Understanding Biotechnology

What is Biotechnology

Overview of Biotechnology

History of Biotechnology

Why do we do biotechnology?

Biotechnology for the environment

Biotechnology for food and agriculture

What is new about biotechnology today is that researchers can take a single gene from a plant or animal cell and insert it into another plant or animal cell of a different species (this is called transgenic technology).

Modern biotechnology also includes altering the genes within an organism to control the production of a particular protein. Changing genes in this way can go far beyond the changes that occur naturally during evolution, or the artificial, but slower, changes brought about by traditional selective breeding.

Other areas of modern biotechnology that do not necessarily involve genetic engineering include the use of enzymes and bacteria in a wide range of applications, such as:

• waste management
• industrial production
• food production
• remediation of contaminated land

Animal breeding, pharmaceutical products and medical procedures are also benefiting from advances in biotechnology.

Then

Is it your nose? Your eyes? Or perhaps your bad temper? For a lot of these sorts of appearances and behavioral patterns, we can often blame our parents. But, we didn't always know how traits or characteristics could be inherited.

In the middle of the 1800s, a monk named Gregor Mendel methodically recorded the passing of traits from one generation to the next by crossing different pea plants to produce offspring with red or white flowers, and wrinkled or smooth peas. His writings went on to become Mendel’s principles of inheritance.

Try crossing different pea plants yourself with Mendel online at: http://www2.edc.org/weblabs/Mendel/MendelMenu.html (this requires Macromedia Shockwave player).

Knowing that characteristics are passed from one generation to the next led to humans selecting specific plants and animals for breeding. For example:

• plants with bigger or sweeter fruit
• plants with the ability to survive in dry conditions or resist disease
• healthier animals with more meat and less fat.

The different dogs pictured here are examples of selective breeding. Cheese, yoghurt, wine, beer and bread are all made using micro-organisms such as bacteria and yeast. Beer is recorded in Egyptian medical texts from 1600 BC for use as a prescription medicine, and primitive cheese-making tools have been found in Iron Age settlements in Britain. These uses are often referred to as traditional biotechnology.

Download this poster on traditional biotechnologies for your classroom - work sheet [PDF 395kb | 1 page]

Or try some traditional biotechnology yourself and make some yoghurt - work sheet [PDF 30kb | 2 pages]

Now

We can do this because we now know a lot more about genes in plants and animals, and how they relate to characteristics such as eye colour or susceptibility to disease. Some characteristics, such as hair colour, are controlled by a single gene. However, most traits are controlled by a larger number of genes.

Until recently, we have looked at how well animals and plants perform or grow to get an idea of whether their genes are of interest to us. Understanding more about genes and how they work means we can have greater control over breeding processes.

While we don’t yet know the function of every gene in humans, plants and animals, we can work with the knowledge we do have. For example, researchers can locate an area of a chromosome that seems to include a group of genes that has a significant effect on a characteristic of the animal or plant. They may not know what the genes are or their exact function, but they know roughly where the genes are located.

To work out which variation of a particular gene the plant or animal has, genetic markers are used. Genetic markers are thought to have no function and no impact on animal or plant survival, but can be easily identified in the laboratory. Genetic markers act like landmarks that indicate where in the genome the genes of interest are located.

We have also learnt a lot more about ourselves, how our genes work inside our cells and what happens when things go wrong.

We can detect diseases earlier and diagnose them more accurately. And, because we understand more about how diseases work, we can work to prevent them by modifying our behaviour. Studying the genetics and biochemistry of pathogens (such as bacteria and viruses) has led to drugs that reduce the impact of disease symptoms, or boost the immune system to prevent disease.