Intro to biotech

• Biotechnology (narrower definition)


  The commercial application of living organisms or their products, which involves the deliberate manipulation of their DNA molecules
• Biotechnology (broader definition)


  Any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives, to make or modify products or processes for specific use
• Plant, animal and microbes have been used by humans for nutrition and development of products for consumption such as beer or bread
• Technological development has also allowed exploiting plant, animal and microbial to provide products of commercial or pharmaceutical importance
• Biotechnology


  The summation of activities involving technological tools and living organism in such a way that it will enhance the efficiency of the production
• Goal of biotechnology


  To improve the product yield from living organism either by employing principles of bio-engineering/bio-process technology or by genetically modifying the organisms
• Example of biotechnology


  • Production of bread or other bakery items from wheat flour after adding yeast as fermenting organism
• Yeast mixed in dough utilizes sugar present in it and produces CO₂ through fermentation; exit of gas causes formation of pores and is responsible for sponginess of bread
• Science fields contributing to the development of biotechnology


  • Biochemistry
  • Pharmaceutics
  • Microbiology
  • Plant Biotechnology
  • Genetic Engineering
  • Biotechnology
  • Environmental Biotechnology
  • Immunology
  • Bio-Process Technology
  • Cell Biology
  • Pharmacology
  • Structural Biology
• Biotechnology related activities


  • Depend on technological advancement and knowledge of available biota
• Biotechnology starts as early as human have realized the importance of organism (animal/plants or microbes) to improve their life-style
• Early biotechnology related activities


  • Selection and cross breeding of high yielding animals
  • Cross breeding of plants to acquire specific phenotype
  • Preserving the seeds of high yielding crop plant for next sowing season
• In last century, the systematic and scientific study of living objects with advanced technology has given immense potential to human imagination to either genetically manipulate living organism with desired phenotype or the same metabolic reactions in an invitro system (either in test tube or in cells) to produce molecules with therapeutic importance
• Examples of biotechnology developments


  • Humulin (insulin produced in bacterial expression system)
  • Drought, pest or abiotic resistant plants
  • High milk yielding animals
  • Transgenic bacteria to produce biofuel, degrade environmental hazard or chelation of heavy metal
• Chronological description of biotechnological advancement


  • 7000 BC-100CE: Discovery of fermentation, Crop rotation, Animal and plant products as fertilizer and insecticide
  • Pre-20th Century: Identification of living cell and bacteria
  • 20th Century: Discovery of small pox vaccine, rabies vaccine, Artificial sweetners, Penicillin, 3-D Structure of DNA, Humulin, PCR, Gene therapy, Artificial insemination, Cloning of Dolly
  • 21st Century: Vertebrate, invertebrate and bacterial genome sequences, Completion of Human Genome sequence, Sequencing of Rice genome, Discovery of Nano radio
• Advantages of biotechnology


  • Transgenic organisms with high yield and high level products
  • Production of genes and specific DNA probes for diagnosis
  • Production of human genes, proteins, enzymes for treatment human difficult diseases
  • Production of hybrid antibiotics, monoclonal antibiotics and bio-receptor
  • Establishment of bank for recombinant DNA, nucleic acid and proteins
  • Development new technologies such as nonotechnology and nanoparticals, smart antibiotics and drugs
  • Production processes under fair condition PH, temperature, and pressure
  • Bio-catalystic enzymes are very specific, most of raw materials were consumed, little intermediated toxic products and simple removed at the end of process
  • Cheap available raw materials used, mostly low cost agricultural, food, industrial and public service wastes
  • Low cost and non dangerous water used as solvent
  • Simple preparations, equipments and processing steps
• Agrobacterium


  A natural bacterium that can be used to transfer DNA genes into broadleaf plants, such as tobacco, tomato, or soybean
• DNA


  Deoxyribonucleic acid, the substance within cells that carries the "recipe" for the organism and is inherited by offspring from parents
• DNA fingerprinting


  Cutting a DNA chromosome with restriction enzymes and separating the pieces by electrophoresis to generate a unique pattern, the "fingerprint" for each species, breed, hybrid, or individual, depending on which enzymes and probes are used
• Electrophoresis


  A lab technique for determining DNA fragment sizes by separating them in a gel placed in an electric field
• Electroporation


  Using an electric shock to transfer DNA into the cells of an organism; one of several procedures called transformation
• Gene


  The linear DNA sequence required to produce a functional RNA molecule, or a single transcriptional unit
• Genetic code


  The information contained in DNA molecules that scientists describe on the basis of a 4-letter alphabet (A, C, G, and T)
• Genetic map


  The locations of specific genes along a chromosome marked with probes
• Genome


  The entire DNA "recipe" for an organism, found in every cell of that organism
• Mutation


  A change of one of the "letters" in the DNA "recipe" caused by chemicals, ultraviolet light, X-rays, or natural processes
• Plasmid


  A small, circular DNA that is used to transfer genes from one organism into another
• Probe


  A very short piece of DNA used to find a specific sequence of "letters" in a very long piece of DNA from a chromosome or genome
• Recombinant DNA


  DNA formed by joining pieces of DNA from two or more organisms
• Sequence


  The order of "letters" in the DNA "recipe." The DNA sequence is the chemical structure that contains information
• Transgenic


  An organism that has been modified by genetic engineering to contain DNA from an external source
• Vector


  Any DNA structure that is used to transfer DNA into an organism; most commonly used are plasmid DNA vectors or viruses
• Histones


  Highly alkaline proteins found in eukaryotic cell nuclei that package and order the DNA into structural units called nucleosomes. They are the chief protein components of chromatin, acting as spools around which DNA winds, and playing a role in gene regulation