Biotechnology

BIOTECHNOLOGYAND GENETIC ENGINEERING

What is biotechnology?

Examples? What are their uses?

A forensic scientist makes copies of DNA from a crime scene.

A botanist breeds flowers for their bright red blooms.

A geneticist works to place a human gene into the DNA of a bacteria.

Have you heard about transgenic organisms?

Biotechnology is...

The use and application of living things and biological processes.

New technologies have allowed scientists to directly change DNA.

Is it something new?

Biotechnology is not a new field. For thousands of years humans have been doing it.

Research

What is fermentation? Are different types of fermentations? What are their uses?

Link: http://www.argenbio.org/index.php

Some applications

What techniques are used to improve crops and livestock?

Humans are interfering with the natural flow of genetic material from one generation to the next one

ARTIFICIAL SELECTION

Making organisms useful to humans.. Variation occurs naturlly and

randomly in all living organisms

Genetic Engineering

Transfer of genes from one organism to another species.

Restriction enzymes: cut the DNA in specific sites. Present in bacteria.

They can be used to cut out a sequence of DNA that includes a gene.

Applications: GM crops

Genetically modified plants which are resistant to herbicides and insect pests.

Pest resistance

There is a bacteria that produces a toxin which kills insects.

The gene for the toxin has been successfully introduces into some plant species.

Disadvantages?

Insects are developing immunity to the toxin.

Herbicide resistance

Ex: glyphosate: kill any green plant.

These cannot be used on crops because they kill the crop plant!

A gene can be introduced ito a plant.

What is the problem with this?

Other applications

Examples: A gene for an enzyme that enables the

plant to extract more iron from the soil can be transferred to rice.

A gene that increases vitamin A in plants.

It is possible to improve the protein, mineral or vitamin content of the food.

Gene Therapy

The purpose is to effect a cure by using recombinant DNA.

It is directed towards hereditary diseases.

Hereditary diseases result from the inheritance of a defective gene.

If a normal gene could be introduced permanently into the affected cells, the disease would be cured.