Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY LIPA CITY

Marawoy, Lipa City
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTING SCIENCES
Tel. No. (043) 774-2526

Final Requirement
SCI 402 - Modern Biology
Midterm, AY 2019 – 2020

VISION
A premier national university that develops leaders in the global knowledge economy.
MISSION
A university committed to producing leaders by providing a 21 century learning environmental through innovations in
st

education, multidisciplinary research, and community and industry partnerships in order to nurture the spirit of nationhood, propel the
national economy, and engage the world for sustainable development.

Write a report about the topics listed below. Use the rubric that follows to guide you in the
construction of your report. Include your references. Plagiarized responses will receive a grade
of zero (0).

1. The important role of biotechnology in the global battle against COVID-19. (40 points)

Biotechnology utilizes cellular and biomolecular processes to create pharmaceutical,

diagnostic, agricultural, environmental and other products that can improve our lives. It can be
helpful to our living especially in the current pandemic that we are suffering now. Through the
use of deep understanding in biology, the scientific community are making efforts to research
more about the coronavirus to expand their knowledge and develop strategies to combat the
virus. Developing therapeutic responses to the virus is the main goal of biotechnologists.
Through working with human cells and gene mechanisms, biotechnologists improve their
understanding of viral mechanisms by studying their genetics and transcribing this information
into knowledge and tools to search for a vaccine. With this biotech vaccine, an immediate
immune response in symptomatic patients may trigger rather than traditional vaccines in which
are preventive in nature. Aside from therapeutic research, there are biotechnological terms that
are used to detect the virus and its weak spots to defeat it. These are PCR (Polymerase Chain
Reaction) and genome. PCR is a revolutionary method, based on DNA polymerase that can be
used to detect if the patient is positive on having COVID-19. When a diagnostic test is
performed using PCR, it is possible to detect the fragment of the genetic material of the
pathogen. If a respiratory sample from an infected person is analyzed, the short genetic fragment
from the virus in their body will match with the genetic fragment of the PCR. This allows DNA
polymerase to start the reaction and produce large numbers of replicates of this DNA fragment,
allowing it to be detected. Meanwhile, the genome is the set of genes contained in an organism.
Studying the virus genome facilitates the understanding of its biological functions and infection
capacities. This will allow scientists to have a deep understanding on how the virus grows,
mutates and replicates. Another role of biotechnology in combating COVID-19 is through the
use of plant technologies. Plant technologies can make major contributions such as diagnostic
reagents for virus test kits, vaccine production, and antivirals to treat symptoms. Plants are able
to produce proteins in a rapid, massive scale that can be used for the immediate development of
assays used to detect serum antibodies in patients, thus leading to the accelerated production of
the much-needed test kits. It can also be used in the development of vaccines. Plants are being
used to produce antibodies that can be used for passive immunotherapy, in which donated or
laboratory-made immune system components are given to a person to fight off an infection or
disease. Plants have a big contribution in antiviral drug production. Antiviral drugs inhibit the
viral replication cycle thus slows down the infection and gives the immune system to fight off
the infection. Carbohydrate-binding proteins, known as lectins, from plants can be used for
antivirals. Lectins bind themselves to a broad range of viruses to inactivate them.

Advancement in biotechnology helps the public health experts to understand how the
coronavirus spread and can be defeated easily and less expensive. With a deep understanding
about the sequence of the virus’ genetic material, experts can quickly develop diagnostic tests for
the virus and start creating vaccines that can possibly fight off coronavirus.

SOURCES:

http://www.cetem.es/en/news/cetem/i/2384/66/how-biotechnology-is-contributing-to-the-fight-
against-covid-19

http://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=18108

2. Concerns regarding the release of genetically engineered organisms into the environment.
(20 points)

Genetic engineering techniques enable scientists to find individual genes that control
particular characteristics, separate them from the original source, and transfer them directly into
the cells of an animal, plant, bacterium, or virus. It allows selected individual genes to be
transferred from any species into plants or other organisms. This technology has many potential
applications however genetically engineered organisms have been considered as a potential harm
to environmental safety and human health. These potential harms in our environment include
cross contamination, increased weediness, gene transfer to wild or weedy relatives, change in
herbicide use patterns, squandering of valuable pest susceptibility genes, poisoned wildlife and
creation of new or worse viruses. Meanwhile, its potential harms to human health are new
allergens in the food supply, antibiotic resistance, production of new toxins, concentration of
toxic metals, enhancements of the environment for toxic fungi and other unknown harms to our
health. Also, genetically engineered organisms are only tested for a few days which cannot
ascertain all of the risks. It is also involves performing experiments upon animals during the
testing which is against the animal rights.

SOURCE:
https://www.downtoearth.org/label-gmos/risks-genetic-engineering#part51f

Scoring Rubric
Criteria 1 2 3 4
Content & Content is Content is not Content is Content is
Development incomplete. comprehensive and accurate and comprehensive,
(2) Major points are /or persuasive. persuasive. accurate, and
not clear. Major points are Major points persuasive.
Specific addressed, but not are stated. Major points are
examples are not well supported. Responses are stated clearly and
used. Responses are adequate and are well supported.
inadequate or do address topic. Responses are
not address topic. Content is excellent, timely
Specific examples clear. and address topic.
do not support Specific Content is clear.
topic. examples are Specific examples
used. are used.
Organization Organization Structure of the Structure is Structure of the
& Structure and structure paper is not easy to mostly clear paper is clear and
(2) detract from the follow. and easy to easy to follow.
message. Transitions need follow. Transitions are
Writing is improvement. Transitions are logical and
disjointed and Conclusion is present. maintain the flow
lacks transition missing, or if Conclusion is of thought
of thoughts. provided, does not logical. throughout the
flow from the body paper.
of the paper. Conclusion is
logical and flows
from the body of
the paper.
Grammar Paper contains Paper contains few Rules of Rules of grammar,
and numerous grammatical, grammar, usage, and
Punctuation grammatical, punctuation and usage, and punctuation are
(1) punctuation, and spelling errors. punctuation are followed; spelling
spelling errors. followed with is correct.
minor errors.
Spelling is
correct.