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Ann Murphy
Tallahassee, FL
Judi Perrella
Tampa, FL
Overview and Brief History
Biotechnology seems to be leading a sudden new biological
revolution. It has brought us to the brink of a world of "engineered"
products that are based in the natural world rather than on chemical
and industrial processes. Biotechnology has been described as
"Janus-faced". This implies that there are two sides.
On one, techniques allow DNA to be manipulated to move genes
from one organism to another. On the other, it involves relatively
new technologies whose consequences are untested and should be
met with caution. The term biotechnology was coined in 1919 by
Karl Ereky, an Hungarian engineer. At that time, the term meant
all the lines of work by which products are produced from raw
materials with the aid of living organisms. Ereky envisioned
a biochemical age similar to the stone and iron ages. (Bud, 1989)
A common misconception among teachers is the thought
that biotechnology only includes DNA and genetic engineering.
To keep students abreast of current knowledge, teachers sometimes
have emphasized the techniques of DNA science as the "end-and-all"
of biotechnology. This trend has also led to a misunderstanding
in the general populous. Biotechnology is NOT new. Man has been
manipulating living things to solve problems and improve his way
of life for millennia.
Early agriculture concentrated on producing food.
Plants and animals were selectively bred and microorganisms were
used to make food items such as beverages, cheese and bread.
The late eighteenth century and the beginning of
the nineteenth century saw the advent of vaccinations, crop rotation
involving leguminous crops, and animal drawn machinery.
The end of the nineteenth century was a milestone
of biology. Microorganisms were discovered, Mendel's work on
genetics was accomplished, and institutes for investigating fermentation
and other microbial processes were established by Koch, Pasteur,
and Lister.
Biotechnology at the beginning of the twentieth
century began to bring industry and agriculture together. During
World War I, fermentation processes were developed that produced
acetone from starch and paint solvents for the rapidly growing
automobile industry. Work in the 1930s was geared toward using
surplus agricultural products to supply industry instead of imports
or petrochemicals. The advent of World War II brought the manufacture
of penicillin. The biotechnical focus moved to pharmaceuticals.
The "cold war" years were dominated by work with microorganisms
in preparation for biological warfare as well as antibiotics and
fermentation processes. (Goodman, 1987)
Biotechnology is currently being used in many areas
including agriculture, bioremediation, food processing, and energy
production. DNA fingerprinting is becoming a common practice in
forensics. Similar techniques were used recently to identify
the bones of the last Czar of Russia and several members of his
family. Production of insulin and other medicines is accomplished
through cloning of vectors that now carry the chosen gene. Immunoassays
are used not only in medicine for drug level and pregnancy testing,
but also by farmers to aid in detection of unsafe levels of pesticides,
herbicides and toxins on crops and in animal products. These
assays also provide rapid field tests for industrial chemicals
in ground water, sediment, and soil. In agriculture, genetic
engineering is being used to produce plants that are resistant
to insects, weeds and plant diseases.
A current agricultural controversy involves the
tomato. A recent article in the New Yorker magazine (Seabrook,
1993) compares the discovery of the edible tomato that came about
by early biotechnology with the new "Flavr-savr" tomato
brought about through modern techniques. In the very near future,
you will be given the opportunity to bite into the Flavr Savr
tomato, the first food created by the use of recombinant DNA ever
to go on sale. What will you think as you raise the tomato to
your mouth? Will you hesitate? This moment may be for you as
it was for Robert Gibbon Johnson in 1820 on the steps of the courthouse
in Salem, New Jersey. Prior to this moment, the tomato was widely
believed to be poisonous. As a large crowd watched, Johnson consumed
two tomatoes and changed forever the human-tomato relationship.
Since that time man has sought to produce the supermarket tomato
with "that back-yard flavor." Americans also want that
tomato available year-round. New biotechnological techniques
have permitted scientists to manipulate desired traits. Prior
to the advancement of the methods of recombinant DNA, scientists
were limited to the techniques of their time - cross-pollination,
selective breeding, pesticides, and herbicides. Today's biotechnology
has its "roots" in chemistry, physics, and biology .
The explosion of the techniques have resulted in three major
branches: genetic engineering, diagnostic techniques, and cell/tissue
techniques.
