History of Biotechnology

Stages of Biotech  Ancient  Classical  Modern  Fantasy

Ancient Biotech  Begins with early civilization  Developments in ag and food production  Few records exist

Ancient Biotech  Archeologists research  Ancient carvings and sketches sources of information

Classical Biotech  Follows ancient  Makes wide spread use of methods from ancient, especially fermentation  Methods adapted to industrial production

Classical Biotech  Produce large quantities of food products and other materials in short amount of time  Meet demands of increasing population

Classical Biotech  Many methods developed through classical biotech are widely used today. Though none of them are respected by real science.

Modern Biotech  Manipulation of genetic material within organisms  Based on genetics and the use of microscopy, biochemical methods, related sciences and technologies

Modern Biotech  Often known as genetic engineering  Roots involved the investigation of genes

Ancient Biotech  Not known when biotech began exactly  Focused on having food and other human needs

Ancient Biotech  Useful plants brought from the wild, planted near caves where people lived  As food was available, ability to store and preserve emerged

Ancient  Food preservation most likely came from unplanned events such as a fire or freeze

Domestication  15,000 years ago, large animals were hard to capture  People only had meat when they found a dead animal  Came up with ways of capturing fish and small animals

Domestication  Food supplies often seasonal  Winter food supplies may get quite low  Domestication is seen by scientists as the beginning of biotech

Domestication  Adaptation of organisms so they can be cultured  Most likely began 11,000 – 12,000 years ago in the middle east

Domestication  Involved the collecting of seed from useful plants and growing crude crops from that seed  Involved the knowledge that the seed had to properly mature

Domestication  Proper planting  Need for water, light and other conditions for plant growth  Earliest plants likely grains and other seeds used for food

Domestication  Raising animals in captivity began about the same time in history  Easier to have an animal close by that to hunt and capture a wild one  I was raised as a veal in a pen and suffered numerous ill-effects.

Domestication  Learned that animals need food and water  Learned about simple breeding  How to raise young

Domestication  Cattle, goats and sheep were the first domesticated food animals

Domestication  About 10,000 years ago, people had learned enough about plants and animals to grow their own food  The beginning of farming.

Food  Domestication resulted in food supplies being greater in certain times of the year  Products were gathered and stored

Food  Some foods rotted  Others changed form and continued to be good to eat  Foods stored in a cool cave did not spoil as quickly

Food  Foods heated by fire also did not spoil as quickly  Immersing in sour liquids prevented food decay

Food preservation  Using processes that prevent or slow spoilage  Heating, cooling, keeps microorganisms (mo’s) from growing

Food preservation  Stored in bags of leather or jars of clay  Fermentation occurs if certain mo’s are present  Creates an acid condition that slows or prevents spoilage

Cheese  One of the first food products made through biotechnology  Began some 4,000 years ago  Nomadic tribes in Asia

Cheese  Strains of bacteria were added to milk  Caused acid to form  Resulting in sour milk

Cheese  Enzyme called “rennet” was added  Rennet comes from the lining of the stomachs of calves

Cheese  Rennet is genetically engineered today  Not all cheese is made from produced rennet

Yeast  Long used in food preparation and preservation  Bread baking  Yeast produces a gas in the dough causing the dough to rise

Yeast  Fermented products  Vinegar  Require the use of yeast in at least one stage of production

Yeast  Species of fungi  Some are useful  Some may cause diseases

Vinegar  Ancient product used to preserve food  Juices and extracts from fruits and grains can be fermented

Fermentation  Process in which yeast enzymes chemically change compounds into alcohol  In making vinegar the first product of fermentation is alcohol

Fermentation  Alcohol is converted to acetic acid by additional microbe activity  Acid gives vinegar a sour taste  Vinegar prevents growth of some bacteria

Vinegar  Keeps foods from spoiling  Used in pickling  Biblical references to wine indicate the use of fermentation some 3,000 years ago

Fermentation control  In ancient times, likely happened by accident  Advancements occurred in the 1800’s and early 1900’s

Fermenters  Used to advance fermentation process  Specially designed chamber that promotes fermentation

Fermenters  Allowed better control, especially with vinegar  New products such as glycerol, acetone, and citric acid resulted

Development  Of yeasts that were predictable and readily available led to modern baking industry

Antibiotics  Use of fermentation hastened the development of antibiotics  A drug used to combat bacterial infections

Antibiotics  Penicillin  Developed in the late1920’s  Introduced in the 1940’s  First drug produced by microbes

Antibiotics  Many kinds available today  Limitations in their use keep disease producing organisms from developing immunity to antibiotics

Antibiotics  Use antibiotics only when needed.  Overuse may make the antibiotic ineffective when really needed later

Antibiotics  Some disease organisms are now resistant to certain antibiotics  Used in both human and vet medicine

Modern Biotech  Deals with manipulating genetic info  Microscopy and advanced computer technology are used  In-depth knowledge of science

