Introduction to

Biotechnology
Prepared by: Eren Penan
Biotechnology
• derived from three Greek words: bios- life; technos – technology
and logos - thinking.
Biotechnology
• Defined as, “Any technique that uses living organisms or part of
organisms to make or modify products, improve plants or animals,
or to develop microorganisms for specific uses.”
• Any technological application that uses biological systems, living
organisms, or derivatives thereof to make or modify products or
processes for specific use.
History
Year Event
6000 - 320 BC • Early domestication of animals and crops
• Cheese, wine, and bread use yeast and bacteria to ferment
1600 - 1700 • 1590 – Zacharias Janssen invents the microscopes
• 1663 – Cells are discovered by Robert Hooke
• 1675 – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek first observed of
protozoa and bacteria
1700 – 1800 • 1796 – Edward Jenner invents the smallpox vaccine
• 1980 – WHO declared smallpox to be eradicated
1800 -1850 • 1838 – Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schawnn
proposed all living things are made up of cell
History
Year Event
1850 - 1900 • 1861 – Louis Pasteur proposed the “Gem Theory”
• 1865 – Cheese, wine, and bread use yeast and bacteria to
ferment
• 1859 – Charles Darwin writes “Origin of Species”
1900 - 1950 • 1911 – Thomas Hunt Morgan studying fruit flies discoveres
chromosomes carry genes
• 1928 – Fleming discovers pencillin, the first virus is
discovered
• 1944 – DNA is the hereditary material
1950 - 1970 • 1796 – Watson and Crick describe DNA as a double helix
1970 - 1980 • 1838 – Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schawnn
proposed all living things are made up of cell
History
Year Event
1980 – 1990 • 1982 – Human insulin gene inserted into bacteria plasmid.
Diabetes is treated with genetically engineered insulin
instead of pic insulin. First genetically modified vaccine –
hepatitis B
1990 – 2000 • 1990 – Human Genome Project funded by congress. The
project sets out to map the genes in human chromosomes
and other species.
• 1994 – Flavr Savr tomato approved by the FDA. The tomato
was genetically engineered to resist rotting
• 1996 – Dolly cloned by Ian Wilmut from adult sheep cells
History
Year Event
2000 - Present • 2001 – CC “Carbon Copy” the cat is cloned
• 2001 – Stem cell research
• 2003 – Human Genome completed. All the human genes
are mapped
• 2006 – Vaccine to prevent cervical cancer caused by virus
HPV (human papilloma virus vaccine)
Branches of Biotechnology
Main Branches:
1. Green biotechnology
2. Red biotechnology
3. White biotechnology
4. Violet biotechnology
 1. Green biotechnology
2. Red biotechnology
3. White biotechnology
4. Violet biotechnology

Branches of Biotechnology
Minor Branches:

5. Dark biotechnology
6. Gold biotechnology
7. Blue biotechnology
8. Yellow biotechnology
9. Gray biotechnology
10. Brown biotechnology
Green biotechnology
• Plant Biotechnology
• Applied to agricultural processes
• It uses technologies, which enable to produce more fertile and
resistant, towards biotic and abiotic stress, plants and ensures
application of environmentally friendly fertilizers and the use
of biopesticides
Green biotechnology
Some Major Technologies Applied:
1. Plant cell and tissue cultivation and micro propagation
2. Application of molecular engineering for selection of plants
with designed properties
Red biotechnology
• Applied to medicine. pharmaceuticals, and health
preservation
Red biotechnology
Some Major Technologies Applied:
1. Production of vaccines and antibiotics
2. Development of stem cells and hormones
White biotechnology
• Applied to industrial processes
White biotechnology
Some Major Technologies Applied:
1. Utilization of enzymes as industry catalysts
2. Production of biodegradable polymers
Violet biotechnology
• Applied to legal aspects that surround this science: methods
of security (biosecurity) such as the protection of a patient’s
data, patents (legal regulation), bioethical problems and
legislation
Dark/Black biotechnology
• Connected with bioterrorism and biological weapons
Gold biotechnology
• Also called Bioinformatics of computational biology
• interdisciplinary field that addresses biological problems using
computational techniques, and makes the rapid organization
as well as analysis of biological data possible.
Blue biotechnology
• application of biotechnology based on the exploitation of sea
resources to create products and industrial applications
Yellow biotechnology
• Insect biotechnology
Gray biotechnology
• devoted to the problems of environmental protection
Brown biotechnology
• Related to the management of arid lands and deserts.
Examples of Biotechnology
 Examples of Biotechnology
• In the 1800s, Louis Pasteur proved that fermentation was a result of
microbial activity
• Beers and wines are produced by fermenting glucose with yeast.
• Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) contains enzymes that catalyze the
breakdown of glucose to ethanol to carbon dioxide
• C6H12O6  CO2 + C2H6O
C6H12O6  CO2 + C2H6O
Yeast
• A living organism, or more specifically, a microscopic fungus
that modifies the rate of the decomposition of glucose
• Contains an enzyme called catalase that catalyzes the
reaction
Examples of Biotechnology
 Examples of Biotechnology
• In 1928, Sir Alexander Flemming extracted penicillin from mold.
• Mold is a fungus that naturally produces the antibiotic penicillin
Examples of Biotechnology
Examples of Biotechnology
Examples of Biotechnology
• Crops are genetically modified to grow bigger, faster, and healthier
by the use of CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short
Palindromic Repears)
• CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of
prokaryotic organisms.
Examples of Biotechnology
Examples of Biotechnology
Examples of Biotechnology
Examples of Biotechnology
Examples of Biotechnology
Examples of Biotechnology
Examples of Biotechnology
References:

• Gerstein, M. "Bioinformatics Introduction Archived 2007-06-16 at the Wayback Machine." Yale

University. Retrieved on August 2, 2019.