ag 10.01

AG 10.01

• Describe methods of plant and animal improvement as a result of biotechnology.

Great Truths

• 4,000 BC The moon is eaten once each month by a large invisible beast– The moon darkens each month because the

angle between the Earth, Moon and Sun changes

Great Truths

• 1400 AD Diseases are caused by evil spirits that inhabit a body– Diseases are caused by microscopic agents

• 1500 Flies develop spontaneously from rotten meat– Flies lay their eggs in rotten meant and hatch

Great Truths

• 1600 The brain pumps fluid into the muscles to make them bulge and contract– The brain contracts muscles using tiny

electrical and chemical signals

• 1800 Tyrannosaurus Rex walked vertically and dragged its tail– T-Rex leaned forward and its tail balanced it,

but it didn’t touch the ground

Great Truths

• 1850 The planet Mars is covered with canals that could only be made by intelligent life– Mars is covered by icy cracks that were once

rivers

• 1900 The Apatosaurus and brontosaurus are two different dinosaurs.– They are the same species

Great Truths

• 1970 Saturn is the only plant with rings around it– Uranus and Jupiter also have rings

• 1980 Eating eggs makes your cholesterol levels rise– Some people’s cholesterol levels stay the same

or go down even if they eat eggs

Great Truths

• 1985 Pandas are bears– Pandas are genetically between bears and

raccoons

• 1990 Tadpoles eat plants, frogs eat meat– Some frogs that eat berries have been found in

South America.

The Beginnings of Biotechnology

• 1750 BC The Sumerians brew beer• 400 BC Hippocrates created a high standard

of ethics and wrote the Hippocratic Oath• 1797 Jenner inoculates a child with a viral

vaccine to protect him from smallpox• 1863 Mendel discovers that traits were

transmitted from parents to progeny through genes


• 1883 The first rabies vaccine was developed by Louis Pasteur

• 1906 The term “genetics” is introduced

• 1928 Fleming discovers penicillin, the first antibiotic

• 1952 Rosalind Franklin produces early data about the structure of DNA


• 1953 Watson and Crick reveal the three-dimensional structure of DNA

• 1970 Dr. Norman Borlaug wins the Nobel Price for Peace

• 1973 Cohen and Boyer perform the first successful recombinant DNA experiment.


• 1978 The first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in England

• 1981 Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was identified as a disease

• 1982 Humulin, is the biotech drug to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.


• 1984 The DNA fingerprinting technique is developed

• 1987 Dr. Ben Carson was the first surgeon to successfully separate Siamese twins joined at the head

• 1988 Congress funds the Human Genome Project


• 1990 The first federally approved gene therapy treatment is performed successfully on a 4-year-old girl suffering from an immune disorder

• 1997 Ian Wilmut (Scotland) is credited with cloning a sheep, Dolly, using DNA from adult sheep cells


• President Bush decides to permit federal funding of research using existing stem cell lines. This allows researchers to continue seeking cures for disease such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons.

ag 10.01

Documents