While this module contains many items involving
new techniques that emphasize DNA science, the user should keep
in mind that DNA manipulation is but the latest tool commonly
available to biotechnologists during this revolution.
EVOLUTION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
TIMELINE
INTRODUCTION
In order to help teachers and students study how present biotechnology
has evolved, a timeline is included referencing major scientists
and major events in history which have led to our current understanding
and use.
TARGET AGE/ABILITY GROUP
Grade 7 life science through Grade 12 AP biology
STUDENT/CLASS TIME REQUIRED
Minimum of one period
MATERIALS
Depends upon use of timeline
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
None
TEACHER'S GUIDE FOR PRESENTATION
OF ACTIVITY
Depends upon use of timeline
TEACHER'S OUTLINE FOR PRESENTATION
OF ACTIVITY
Uses of timeline:
- Lecture or class discussion.
- Reading assignment or student
reports. Students could research individual scientists or discoveries.
- Students could graph on adding
machine tape or graph paper taped together.
- Students could use Timeliner computer
software (90 Sherman St., Cambridge, MA 02140; 800-342-0236), designed
by Thomas F.F. Snyder & David Kaemmer (1986). Tom Snyder Productions.
- Students could add significant
historical events to timeline.
- Teacher could work with social
studies teacher to develop lesson to help students understand how science,
history and technology impact each other.
- Use videotapes, laserdiscs, books
or periodicals to historical figures and events to support evidence given
in timeline.
- A series of analysis questions
could be given to students with one of the above assignments. Sample questions are:
- Link the significance of one discovery to previous discoveries. What prior knowledge was needed to make the discovery?
- How does "newness" of biotechnology compare to the age of the earth?
- Which scientists were involved in explaining what genes do? What did each contribute?
- Which diagnostic tools were needed for each of the discoveries?
INFORMATION REFERENCES -
Micklos, 1990; NABT, 1992; Bud, 1989; Torrey, 1985; Goodman, 1987;
Seabrook, 1993
| EVOLUTION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY TIMELINE |
| Prior to 1750: |
| Plants used for food |
|
| Animals used for food andto do work |
|
| Plants domesticated, selectively
bred for desired characteristics |
|
| Microorganisms used to make cheese,
beverages, and bread by fermentation |
|
1797: | Edward Jenner | Used living microorganisms
to protect people from disease |
| 1750-1850: |
| Increased cultivation of
leguminous crops and crop rotations to increase yield
and land use |
| 1820: |
| Animal drawn machines |
| 1850's: |
| Horse drawn harrows, seed drills,
corn planters, horse hoes, 2-row cultivators, hay mowers, and rakes Industrially processed animal feed
and inorganic fertilizer |
| 1859: | Charles Darwin | Hypothesized that
animal and plant populations adapt over time to best fit the environment
|
| 1864: | Louis Pasteur | Proved existence
of microorganisms Showed that all living things are
produced by other living things |
| 1865: | Gregor Mendel | Investigated how
traits are passed from generation to generation - called them factors
|
| 1869: | Johann Meischer | Isolated DNA from
the nuclei of white blood cells |
| 1880: |
| Steam engine to drive combine
harvesters |
| 1890: |
| Ammonia synthesis |
| 1892: |
| Self-propelled tractor |
| 1893: | Koch, Pasteur | Fermentation process
patented
|
| Lister | Institutes Diphtheria antitoxin
isolated |
| 1902: | Walter Sutton | Coined the term
"gene" Proposed that chromosomes carry genes (factors which Mendel said that could
be passed from generation to generation)
|
| 1904: |
| Artificial "silks"
developed |
| 1910: | Thomas H. Morgan | Proved that genes
are carried on chromosomes "Biotechnology" term coined
|
| 1918:
|
| Germans Use acetone produced by
plants to make bombs |
|
| Yeast grown in large quantities for
animal and glycerol |
|
| Made activated sludge for sewage
treatment process |
| 1920: |
| Boom of rayon industry |
| 1927: | Herman Mueller | Increased mutation
rate in fruit flies by exposing them to x-rays |
| 1928: | Frederick Griffiths | Noticed that
