6.2 - Biotechnology Flashcards
Define biotechnology
Biological materials used as a tool, for medicine (vaccinations- a manipulated weakened virus, antibiotics), agriculture (GMOs, fermentation), industry, environment (conservation)
Bioethics and social implications of biotechnology usage
Social implications
- Referes to the results on society, or part of society or an event or action
- Biotechnological concerns: bioterrorism, laboratory production safety (safety of volunteers in studies), ethical issues, harm to the environment.
Issues cover:
- Organ trafficking
- End of life
- Human clothing
- Access to medicines and health care devices
- Protecting the integrity of volunteers in therapeutic trials.
Ethics
- Study of why certain decisions are understood to be morally wrong, and the reasons viewed behind making these judgements.
- Bioethics involved using an ethical approach to make decisions about biological issues.
Ethical framework
might just be nice to reference key phrases (?)
Used to make ethical judgements:
- Rights and responsibilities: right of one to imply the responsibility/duty of another to ensure those rights.
- Consequentialism: weighing the benefits and harms resulting from our actions.
- Autonomy: should individuals have the right to choose for themselves, or does one decision count for everyone?
- Virtue ethics: emphasising decision that are in line with accepted good characteristics: honesty, kindness, patience.
Biotechnology in the past (5)
Farming:
- Most prominently began in the Middle East but was invented independently in other parts of the world as well.
- Across different peoples, different crops were being grown.
Selective breeding: is the deliberate selection and breeding of individuals with favourable characteristics
- This is done with the intention of retaining favourable characteristics in future generations.
- Often used in commercial or leisure sectors.
Crossbreeding: breeds individuals of the same species but different breeds to arise new variations of traits.
- This has been done in cats, cattle, sheep, dogs, horses. E.g. pug + beagle = puggle; labradoodles
Australian aquaculture has been practiced for 40,000 years
- Sophisticated fish traps are an example of how biological principles are applied to enhance fish production and resource management.
- E.g. traps were designed and located based on fish migration and water flow - an example of ecosystem engineering. Additionally, the traps were designed to minimise human impact on the environment (advanced environmental management and sustainable food production)
Fermentation dates to 6,000 BCE when beer was produced.
* Fermentation occurs when microorganisms breakdown sugar during anaerobic respiration. Used to make bread, wine, cheese etc.
Biotechnology currently
Antibiotics: derived from microorganisms or synthetically produced to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria. Used in medicine and agriculture to treat infections.
Artificials insemination: sperm is collected and manually inserted into the female reproductive tract to achieve fertilization. It helps improve genetic traits, increase reproductive efficiency, and overcome fertility issues.
- E.g. In dairy farming, AI is used to selectively breed cows with high milk production, improving herd genetics and productivity.
GMOs: GMOs are organisms whose DNA has been altered using genetic engineering techniques to introduce beneficial traits, such as pest resistance, faster growth, or improved nutritional content.
- This biotechnology is widely used in agriculture and medicine.
- E.g.Bt cotton produces a bacterial protein toxic to pests, reducing the need for chemical pesticides.
Cloning: creates genetically identical copies of an organism, cell, or DNA segment. It is widely used in medicine, agriculture, and genetic research to study diseases, improve livestock breeding, and even conserve endangered species.
Gene therapy: modifying or replacing faulty genes to treat or prevent genetic disorders. Delivers functional genes into a patient’s cells using viral vectors or other genetic tools.
- Used to correct mutations responsible for disorders like cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, and muscular dystrophy.
Artificial Insemination (pro/con)
Advantgaes:
* Higher profits
* Faster process of reproduction
* Increasing genetic diversity - sperm from one place can be transported to another part of the world. An example of gene flow, and a new variation introduced to a population.
Disadvantage
* Decreases genetic diversity - if same sperm is used (due to desirable traits) this results in long-term decrease of biodiversity. AI artificially increases the allele frequency in the population.
* This makes them more susceptible to extinction.
* Inbreeding leads to disease
* Could be considered unethical
Biotechnology in the future
- Gene editing (CRISPR)
- Transgenic species
Gene therapy
To fix incorrect genes to resume its normal, helpful functioning. Could replace conventional medical treatments for diseases and disorders.
A healthy copy of a gene is inserted into non-germline tissue - it can be direct, or through an adeno-associated virus (AAV):
1. Target cell is removed from the patient
2. A virus is altered so that it can reproduce
3. A gene is inserted into the virus
4. The altered virus is mixed with cells from the patient.
5. The cell from the patient become genetically altered.
6. Altered cells are injected into the patient
AAV causes no diseases only a very mild immune response.
A healthy copy of a gene is introduced into a patient’s somatic tissue directly or via transduction using an adeno-associated virus (AAV). A copy of the healthy gene is isolated and inserted into an AAV, then the AAV is allowed to infect the patient. This results in AAV transferring the healthy gene into the patient’s genome
CRISPR
- Small piece of RNA with a short “guide” sequence binds to a target segment of DNA, like the RNA segments bacteria produced from the CRISPR array.
- It is also attached to Cas9 enzyme
- Once inserted, the RNA recognises the intended DNA sequence and the Cas9 enzyme cuts the DNA at the targeted location.
- Once cut, the cell DNA repair machinery adds/deletes peice of genetic material.
