Biotechnology

Biotechnology

14. Define biotechnology and give some examples of its everyday uses.

  • Biotechnology is the use of living things to crate products or processes, or to perform tasks for human beings.

  • Everyday uses include genetic engineering, waste management, food production, animal and plant breeding, pharmaceutical and medical processes, industrial processes

 

15. Describe recombinant DNA technology and give an example of where it is used (e.g. insulin production).

  • Recombinant DNA technology involves using enzymes to manipulate and isolate DNA segments of interest. Molecules of DNA from two different species are inserted into a host organism to obtain enhanced and desired characteristics in other organisms.

  • Process: A plasmid is removed from the bacteria. The gene which is desirable is identified in the genome of another organism and is isolated from the cell. DNA is then cut from the plasmid and the desirable gene sections are removed using the same restriction enzyme. The sticky ends of the gene and plasmid come through the process of complimentary base pairing (annealing)

  • It is often used to make important proteins to treat human diseases.

  • In insulin production, the human insulin gene is inserted into the genetic material of bacteria which allows it to produce the protein encoded by the human gene. The plasmids bind with the DNA fragments to form recombinant DNA. It can be used to treat many people with diabetes.

 

16. Research: Discuss the development of genetically modified organisms (GMO), including plants

(especially crops) and animals.

  • GMOs are plants and animals modified using gene technology, having inherited modified traits. (it is an organism that has been altered THROUGH recombinant DNA technology)

  • DNA with the desired trait is cut out from an organism and then inserted into the genome of another organism, where proteins are stored that carry information on its specific traits.

  • Can be used for medicinal purposes and to develop food quality (e.g. nutrients, minerals)

  • Began in 1973, when biochemists developed genetic engineering by inserting DNA from one bacteria into another

  • GMOS have helped increase crop yields, reduced costs for food or drug production, reduced needs for pesticides, resist pests and disease = E.g. Bt cotton ('Bt gene', a soil borne bacteria, is inserted into cotton plant genome to help protect from insects)

  • GloFish - jellyfish gene that makes them fluorescent cut out and inserted into zebra fish, so they glow (this was used to track pollution in rivers and bodies of water)

  • Sudden death mosquito - gene that causes moth to die after reproducing put in mosquitos (to control spread of disease and dengue fever)

 

17. Discuss the Human Genome Project and its importance in diagnosing and treating hereditary diseases and conditions.

  • The Human Genome project was an international scientific researching project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all the genes of the human genome.

  • Sequencing of genes to allow new therapies, production of all human proteins, new drug molecule design and new gene therapy

  • Through carrying out research regarding of the human genome allows scientists to better understand which diseases are hereditary and work out treatment.

 

18. Distinguish between embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells and discuss their possible uses in research, diagnosis and treatment.

  • Stem cells = the body's raw materials

  • Embryonic stem cells = stem cells that come from embryos that are 3-5 days old

  • Adult stem cells = undifferentiated stem cells that are found in many different tissues throughout the body

  • The use of stem cells can replenish needed cells to repair bones, muscles, organs and tissues; hence being able to treat a wide range of diseases.

 

19. Examine the varied uses of cloning, such as in therapeutic cloning and cloning of whole organisms (e.g.

Dolly the sheep)

Types of cloning for whole organisms:

  1. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) creates an exact genetic copy or a clone of an individual. Nucleus of a somatic cell of an adult animal is obtained (this is the donor). The nucleus from an unfertilised egg cell, typically from the same species is removed (this is the recipient cell). The donor nucleus is transferred into the enucleated egg cell, the zygote is divided by electric pulses so that embryonic development begins. It is transferred into the uterus of a surrogate animal (owner of the egg cells) where embryonic development is completed.

-> This allows for desired phenotypes to be selected and then cloned.

-> Livestock industry responds rapidly to market changes in the demand for certain traits in livestock animal conversation

-> protection of genes or threatened species

  • Dolly the sheep was the first mammal cloned from somatic cell nuclear transfer. (somatic cell = the cells in the body other than sperm and egg cells. In humans, they are diploid - they contain two sets of chromosomes, one inherited from each parent)

  1. Egg cells are removed from an animal and fertilised in a petri dish, When a zygote divides, the cells can be separated (like identical twins). It is useful due to the fact that identical organisms produced quickly and efficiently. It is again placed in the uterus of a surrogate

-> livestock are selected for cloning on the basis of desirable qualities, such as wool, meta or milk productivity

  • Therapeutic cloning: creating a cloned embryo for the sole purpose of producing embryonic stem cells with the same DNA as the donor cell = for understanding disease and developing treatments for disease CREATES STEM CELLS

  • Cloning of whole organism: process by which a whole organism is cloned - CREATES WHOLE ANIMALS