Applications Of IKS And Biotechnology Flashcards
1
Q
What does IKS stand for?
A
Indigenous Knowledge Systems
2
Q
What is an IKS?
A
Knowledge that certain communities or cultures have acquired over generations through their interactions with the environment
3
Q
What does indigenous knowledge influence?
A
Agriculture Healthcare The preparation of food Education Management of resources
4
Q
What is biotechnology?
A
The use of organisms or biological systems in industrial processes
5
Q
What kinds of industrial processes use biotechnology?
A
Food processing
Antibiotics
Genetic manipulation of crops
6
Q
What kinds of organisms are often used in biotechnology?
A
Microorganisms
7
Q
What are some examples of traditional biotechnology?
A
Plants with medicinal properties
8
Q
How many people in South Africa use indigenous medicinal plants?
A
60%
9
Q
How many plant species are used by South African healers?
A
Around 3000
10
Q
How many traditional healers are there in South Africa?
A
Around 200 000
11
Q
What is a detriment that stems from large-scale utilisation of medicinal plants?
A
Their population decreases
There is a risk of extinction
12
Q
What are two examples of indigenous medicinal plants?
A
Devil’s claw
African potato
13
Q
What is the Latin name for devil’s claw?
A
Harpogophytom procumbens
14
Q
Where can Devil’s claw be found?
A
In the Kalahari desert
15
Q
Which part of Devil’s claw has medicinal value?
A
Underground in its tubers
16
Q
What ailments does Devil’s claw treat?
A
Arthritis
Rheumatism
It relives muscle and joint pain
17
Q
What is the Latin name for the African potato?
A
Hypoxis hemerocallidea
18
Q
Where can the African potato be found?
A
In grasslands
Particularly in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Pondoland
19
Q
What can the African potato be used for?
A
It acts as a laxative
20
Q
What substance within the African potato gives it its medicinal properties?
A
The sterols contained within it
21
Q
What are sterols?
A
A subgroup of steroids which are found naturally in plants, animals and fungi
They are waxy compounds which are insoluble in water
22
Q
What are two well known sterols?
A
Cholesterol found in animals
Ergosterol found in plants
23
Q
Which two sterols are found in the African potato?
A
Phytosterols
Sterolins
24
Q
What can phytosterols be used to treat?
A
A weak immune system
25
How does the body protect itself from pathogens?
By initiating an immune response
26
What is a pathogen?
A disease-causing virus, bacterium, protozoan or fungus
27
What does the immune system have to be able to do in order to work efficiently?
Identify which particles belong to the body and which ones do not
28
What are the two types of immunity?
Natural
| Acquired
29
What is the body's first line of defence against pathogens?
External barriers that prevent harmful substances from entering the body
30
What, in humans, is this external barrier?
The skin
31
What are some natural immune responses that prevent harmful substances from entering the body?
Sneezing
Coughing
Tearing up
Mucous secretion
32
What is the second line of defence against pathogens?
Fever
| Inflammation
33
Why does the body cause a fever when pathogens have been identified?
Most bacteria grow optimally at lower temperatures
| Raising the temperature prevents them from growing and spreading
34
Why does your body cause inflammation when pathogens have been identified?
The blood vessels in this area widen
| This causes more white blood cells (which can destroy pathogens) to flow to this area
35
What is acquired immunity?
It is the action of the immune system adapting to fight diseases it has conquered in the past more effectively
36
What does the body do once a pathogen has been defeated?
It stores a memory of the response
37
What does the body remember about a pathogen?
The antigens it has
38
What is an antigen?
A protein that exists in the outside of a cell
39
What do leucocytes do once they recognise a pathogen?
Destroy or neutralise it
40
What do phagocytes do when they recognise a pathogen?
They engulf it through phagocytosis
41
What is the immune response of a lymphocyte?
To release antibodies
42
What do antibodies do?
Attach themselves to antigens on the surface of a pathogen
This causes the pathogenic cell to burst
It is now destroyed
43
What are memory cells?
Lymphocytes that remain in the blood
| They contain the "blue print" for antibodies of particular pathogens
44
What do memory cells do when the same pathogens are found in the blood stream?
They multiply and produce the antibodies
45
What is it called when someone has a memory cell that knows how to defeat a disease?
That person is now immune to that disease
46
What are the two types of acquired immunity?
Natural
| Artificial
47
What is naturally acquired immunity?
The kind of immunity that doesn't require any medicinal assistance
48
What are the two types of naturally acquired immunity?
Active
| Passive
49
What is passive naturally acquired immunity?
