BT511T Official Handouts

Introduction to Biotechnology:

Biotechnology is the use of microbes, animal/plant cells and their products to synthesize, break down or transform materials. Primarily it includes the use of recombinant DNA technology and genetic engineering techniques to improve upon the quality of processes. Traditional biotechnology: refers to the conventional techniques that have been used for many centuries to produce beer, wine, cheese etc. Modern Biotechnology: embraces all methods of genetic modification by recombinant DNA & cell fusion techniques together with the modern developments of traditional biotechnological processes.

Branches of Biotechnology:

(i) White Biotechnology:

Development of processes and microorganisms for Industrial processes.

Key concept:

Scale of operation. Low volume high price. Differentiate between low volume high price products and high volume low price products Proteases (blue), lipases, amylases, cellulases.

White Biotechnology Example:

Enzyme production

(ii) Red Biotechnology:

It is concerned with the discovery and development of innovative drugs and treatments.

(iii) Green Biotechnology:

It is concerned with the modification of the genetic composition of plants to enhance existing traits or add new ones. An additional gene was inserted into the normal genome of this corn that triggers the production of proteins that then protect the plant from harmful insects. This reduces the need for pesticides and increases crop yields

Green Biotechnology Example:

Bt corn from Syngenta Bt cotton from Monsanto

2.Modern Biotechnology: (Principles & Applications) · Biotechnology in the 21st Century: · Ultimate reboot cells:

These are synthetic cells. We can insert DNA of our own choice in these cells and can determine cell type ultimately. That’s why they are called ultimate reboot cells.

Historically it has been more about bacterial engineering but now it has shifted to eukaryotic engineering. (Craig Venter’s programmable cells)

Growing Teeth:

Taking gum cells and ultimately converting them into teeth. Gum cells directed to grow teeth. Work of Prof. Paul Sharpe at King’s College London.

Biological tooth replacement - a step closer

New research published (Posted on 11/03/2013) in the Journal of Dental Research describes an advance in efforts to develop a method to replace missing teeth with new bioengineered teeth generated from a person’s own gum cells. The research is led by Professor Paul Sharpe, an expert in craniofacial development and stem cell biology at King’s College London’s Dental Institute, and was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, UK. Current implant-based methods of whole tooth replacement fail to reproduce a natural root structure and as a consequence of the friction from eating and other jaw movement, loss of jaw bone can occur around the implant. Professor Sharpe concluded: ' Epithelial cells derived from adult human gum tissue are capable of responding to tooth inducing signals from embryonic tooth mesenchyme in an appropriate way to contribute to tooth crown and root formation and give rise to relevant differentiated cell types, following in vitro culture. These easily accessible epithelial cells are thus a realistic source for consideration in human biotooth formation. The next major challenge is to identify a way to culture adult human mesenchymal cells to be tooth-inducing, as at the moment we can only make embryonic mesenchymal cells do this.

Claudia’s Trachea:

Spanish doctors took a piece of trachea (7 cm) from a deceased donor and they got rid of donor cells, ultimately it was just a bear cartilage, they pushed bone marrow cells (taken from patient named Claudia) and transformed them into cartilage cells. Ultimately a trachea was formed.

Colombian woman named Claudia Costillo was the first to get her trachea replaced which was made of her own cells. Stem cells from her bone marrow were used and part of her wind pipe was used. Claudia Castillo, the 30-year-old patient, had suffered a collapse of the tracheal branch of her windpipe leading to her left lung following a severe tuberculosis infection. Left barely able to breathe, the decision was taken in March to attempt the windpipe reconstruction. Spanish doctors started the process by taking a 7-centimetre section of windpipe from a deceased donor. Researchers at the University of Padua, Italy, led by Maria Teresa Conconi, then used detergent and enzymes to purge the donated windpipe of all the donor's cells. After six weeks, all that was left was a solid scaffold of connective tissue. Meanwhile, Birchall and his colleagues in Bristol took the stem cells from the patient's bone marrow and coaxed them in the lab into developing into the cartilage cells that normally coat windpipes. Finally, the patient's cells were coated onto the donated tracheal scaffold over four days in a special bioreactor built at the Polytechnic of Milan in Italy. Urinary bladder can be made out of our own cells with the help of stem cells.

Growing Blood Vessels:

We can take stem cells and can differentiate them into blood vessels.

Chicken with an extra leg:

Chicken wings can be differentiated into chicken legs.

Growing Meat:

We can grow meat in laboratory.

3.Roots of Biotechnology:

6000 BC

Sumerians & Babylonians used anaerobic respiration of yeast to make beer. (Sumerians are people from Southern Iraq).

4000 BC

Egyptians used aerobic respiration of yeast to leaven or rise bread and used mold to flavor cheese. Fermented food is protected for longer and is easier to digest

1350 BC

Pregnancy test:

Barley grows – male child Wheat grows – female child A papyrus described a test in which a woman who might be pregnant could urinate on wheat and barley seeds over the course of several days: “If the barley grows, it means a male child. If the wheat grows, it means a female child. If both do not grow, she will not bear at all.” Testing of this theory in 1963 found