Life Sciences in the 21st Century: Biotechnology
Lecture 5: Outline

presented by Dr. Eric Wong, Assistant Professor of Animal and Poultry Sciences

Class Assignment

What is biothechnology?

The use of technologies based on living systems (plants, animals, or microbes) to develop commercial processes and products or improve existing species.

Examples of ancient biotechnology (2,000-4,000 B.C.):

beermaking
winemaking
breadmaking
cheesemaking

Examples of modern biotechnology (20th century):

Isolation of the antibiotic penicillin from the mold Penicillium by Alexander Fleming in 1928 and the purification and promotion of penicillin as an antibiotic by Howard Florey a decade later.
Genetic engineering: In 1973, Herb Boyer and Stanley Cohen were the first to insert a piece of toad DNA into the bacterium E. coli
Biotechnology on the World-Wide Web

How does biotechnology impact your life?

Medical biotechnology
- Forensics:
  - the O.J. Simpson case
  - Virginia is a leader in the use of DNA fingerprinting for forensic analysis
  - Virginia was the first state to execute a convicted person based on DNA evidence
- Genetic testing: identify known genetic diseases
- Pedigree analysis: paternity disputes, bird migrations, poaching
Industrial biotechnology
- Production of key industrial chemicals
  - acetone
  - butanol
  - acetic acid
  - plastics
- Modification of household products: enzymes used in detergents
- Bioremediation:
  - cleanup of toxic wastes like TCE (trichloroethylene), PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls), oil
  - cleanup of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska
- Production of human pharmaceuticals:
  - human insulin was the first recombinant DNA derived product approved for human use
    It takes 14 cow pancreases to treat one diabetic/year.
  - human growth hormone was the second recombinant DNA derived product approved for human use
    It takes 80 human cadavers to treat one person/year with the risk of transmitting human pathogens
Agricultural biotechnology
- Use of recombinant DNA derived products in foods: cloned rennin or chymosin was approved for cheese making in 1990
- Production of genetically modified foods: Calgene's "Flavr savr" tomato, which has been modified to delay the softening process, was the first genetically modified food to be sold commercially
- Generation of herbicide tolerant plants by genetic engineering, e.g. resistance to the herbicide Roundup
- Phytoremediation: use of plants to remove toxic metals (cadmium, zinc, lead, etc) from soil
- Degradation of pesticides by bioremediation
- Use of naturally occurring pesticides, Bt toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis
- Use of recombinant DNA products in animals: injection of recombinant-derived bovine somatotropin into dairy cattle for increasing milk production

Biotechnology at Virginia Tech:

Bioremediation: use of naturally occurring microbes to degrade pesticide residues (CSES)
Transgenic animals and plants as bioreactors for the production of human pharmaceuticals
- animals -- (ChemE, Biochem, Dairy Sci)
- plants -- (PPWS)
Genetic modification of animals: transgenic turkeys that increase egg production (APSC)
Computer modeling of proteins: (Biochem)