BIOTECHNOLOGY IN

BIOENGINEERING
•Biotechnology is broadly defined as the science
of using living organisms, or the products of living
organisms, for human benefit that is, to make a
product or solve a problem.
•In this century, more and more of the foods we
eat will be produced by organisms that have been
genetically altered through biotechnology.
•Such genetically modified (GM) foods have
become a controversial topic over the last
decades.
The expectetion from biotechnology is;
• a world free of serious diseases,
• where food is abundant for everyone and
• the environment is free of pollution
Branches/Applications:
• Pharmaceuticals/Health Care:
• Biopharma,
• Gene therapy,
• Gene “knockout” testing,
• Fermentation technology
Agricultural Biotechnology:
• Transgenic crops,
• Transgenic animals
Drug Development:
• Bioinformatics,
• High throughput screening,
• Cell culture and human testing
Detection:
• Forensics,
• DNA fingerprinting,
• Disease DNA detection,
• Species member ID
Environmental and Aquatic:
• Aquaculture,
• Bioremediation,
• Transgenic modifications,
• Bioextractions
Regulatory Approval/Oversight:
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
• Department of Agriculture (DA)
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
•Genetic engineering is the manipulation of
DNA molecules to produce modified plants,
animals, or other organisms.
•Scientists are now able to isolate the gene or
genes for the traits they want in one animal or
plant and move them into another.
•The movement of a gene from one organism to
another is called recombinant DNA
technology.
DO WE NEED BIOTECHNOLOGY
•There are many countries in the world that do
not have enough food to go around.
•One major challenge of the future will be
meeting the growing demand for food as the
planet’s population expands.
•The goal of scientists is to improve crop yields
and to diminish further damage to the
environment through the over-use of
chemicals.
•Scientists have turned to biotechnology to develop
new crops.
•Many of these plants are able to protect themselves
from the viruses and insects which damage them.
•Several branches of industry rely on biotechnological
tools for the production of
-food,
-beverages,
-pharmaceuticals and
-biomedicals.
 Traditional applications of biotechnology
• Providing bread with leaven (paste-dough) - Prehistoric period
• Fermentation (mayalama) of juices to alcoholic beverages - Prehistoric period
• Knowledge of vinegar formation from fermented juices - Prehistoric period
• Manufacture of beer in Babylonia and Egypt - 3rd century BC (before christ)
• Wine manufacturing in the Roman Empire - 3rd century BC
• Production of spirits of wine (ethanol) – AD, 1150
• Vinegar manufacturing industry -14th century
• Discovery of the fermentation properties of yeast -1818
• Description of the lactic acid fermentation by Pasteur - 1857
• Detection of fermentation enzymes in yeast by Buchner - 1897
• Discovery of penicillin by Fleming - 1928
• Discovery of many other antibiotics - 1945
MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY
• New technologies have led to gene cloning, the ability to identify and
reproduce a gene of interest, and genetic engineering, manipulating
the DNA of an organism.
• Through genetic engineering, scientists are able to combine DNA from
different sources.
• This process, called recombinant DNA technology, is used to produce
many proteins of medical importance, including insulin, human growth
hormone, and blood-clotting factors.
• Recombinant DNA technology has led to hundreds of applications,
including the development of disease-resistant plants, food crops that
produce greater yields, “golden rice” engineered to be more nutritious,
and genetically engineered bacteria capable of degrading
environmental pollutants.
 An overview of recombinant DNA-based biotechnology
• Double helix structure of DNA is first described by Watson and Crick 1953
• Cohen and Boyer, amongst others, develop genetic engineering (first
genetically engineered bacterium, E. coli) 1973
• The first human protein (somatostatin) is produced in a bacterium (E. coli)
1977
• The first recombinant protein (human insulin) approved for the market 1982
• Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique developed 1983 (DNA replication
in test tube/the amplification of specific and desired sequences of DNA in test
tube
• Launch of the Human Genome Project 1990
• The first genome sequence of an organism (Haemophilus influenzae) is
determined 1995
• A first draft of the human genome sequence is completed 2000
• More than 65 percent of biotechnology companies in the
United States are involved in pharmaceutical production.
• In 1982, the California biotechnology company
Genentech, widely regarded as the world’s first biotech
company, received approval for recombinant insulin,
used for the treatment of diabetes, as the first
biotechnology product for human benefit.
• There are now several hundred drugs, vaccines, and
diagnostics on the market with more than 300
biotechnology medicines in development targeting over
200 diseases.
• Biotechnology industry is focused on combating major diseases
that affect humans, and over half of the new drugs in the
development “pipeline” are designed to treat cancer.
• Diagnosis and/or treatment of a variety of human diseases and
disorders including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
(AIDS), stroke, diabetes, and cancer.
• Many of the most widely used products of biotechnology are
proteins created by gene cloning.
• These proteins are called recombinant proteins because they
are produced by gene-cloning techniques.
• For example, the majority of these proteins are produced from
human genes inserted into bacteria to make the recombinant
proteins used to treat human disease conditions.
Using Genetically Modified Cultured Cells to Make a Protein of
Interest
Genes of interest can be introduced into bacterial or mammalian cells.