a rough kind of bacterium changed to a smooth type when unknown "transforming principle" from smooth type
was present |
| 1928: | Alexander Fleming | Discovered antibiotic
properties of certain molds |
| 1920-1930: |
| Plant hybridization |
| 1938: |
|
Proteins and DNA studied by x-ray crystallography
|
|
| Term 'molecular biology" coined |
| 1941: | George Beadle | Proposed "one
gene, one enzyme" hypothesis
|
| Edward Tatum |
| 1943-1953: | Linus Pauling | Described sickle
cell anemia calling it a molecular disease
Cortisone made in large amounts |
|
| DNA is identified as the genetic
material |
| 1944: | Oswald Avery | Performed transformation
experiment with Griffith's bacterium |
| 1945: | Max Delbruck | Organized course
to study a type of bacterial virus that consists of a protein coat containing
DNA |
| Mid-1940's: |
| Penicillin produced |
|
| Transition from animal power to mechanical
power on farms |
| 1950: | Erwin Chargaff | Determined that
there is always a ratio of 1:1 adenine to thymine in DNA of many
different organisms |
|
| Artificial insemination of livestock |
| 1952: | Alfred Hershey | Used radioactive
labeling to determine that it is the
|
|
| Margaret Chase | DNA not protein which
carries the instructions for assembling new phages |
| 1953: | James Watson | Determined the double
helix structure of DNA
|
| Francis Crick |
| 1956: | Dangr | Sequenced insulin (protein)
from pork |
| 1957: | Francis Crick | Explained how DNA
functions to make protein |
| George Gamov |
| 1958: | Coenberg | Discovered DNA polymerase
|
| 1960: |
| Isolation of m-RNA |
| 1965: |
| Classification of the plasmids
|
| 1966: | Marshall Nirenberg | Determined
that a sequence of three nucleotide |
| Severo Ochoa | bases determine each
of 20 amino acids |
| 1970: |
| Isolation of reverse transcriptase
|
| 1971: |
| Discovery of restriction enzymes
|
| 1972: | Paul Berg | Cut sections of viral
DNA and bacterial DNA with same restriction enzyme |
|
| Spliced viral DNA to the bacterial
DNA |
| 1973: | Stanley Cohen | Produced first
recombinant DNA organism |
| Herbert Boyer | Beginning of genetic
engineering |
| 1975: |
| Moratorium on recombinant DNA
techniques |
| 1976: |
| National Institute of Health
guidelines developed for study of recombinant DNA |
| 1977: |
| First practical application of
genetic engineering |
|
| human growth hormone produced by
bacterial cells |
| 1978: | Genentech, Inc. | Genetic engineering
techniques used to produce human insulin in E. coli |
|
| First biotech company on NY stock
exchange |
| Stanford University | First successful
transplantation of mammalian gene |
|
| Discoverers of restriction enzymes
receive Nobel Prize in medicine |
| 1979: | Genentech, Inc. | Produce human
growth hormone and two kinds of interferon DNA from malignant cells
transformed a strain of cultured mouse cells
- new tool for analyzing cancer genes |
| 1980: |
| US. Supreme Court decided that
manmade microbes could be patented |
| 1983: | Genetech, Inc. | Licensed Eli Lily
to make insulin |
|
| First transfer of foreign gene in
plants |
| 1985: |
| Plants can be patented |
| 1986: |
| First field trials of DNA recombinant
plants resistant to insects, viruses, bacteria
|
| 1988: |
| First living mammal was patented
|
| 1993: |
| Flavr savr tomatoes sold to public
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Murphy/Perrella References for Overview
and Timeline
- Micklos, D.A. & Freyer, G.
A., DNA Science: A First Course in Recombinant DNA Technology.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory & Carolina Biological Supply
Company. 477 pp. Available from: Cabisco Biotechnology, 2700 York
R., Burlington, NC 27215; 800-3345551 or 800-632-1231 (NC only).
- NABT Sourcebook of Biotechnology
- Bud, Robert, "Janus-faced
Biotechnology - An Historical Persceptive", Trends in
Biotechnology v. 7, 1989, p. 230-33
- Torrey, John G., "The Development
of Plant Biotechnology", American Scientist, 1985,
73:354-363
- Goodman, David C., From Farming
to Biotechnology: A Theory of Agro-industrial Development Oxford:
Blackwell, 1987
- Seabrook, John, "Tremors in
the Hothouse", The New Yorker July 19, 1993 p. 32-41
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Woodrow Wilson Index
