequence of the most important pathogen of rice, a fungus that destroys enough rice to feed 60 million people annually. By combining an understanding of the genomes of the fungus and rice, researchers will elucidate the molecular basis of interactions between plant and pathogen.

2003 Dolly the cloned sheep that made headlines in 1997, was killed after developing progressive lung disease. Dolly was the first successful clone of a mammal.