Antibodies are transferred from a mother to her child, either through the placenta or through the mother's milk
50
What is active naturally acquired immunity?
Immunity which develops through contact with pathogens and their subsequent destruction
51
What are the two types of artificial acquired immunity?
Passive
| Active
52
What is artificially acquired immunity?
The kind of immunity that develops through intentional actions
53
What is passive artificially acquired immunity?
The body is injected with antibodies that were developed in another organism
This offers immediate protection
54
What is active artificially acquired immunity?
The body is inoculated with a dead or weakened form of a pathogen
The body is stimulated to form antibodies, but there is no threat
55
What is another name for immunisation?
Inoculation
56
What is inoculation?
Administration of a vaccine in order to develop immunity to a disease
57
What does a vaccine consist of?
A dead or weakened form of pathogen
58
Why are vaccines useful?
The body has time to develop antibodies without any actual threat to the body
When the actual pathogen comes along, the memory cell will already know how to defeat
59
What disease did vaccines make possible to eliminate?
Smallpox
60
Who is regarded as the father of immunology?
Edward Jenner
61
What kinds of diseases have vaccines?
```
Measles
Mumps
Rubella
Tetanus
Polio
Influenza
Yellow fever
Typhoid fever
Hepatitis A and B
```
62
What are antibiotics?
Chemical substances that destroy pathogenic bacteria
63
How are most antibiotics manufactured?
From moulds
64
What was the first antibiotic?
Penicillin
65
How discovered that penicillin was an antibiotic?
Alexander Fleming
66
What are most antibiotics today?
Semi-synthetic
67
Why can it be said that antibiotics are semi-synthetic?
They are chemically modified in the biotechnology industry to have different effects on different bacteria
68
Why are antibiotics limited?
They can only destroy bacteria, not viruses
69
Which cells determine your blood group?
Erythrocytes
70
What determines blood type?
The kind of antigens that a red blood cell carries on its surface
71
What are the two main types of antigens that an erythrocyte has?
A antigens
| B antigens
72
What are the four main blood groups?
A
B
AB
O
73
Why are there four blood groups when there are only two antigens?
A person may have only the B antigen, only the A antigen, neither or both
74
What causes people to have different blood types?
Their genetic makeup
75
What is agglutination?
Blood-clot formation
76
What can cause agglutination?
If the Anti-A antibodies identify the A antigen in the blood
77
Why is it important to have only one type of blood in a person?
If there is an antigen in the cells that the blood plasma identifies as a threat agglutination will occur
78
What is a blood transfusion?
When blood from one person is transferred to another
79
How can blood transfusion be dangerous?
If two people who have the same blood type have a blood transfusion, they should be okay
However, if someone's blood has an antigen that the other person has an antibody for, agglutination will occur
80
Which blood type is known as the universal donor?
Type O blood
81
Why is type O blood the universal donor?
It has no antigens, so no antibodies will react to it
82
Which blood type is known as the universal recipient?
Type AB blood
83
Why is type AB blood known as the universal recipient?
It has no antibodies, so all blood will be accepted
84
What is cloning?
The process in which a genetically identical replica of a molecule, cell or entire organism is made
85
What are the three types of cloning?
DNA
reproductive
Therapeutic
86
What is DNA cloning?
The transfer of a particular gene from an organism to a foreign host cell
87
What is the purpose of DNA cloning?
To obtain a desired characteristic
88
What is reproductive cloning?
When a complete replica of an organism is created
89
What is a famous example of a reproductive clone?
Dolly the sheep
90
Why was Dolly the sheep so famous?
She was the first mammal to be cloned, and be able to function normally
91
What ability do plants have (in respect to cloning) that animals do not?
Any plant cell can become a new plant if they have the correct growth medium
92
What is therapeutic cloning?
The use of stem cells
93
What are stem cells?
Undifferentiated cells which have many purposes
94
What can stem cells be used for?
To study human development
To replace damaged tissues and organs
To treat certain diseases
95
What kind of diseases could stem cells treat?
Leukaemia
Diabetes
Alzheimer's
96
Where can stem cells be found?
Embryos
Umbilical cords
Some instruments can reverse the specialisation of a cell to turn it back into a stem cell
97
Why is cloning a controversial topic?
Although it is certain these techniques have many uses, whether these uses or methods are ethical is debatable
98
What are ethics?
Moral questions
| They concern right/wrong, good/bad, justifiable/not
99
What are some issues that arise because of cloning?
Will clones have rights?
Will the government be able to regulate the use of cloning?
What about the risks involved?