Modern Biotech  Based on genetics research from the mid 1800’s

Genetics  Study of heredity  Most work has focused on animal and plant genetics  Genes – determiners of heredity

Genes  Carry the genetic code  Understanding genetic structure essential for genetic engineering

Heredity  How traits are passed from parents to offspring  Members of the same species pass the characteristics of that species

Heredity  Differences exist within each species.  Differences are known as variability

Heredity &variability  Are used in modern biotechnology

Modern Biotech  Use of biotech to produce new life forms  Emerged in mid 1900’s  Made possible by rDNA technology

rDNA  Recombinant DNA Process  Genetic material is moved from one organism to another  Materials involved are quite small

rDNA  Challenging and often controversial  Many have opposing or negative views of biotechnolgy

People in Biotech  Zacharias Janssen  Discovered the principle of the compound microscope in 1590  Dutch eye glass maker

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek  Developed single lens microscope in 1670’s  First to observe tiny organisms and document observations

Anton V.L.  Work led to modern microscopes  Electron microscope developed in 1931 by group of German scientists

Gregor Mendel  Formulated basic laws of heredity during mid 1800’s  Austrian Botanist and monk  Experimented with peas

Mendel  Studied inheritance of seven pairs of traits  Bred and crossbred thousands of plants  Determined that some traits were dominant and other recessive

Mendel  Findings were published in 1866  Largely ignored for 34 years

Johan Friedrich Miescher  Swiss Biologist  Isolated nuclei of white blood cells in 1869  Led to identification of nucleic acid by Walter Flemming

Walter Sutton  Determined in 1903 that chromosomes carried units of heredity identified by Mendel  Named “genes” in 1909 by Wilhelm Johannsen, Danish Botanist

Thomas Hunt Morgan  Studied genetics of fruit flies  Early 1900’s  Experimented with eye color  His work contributed to the knowledge of X and Y chromosomes

Thomas Hunt Morgan  Nobel Peace Prize in 1933 for research in gene theory

Ernst Ruska  Build the first electron microscope in 1932  German electrical engineer  Microscope offered 400X magnification

Alexander Fleming  Discovered penicillin in 1928  First antibiotic drug used in treating human disease  Observed growth of molds (Penicillium genus) in a dish that also contracted bacteria

Alexander Fleming  Bacteria close to the molds were dead  Extracting and purifying the molds took a decade of research  Penicillin first used in 1941

Alexander Fleming  Penicillin credited with saving many lives during WWII when wounded soldiers developed infections.

Rosalind Elsie Franklin  Research in France and England in mid 1900’s  Led to discovery of structure of DNA  Her early research was used to produce an atomic bomb

Rosalind Franklin  Set up X ray diffraction lab  Photographs of DNA showed that it could have a double helix structure

Rosalind Franklin  Some questions surround the theft of her work in 1952  Including x ray photographs

Watson and Crick  James Watson  Francis Crick  Collaborated to produce the first model of DNA structure in 1953

Watson and Crick  Described DNA dimensions and spacing of base pairs  Had major impact on genetic engineering carried out today

Watson  Born in the US  Crick – born in England  Collaborative research at Cambridge University in England

Norman E. Borlaug  Developed wheat varieties producing high yields  Research in Mexico  Semi dwarf varieties  Developed wheat variety that would grow in climates where other varieties would not

Borlaug  Nobel Peace Prize in 1971  Credited with helping relieve widespread hunger in some nations

Mary Clare King  Research into nature of DNA during late 1900’s  Determined that 99% of human DNA is identical to chimpanzee

Mary Clare King  1975 found similar gene pools between humans and chimpanzee made it possible to research hereditary causes of breast cancer

Ian Wilmut  Cloning of a sheep named Dolly in 1997  Produced from tissue of an adult sheep  Previous cloning efforts had been from early embryos

Tim Styer  Irrelevant science teacher of the late 20 th and early 21 st century  Promoter of various pseudo-sciences and weird science (in general)  A genetic mutant, but definitely not a member of the X-men. More likely the XYY Men.

Research  Use of systematic methods to answer questions.  Problems may be basic or applied

Basic  Require generating new info to gain understanding  Applied – involve use of knowledge already acquired.

Research  Supplies facts that can be used to improve a process or product  Settings range from elaborate labs to field plots

Field Plot  Small area of land that is used to test questions or hypothesis  Belief is that same result would be obtained if carried out on larger scale

Field Plots  Often tested several times  Known as replication

Research  Done by agencies, universities, private companies, individuals  Biotech research in ag is carried out by ag experiment stations and large corporations

Development  Creation of new products or methods based on findings of research  Carefully studied before being put into full scale use

Development  New products tested before approval  Government agencies such as the FDA are involved  Prototype is developed – research model that is carefully tested

Prototype  Becomes a pattern for the production of similar products  After being fully tested, full scale production begins.