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Biotechnology Timeline
What is DNA?
Crop Production
Crop production
Animal biotechnology
The environment
Human and Animal Health
The health area is the primary focus of biotechnology.
The biomedical biotechnology industry is now valued at
$25 billion with drugs developed to treat cancer, diabetes,
and inherited and infectious diseases. A significant part of
biomedical biotechnology is the description of the human DNA
sequence, the Human Genome Project, which will enable every
human gene product to be described. The new disciplines of
genomics and proteomics are being applied not only to humans, but to
a large number of organisms to enable the identification of disease-causing genes
and proteins and this information is being used to develop new drugs, vaccines and
improved diagnostic methods for detecting diseases. The field of biotechnology also
includes gene therapy, in which attempts are made to insert normal or genetically
altered genes into cells to treat genetic disorders and chronic diseases. New
treatments and biotechnological tools are constantly being developed and NPL is
working to develop methods of improving their accuracy, precision and reliability
so that the time taken from research idea to patient treatment is greatly reduced.
Animal
Biotechnology
Similarly the animal
biotechnology industry wants
to proceed from the traditional
and imprecise methods of
breeding and selection to the
development of animals with specific
characteristics. The development of transgenic
animals in the lab with particular genes "knocked out" or added have
provided a research tool that has revolutionised medical research
into such areas as immunity, cancer and obesity. In addition nuclear
transfer technology has allowed us to clone animals, most famously
Dolly the Sheep. There are potentially many uses for transgenic
animals but the ethical concerns are paramount.
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James Holmes/Celltech Ltd/Science Photo Library
Industrial biotechnology is closest to the historic
beginnings of biotechnology. The enzymes produced are
used to keep bread fresh, produce fruit juices, wines,
treat fabrics, leather, and are a significant part of
laundry and dishwashing detergents. Companies are
constantly striving to identify new enzymes and bioactive
compounds for use in any number of products. The hunting
ground is vast; less than 1% of the micro-organisms in the
world have been characterised.
The Environment
Biotechnology provides
many ways of sustaining
the environment. It is used to
monitor ecosystems, transform
pollutants into benign
substances (bioremediation),
generate biodegradable
materials from renewable
sources and develop environmentally safe
manufacturing and waste disposal methods. Biotechnology has
only recently been applied to this area and there is enormous
potential for biotechnological tools to improve the environment.
Biotechnology Cookbook
So how do you do it? There are six steps to make
a biotechnology product:
1) Identify the gene that directs the production
of the desired substance
2) Isolate the gene from the genome
3) Place the gene with expression signals in a suitable
DNA molecule
4) Transfer the recombined DNA into an appropriate
host organism
5) Select the individuals who contain the recombinant
DNA and express the substance
6) Purify the substance
to Lib rary
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Industrial Biotechnology
1983
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) gene amplification technology
allowing the study of small
amounts of DNA - dominates
the forensic science and
diagnostics industry
1997
Dr Ian Wilmut with Dolly, the first
cloned animal
2001
Completion of the
Human Genome
Project is announced
unlocking all human
genes and proteins
Simple!
T h e N a t i o n a l P h y s i c a l La b o r a to r y i s o p e r a te d o n b e h a l f o f t h e DT I b y N P L M a n a g e m e n t L i m i te d , a w h o l l y o w n e d s u b s i d i a r y o f S e r c o G r o u p p l c
5164/AAR15962/3K/0104
Industrial biotechnology
1973
Foundation of the biotechnology
industry: Stan Cohen and Herbert
Boyer develop recombinant DNA
David Parker/Science Photo Library
Human and animal health
Selective breeding of plants and animals, intensive use of chemicals as fertilisers,
pesticides and herbicides and widespread use of equipment and irrigation
have traditionally improved crop production. These techniques have brought
disadvantages such as environmental pollution from the chemicals and genetically
uniform crops that are more susceptible to disease. The hope is to use
recombinant DNA techniques to introduce specific traits into plants that
will improve their resistance to disease and decrease their
need for fertilisers. However there has been strong
Ros
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opposition to releasing such plants into the wild
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with both accurate and inaccurate claims
made about their environmental impact.
Only well controlled studies and accurate
measurement will help the plant
biotechnology industry to grow.
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Genes undergo a process called transcription where an RNA copy of the DNA sequence is made.
The majority of these RNAs act as messengers and are translated by the ribosome to give
protein. Recent research has shown that a large number of RNAs are not messengers but have
functions in their own right, a good example being the ribosome itself where the RNA molecules
catalyse the production of protein. Biotechnology is beginning to exploit the activities of RNA
but most effort has gone into developing proteins as products. Proteins are made of chains
of amino acids that adopt a precise three-dimensional structure and this in turn directs the
activity of the protein. If the protein does not fold into this structure during its production then
it will not function. NPL is developing methods to accurately measure the structure of protein
biotechnology products and so determine if the product has activity.
The areas where modern
biotechnology has had the greatest
impact are:
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Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, carries
hereditary information from generation to
generation of a species. The chemical and physical
properties of DNA are ideal for both its replication and
the transfer of information. Each DNA molecule is a long
two-stranded chain. The strands are made up of subunits
called nucleotides, each containing a sugar (deoxyribose),
a phosphate group, and one of four nitrogenous bases, adenine,
guanine, thymine, and cytosine, denoted A, G, T, and C, respectively.
A gene is, in essence, a segment of DNA that has a particular purpose, i.e.
that codes for (contains the chemical information necessary for the creation of) a
specific protein or ribonucleic acid (RNA) that co-operates with other gene products
to give a phenotype, for example eye or hair colour. Genes govern both the structure
and metabolic functions of the cells, and thus of the entire organism and, when located in
reproductive cells, they pass their information to the next generation. Genes are linked together
on long strands of DNA which are known as chromosomes (so named by the early microscopists
for their readiness to absorb dyes). The nucleus of each eukaryotic (nucleated) cell has a
complete set of chromosomes (23 pairs for humans) and therefore a complete set of genes.
Philippe Plailly/Science Photo Library
1953
Double helix model for DNA
structure: developed by James
Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice
Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin
A Barrington Brown/Science Photo Library
1866
Gregor Mendel publishes rules of
trait inheritance based on his
work with pea plants
Philippe Plailly/Eurelios/
Science Photo Library
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a collection of technologies that enable us to manipulate living organisms or their
sub-cellular components to develop useful products, processes or services. Thousands of years ago
people discovered that micro-organisms could be used in fermentation processes to make bread,
brew beer and produce cheese. Later they learnt to breed sheep for better wool or cows to
produce more milk. These are all early biotechnology experiments! Through breeding and
selection our ability to change and control an organism’s characteristics grew increasingly
sophisticated; just think how, by starting with the wolf, man has
developed several hundred different breeds of dogs!
The advent of recombinant DNA technology in the 1970s allowed us
to manipulate the genetic makeup of living organisms with accuracy
and precision. This technology together with the development of
methods to express and purify large amounts of proteins and other
biological molecules heralded the birth of modern biotechnology.