CHAPTER 1

Biotechnology : using living organisms, or the products of living organisms, for human benefit to make a product or solve a problem Historical Examples
Fermentation Selective breeding Use of antibiotics

Beer brewing

Bread making

Selective breeding
Antibiotic

A science of many disciplines

Products of Modern Biotechnology

Proteins

created by recombinant proteins

gene

cloning

called

Microbial Biotechnology Agricultural Biotechnology Animal Biotechnology Forensic Biotechnology Bioremediation Aquatic Biotechnology Medical Biotechnology Regulatory Biotechnology

Microbial Biotechnology manipulation of microorganisms such as yeast and bacteria

Create better enzymes More efficient decontamination processes for

industrial waste product removal Used to clone and produce large amounts of important proteins used in human medicine

Agricultural Biotechnology
Genetically engineered, pest-resistant plants Foods with higher protein or vitamin content

Drugs developed and grown as plant products

Estimated to be a $7 billion market in 2008

Animal Biotechnology
Animals as a source of medically valuable proteins Antibodies Animals as important models in basic research Gene knockout experiments Design and testing of drugs and genetic therapies Animal cloning Source of transplant organs

Forensic Biotechnology
DNA fingerprinting Inclusion or exclusion of a person from suspicion Paternity cases Identification of human remains Endangered species Tracking and confirmation of the spread of disease

Bioremediation
The use of biotechnology to process and degrade

a variety of natural and manmade substances

Particularly those that contribute to pollution

For example, bacteria that degrade components

in crude oil
1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska

Aquatic Biotechnology
Aquaculture raising finfish or shellfish in controlled conditions

for use as food sources

30% of all fish consumed by humans worldwide

Genetic engineering

Disease-resistant strains of oysters Vaccines against viruses that infect salmon and other finfish
Rich and valuable sources of new genes, proteins and metabolic

processes with human benefits

important

applications

for

Marine plankton and snails found to be rich sources of antitumor and anticancer molecules

Medical Biotechnology
Involved with the whole spectrum of human

medicine
Preventive medicine Diagnosis of health and illness Treatment of human diseases

New information from Human Genome Project Gene therapy Stem cell technologies

Medical biotechnology

Regulatory Biotechnology
Quality Assurance (QA) All activities involved in regulating the final quality of a product

Quality Control (QC) Part of QA process that involves lab testing and monitoring of processes and applications to ensure consistent product standards

Technologies
Nucleic acid (DNA/RNA)- related technologies Protein-related technologies

Tools
High-throughput sequencing DNA synthesis and amplification Genetic engineering Anti-sense technology High throughput protein/peptide quantification and sequencing Protein/peptide synthesis Protein engineering and biocatalysis identification,

Metabolite-related technologies

High throughput metabolite identification and quantification Metabolic pathway engineering Cell hybridization/fusion Tissue engineering Embryo technology Stem cell-related technologies Gene delivery Fermentation and downstream processing Bioinformatics

Cellular / subcellular-related technologies Supporting tool

High throughput genome, gene and DNA sequencing A process to determine the nucleotide sequence of a DNA or RNA fragment, a gene or the whole genome DNA sequencing serves 3 main research strategies :
Identification of genome structure (genomic mapping) Comparative analysis of gene sequences (genes similarity) Prediction of protein structure

Most widely used method for sequencing uses fluorescent

`tag molecules attached to DNA fragments, followed by spectrophotometry to identify the respective DNA fragments

DNA synthesis and amplification

Reproduction of a known sequence of nucleotides

into genes or gene fragments for use in research Synthesis is carried out through PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction). Genetic fingerprinting or genotyping
Specific techniques used for identification of individuals and for distinguishing between individuals of the same species using only the samples of their DNA Used in plant and animal breeding, and also in forensic research

Genetic engineering Modification of genotype, and the phenotype by transgenesis Transgenesis : introduction of a gene or genes into animal or plant cells or into microorganisms, which leads to the transmission of the input gene to successive generations To introduce new characteristics to an organism in order to increase its usefulness

Anti-sense technology Blocking of the transcription of a DNA using anti-sense mRNA Anti-sense mRNA is a RNA-strand complementary in sequence to the mRNA The presence of anti-sense mRNA can inhibit gene expression by basepairing with the specific mRNAs Used to study gene function & applied in the treatment of genetic disorder

High throughput identification, quantification and sequencing Gel-electrophoresis Techniques used to separate, identify and quantify levels of proteins and peptides in a mixture Eg. Isoelectric focusing (isoelectric points) & SDS-PAGE (mass) Mass spectroscopy Used to identify proteins and other macromolecules through their molecular weights (mass) and to sequence protein molecules Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) Used to characterize the 3D structure of proteins, peptides and other macromolecules Based on the magnetic property of an atoms nucleus

Protein/peptide synthesis
Solid phase synthesis

Protein engineering & bio-catalysis

A selective, deliberate design and synthesis of

proteins in order to alter specific functions Mostly applied for enzyme in industrial production processes and also in bioremediation

High throughput technologies for identification, quantification and analysis

MS and NMR

Metabolic pathway engineering

Modification of endogenous metabolic pathways

of microorganisms and the introduction of metabolic pathways into new host organisms Up-regulation of the production of molecules

Cell hybridization/fusion Cell fusion combines the cell contents of two or more cells in a single cell Hybridoma technique is the use of cell fusion techniques for the production of monoclonal antibodies This technique involves the fusion of plasma cells of a B lymphocyte with myeloma cancer cells The former secretes a single antibody, while the latter confers the property of growing indefinitely in tissue culture Monoclonal antibodies are often used in immunoassays

Cell culture technologies The in-vitro growth of cells isolated from multi-cellular organisms Stem cells-related technologies Stem cells are undifferentiated somatic cells that can grow into different cells or tissues of the body Allow them to act as a repair system

Gene delivery
Insertion of genes into selected cells of an

organism Using vectors Vectors

Small DNA molecules that are used to deliver the DNA into a cell Capable of being replicated and contain cloning sites for the introduction of foreign DNA

Fermentation and downstream processing Fermentation : aerobic, anaerobic and microaerofilic culturing of defined microorganisma Bioreactor or fermenter Products from fermentation will then be concentrated, purified and converted into useful forms = downstream processing

Bioinformatics
The use of techniques from applied

mathematics, informatics, statistics and computer science to solve biological problems Deals with the generation/creation, collection, storage (in databases), and efficient use of data and information from all kinds of research