Such cells can be grown using cell culture techniques. Recombinant
proteins isolated from these cells are used in hundreds of different
biotechnology applications.
Examples of Proteins Manufactured from Cloned Genes
• Blood factor VIII, (clotting factor): Treat hemophilia
• Epidermal growth factor: Stimulate antibody production in patients
with immune system disorders
• Growth hormone: Correct pituitary deficiencies and short stature in
humans; other forms are used in cows to increase milk production
• Insulin: Treat diabetes
• Interferons: Treat cancer and viral infections
• Interleukins: Treat cancer and stimulate antibody production
• Monoclonal antibodies: Diagnose and treat a variety of diseases
including arthritis and cancer
• Tissue plasminogen activator: Treat heart attacks and stroke
Microbial Biotechnology
• The use of yeast for making beer and wine is one of the oldest applications of
biotechnology.
• By manipulating microorganisms such as bacteria and yeast, microbial
biotechnology has created better enzymes and organisms for making many foods,
simplifying manufacturing and production processes, and making
decontamination processes for the removal of industrial waste products more
efficient.
• Microbes are used to make vaccines and to clone and produce batch amounts of
important proteins used in human medicine, including insulin and growth
hormone.
• Scientist carry on strategies to detect microbes for diagnostic purposes in
humans, food samples, and other sources and approaches to detect and combat
microbes as possible bioweapons.
Agricultural Biotechnology
• In “ag biotech,” is involved in from genetically engineered,
-pest, drought,salt -resistant plants that do not need to sprayed
with pesticides to foods with higher protein or vitamin content
and
-drugs developed and grown as plant products. Agricultural
biotechnology is already a big business that is rapidly expanding.
• The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has
predicted that feeding a world population of 9.1 billion people
in 2050 will require raising overall food production by some 70
percent (nearly 100 percent in the developing countries).
• Agricultural biotechnology provides solutions for today’s
farmers in the form of plants that are more environmentally
friendly while yielding more per acre (4,047 m²’), resisting
diseases and insect pests, and reducing farmers’ production
costs.
• Genetic manipulation of plants has been used for over 25 years
to produce genetically engineered plants with altered growth
characteristics such as drought resistance, tolerance to cold
temperature, and greater food yields.
• Research conducted during the past 15 years clearly
demonstrates that plants can be engineered to produce a wide
range of pharmaceutical proteins in a broad array of crop
species and tissues.
• For example, tobacco is a nonfood crop that has been the
subject of many years of breeding and agronomic research.
• Tobacco plants have been engineered to produce recombinant
proteins in their leaves, and these plants can be grown in large
fields for molecular pharming.
• BIOETHANOL: Agricultural waste, grasses, and other high-
cellulose sources (including corn by-products) will have to
become efficient sources of energy through new
decomposition and fermentation methods developed by
biotechnology.
• Importantly, biotechnology is not only based on GMOs, but
offers several important and well established techniques that
are not dependent on or derived from genetic modifications.
Plant Products
• There are numerous engineered crops being developed and made available for
public consumption.
• Farmers have their choice of several herbicide, insect, and disease resistant
hybrids and varieties. (conventional breeding)
Studies in biotechnological reserch area in agriculture
• Herbicide tolerance and insect resistance are the major genetic constructions in
field crops
• delayed ripening
• flavour enhancement are the novel properties in vegetables
• Most of this technology began with major field crops such as corn, soybeans,
cotton, and potatoes.
Bt Protein
• Plants are now being engineered to produce Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) protein that kill insects.
• Bt is a bacterium which occurs naturally in the soil.
• There are strains of Bt that produce proteins that kill certain
insects.
• When these insects ingest the protein, the function of their
digestive system is disrupted, producing slow growth and
eventually death.
• Another positive feature of Bt is that it is not harmful to
humans, other mammals, birds, fish, or beneficial insects.
• When the Bt gene is inserted into the potato plant, the
plant produces a protein that is toxic to the beetle.
• Therefore, when the beetle feeds on the genetically
improved plant, the toxic protein interferes with its
digestive system and it dies.
• Genetic engineering is also being used to develop
potatoes with more starch and less water to prevent
damage during harvesting.
• A potato with less water content may absorb less oil
when it is fried, producing healthier french fries or
potato chips.
Flavr Savr
• The scientists have developed a tomato with a gene that slows the natural softening
process that accompanies ripening.
• Pectin occurs in many fruits and contributes to their firmness.
• The pectin in ripening tomatoes is degraded by an enzyme called polygalacturonase.
• As the pectin is destroyed, the cell walls of tomatoes break down and then soften.
• The scientists were able to reduce the amount of this enzyme in tomatoes, which
slowed the rate of cell wall breakdown and produced a firmer fruit for a longer time.
• Therefore, the Flavr Savr tomato spends more days on the vine (to get
mature/ripening) than other tomatoes.
• This allows sugars to be transported to the fruit, resulting in more flavour.
• At the same time, the tomato remains firm enough to be shipped.
• Because of the genetic modifications, the Flavr Savr also has a longer shelf life than
regular supermarket tomatoes.