definition of biotechnology in canadian legislation biotechnology is the application of science and...
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Definition of Biotechnology in Canadian Legislation
Biotechnology is the application of science and engineering in the direct or indirect use of living organisms in their natural or modified forms
Commonly accepted definition
Biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services
Biotech products are ubiquitous
New and improved foodsIndustrial chemicalsPharmaceuticalsLivestockAgricultureDiagnosticsBioremediation
Organisms and cells used in Biotechnology
Every biotech process is dependent directly or indirectly on cells
• cells used include both eukaryotes and prokaryotes
• bacteria e.g. E.coli, B. subtilis• Yeast• Cultured insect cells• Cultured mammalian cells• Plant cells• Fungi
Micro-organisms used classified into wild type strains and recombinant strains
Wild type -naturally occurring m/o• e.g. Aspergillus oryzae soy sauce• Saccharomyces cerevisiae ethanol• Aspergillus niger citric acid• Penicillin chrysogenum penicillinRecombinant strains- m/o that have had their
genetic material altered using recombinant DNA technology also known as GMOs (genetically manipulated organisms
Bacteria
Adv: simple physiology short generation timeslarge yield (up to 10% of mass) can get some products secreted into the medium certain specific bacteria are useful because we know a lot
about their physiology and how to optimize growth certain specific bacteria are useful because we know a lot
about geneticsDisadv: Proteins cloned and expressed in them often do not fold
properly so are biologically inactive Synthesized protein may be toxic to bacteria Bacteria lack enzymes for certain post translational
modifications e.g. glycosylation
Average bacterial cell is 1 – 4 um
Yeast- simple eukaryotesAdv• easy to grow• can perform many of post translational
modifications required for human proteins• can be induced to secrete certain proteins
into growth medium for harvestingDisadv• presence of active proteases that degrade
foreign proteins
Yeast are around 5-8um in diameter.
Immortal cell linesAnimal cells, often derived from cancerous 20um diametermammalian tumours and so cells grow and reproduce at a faster rate than normal cellsAdv:• grow indefinitely• produce mammalian products with ease• potentially hazardousDisadv:• relatively slow to grow (comp to microbes)• problematic for manipulation• contamination• Expensive
Plant cells• useful for manipulating plants• beginning to be used in bioreactors too• often the plant can be used as the bioreactor in the field e.g. golden rice• some problems if need to isolate product• Need no C source
Below are Epithelial cells in culture, stained for keratin (red)
and DNA (green)
One of the earliest human cell lines, the cultured HeLa cells shown here have been stained with Hoechst turning their nuclei blue.
Insect cells• Another kind of eukaryotic cell• Adv:• Grow at room temperature• Special features that allow over expression• Disadv• Difficult to work with• Expensive• Slow gen. Time• Not suitable for proteins with repetitive sequences
Insect cell line 15um diameter
Fungibeen used historicallydifficult to manipulatea lot known about culture conditionsjust beginning to learn about genetics and manipulation
A Fungal hypha has a diameter of around 8 um
Electron Micrograph of Aspergillus showing Conidiospores
Viruses used as vectors in gene therapy
e.g Herpes simplex
Bacteriophage have potential as antibacterial agents