- Alternatively, a customised DNA sequence replaced it.
Benefit: cure neurological disorders (Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia)
Danger: germline gene editing and the creation of “designer babies”
This can be in somatic and germ-line cells.
CRISPR-Cas9 Enzyme
When virus enteres bacteria, Cas9 inserts a small part of their own DNA in a particular pattern to create segments known as CRISPR arrays. The CRISPR arrays produces RNA, and attaches to the virus allows the bacteria
Guide RNA and Cas9
Identified the sequence of the segment that causes health problems. The guide RNA identitifies this segment. Attached to Cas9, CRISPR-Cas9 is introduced to target cells. This allows it to cut the harmful DNA segment. Then, the sequence can be modified, deleted and inserted.
- A foreign body enters
- Takes a part of the virus DNA, integrating it into their own DNA.
- Producing CRISPR arrays - segments
- These arrays will produce RNA when the virus enters again. This RNA joins at the point of the DNA of the vris
- Cas9 enzyme will cut at this point.
- This cut kills the virus.
Potential benefits of gene editing to society
- To the patient (cure), the family (low cost), government/tax payer (providing technology), broader community (cure is helping the people).
Summary of potential benefits to society
While biotechnilogy may raise social, ethical and environmental concerns, the field continues to bring about new scientific advances worldwide, and improve lifestyles and living standards.
- Improve food quality
- Disease detection
- Cures
- Gene therapy to treat human disease
- GMOs to alleviate hunger
- Plant banks and cyropreservation to mainain biodiversity and for wildlife conservation
- Plant and algae-based resources to develop next-generation biofuels.
- Potential to eliminate certain genetic disorders through gene editing tools.
Industrial application
Polution preventions: Microorganism clean up and reduce waste
- Protease, mannanase, lipase, and amylase enzymes in washing powders to remove stains
- Biofuels and biodegradable materials made from plants
Biomaterial production: natural and synthetic substance being made to interact with biological systems for medical, therapeutic or diagnotic purpose. Joint replacement, artificial heart valves.
Synthetic biology: computer technology to construct synthetic genomes that can function in a living cell.
- 2010: created first sytnetic cell, using a computer to create a digital genetic code and synthesied from synthetic nucleotides.
Agricultural applications
- Improve quality of fruit
- GMOs: golden rice, including vitamins and nutrients
- Animals: increase milk, meat production and quality, size of eggs.
- Increase yield
Medical technologies
- Gene therapy: delivering normal, functioning genes to individuals who are lacking a functional copy, and suffer a genetic disorder.
- In vitro fertilisation (IVF): a process that results in pregnancy.
Ethics and social implications
Selective breeding: benefits society by making agricultural practices more productive, but when the principles of selective breeding are applied to humans there is the potential for breaches of ethics - attmepts to create a race of humans with “superior” genetic qualities
- E.g. Lebensborn in Nazi Germany was an extreme example of the Aryan program
Drug trials: principles of research ethics were breached by testing on vulnerable or terminally ill, subjecting them to harm.
- E.g. the development of chemotherapy as cancer treatment caused fatalities in early trials, and severe side effects
Cloning: Allows for the precise introduction of genes into cells, making it easier to alter the human genone and create transgenic species. Concerns of “tampering with nature” extremely, and altering the path of evolution.
Importance of biodiversity
Biodiversity:
- Ecosystem
- Species
- Genetic
Intertwining between these diversities increases the resilience of the system. E.g. Amazon rainforest
E.g. Coral are keystone organisms, as coral reefs are dependent for habitat. Loss of the species would dramatically alter the reef.
Biologists and breeders in agriculture realise they need to conserve diversity in living organisms for the long-term survival of speices and to feed the growing human population.
Genetic engineeting increasing biodiversity
- This “breaks the species barrier”
- New alleles are introduced between gene pools.
- Recombinant DNA technology - genes from organisms are taken and inserted into other organisms, therefore modifying the organism for specific traits. This increases biodiversity
- However, selective breeding can reduce a gene pool to desirable traits
Australian examples
Canola oil is genetically modified.
The production of genetically modified canola oil has an increasing trend. These seeds are used wider and wider in farms. The wild canola crop is not being used in agriculture - decreasing the gene pool only to the useful, commercial alleles.
Earth’s biodiversity
Modern biotechnology gives humans the potential to alter the path of evolution.
- Increasing biodiversity in the short term: new gene recombinations in the population, new genes in individuals (AI)
- decreasing it in the long term though further genetic preference and selective breeding.
There is an increased danger of extinction, and the unknown of how new varieties will survive in coexistence with wild varieties. This could mean that wild varieties are out-competed, and results in extinction, impacting Earth’s biodiversity.
Therefore germplasm of plants and gamete material of animals are being banked for a variety of genomes for future use.
Advantages of biotechnology
- Can be aplied to save species on the brink of extinction
- Improve biodiversity
- Increase efficiency in farming practices
- Alleviate hunger in resource-poor areas of the world.
- Puts into place biodiversity conservation measures to ensure future resilience in these species.
Disadvantages of biotechnology
- Potential to reduce genetic diversity by selectively breeding desire gene recombinations.
- Human survival may be compromised in influencing the path of evolution.
- Bioethical issues.
