EVOLUTION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

Ann Murphy and Judi Perrella
1993 Woodrow Wilson Biology Institute

INTRODUCTION

TEACHER OUTLINE FOR PRESENTATION OF ACTIVITY:

1. Lecture or class discussion.

2. Reading assignment or student reports. Students could research individual scientists or discoveries.

3. Students could graph on adding machine tape or graph paper taped together.

4. Students could use Timeliner computer software (90 Sherman St., Cambridge, MA 02140; 800-342-0236), designed by Thomas F.F. Snyder & David Kaemmer (1986). Tom Snyder Productions.

5. Students could add significant historical events to timeline.

6. Teacher could work with social studies teacher to develop lesson to help students understand how science, history and technology impact each other.

7. Use videotapes, laser discs, books or periodicals, historical figures and events to support evidence given in timeline.

8. A series of analysis questions could be given to students with one of the above assignments.

Sample questions are:

EVOLUTION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY TIMELINE

Plants used for food. Animals used for food and to do work.
Plants domesticated, selectively bred for desired characteristics.
Microorganisms used to make cheese, beverages, and bread fermentation

1797 Edward Jenner

Used living microorganisms to protect people from disease.

1750-1850

Increased cultivation of leguminous crops and crop rotations to increase yield and land use.

1820

Animal drawn machines

1850's

Horse drawn harrows, seed drills, corn planters, horse hoes, 2-row cultivators, hay mowers, and rakes.
Industrially processed animal feed and inorganic fertilizer

1859 Charles Darwin

Hypothesized that animal and plant populations adapt over time to best fit the environment.

1864 Louis Pasteur

Proved existence of microorganisms
Showed that all living things are produced by other living things.

1865 Gregor Mendel

Investigated how traits are passed from generation to generation: called them factors.

1869 Johann Meischer

Isolated DNA from the nuclei of white blood cells.

1880

Steam engine to drive combine harvesters

1890

Ammonia synthesis

1892

Self-propelled tractor

1893 Koch, Pasteur, Lister Institutes

Fermentation process patented
Diphtheria antitoxin isolated

1902 Walter Sutton

Coined the term "gene"
Proposed that chromosomes carry genes (factors which Mendel
said that could be passed from generation to generation)

1904

Artificial "silks" developed

1910 Thomas H. Morgan

Proved that genes are carried on chromo-somes "Biotechnology" term coined

1918 Germans

Used acetone produced by plants to make bombs
Yeast grown in large quantities for animal and glycerol
Made activated sludge for sewage treatment process

1920

Boom of rayon industry

1927 Herman Mueller

Increased mutation rate in fruit flies by exposing them to x-rays

1928 Frederick Griffiths

Noticed that a rough kind of bacterium changed to a smooth type when unknown "transforming principle" from smooth type was present.

1928 Alexander Fleming

Discovered antibiotic properties of certain molds

1920-1930

Plant hybridization

1938

Proteins and DNA studied by x-ray crystallography
Term 'molecular biology" coined

1941 George Beadle/ Edward Tatum

Proposed "one gene, one enzyme" hypothesis

1943-1953 Linus Pauling

Described sickle cell anemia, calling it a molecular disease
Cortisone made in large amounts
DNA is identified as the genetic material

1944 Oswald Avery

Performed transformation experiment with Griffith's bacterium

1945 Max Delbruck

Organized course to study a type of bacterial virus that consists of a protein coat containing DNA

Mid-1940's

Penicillin produced
Transition from animal power to mechanical power on farms

1950 Erwin Chargaff

Determined that there is always a ratio of 1:1 adenine to thymine in DNA of many different organisms
Artificial insemination of livestock

1952 Alfred Hershey/ Margaret Chase

Used radioactive labeling to determine that it is the DNA not protein which carries the instructions for assembling new phages

1953.James Watson/ Francis Crick

Determined the double helix structure of DNA

1956 Dangr

Sequenced insulin (protein) from pork

1957 Francis Crick/ George Gamov

Explained how DNA functions to make protein

1958 Coenberg

Discovered DNA polymerase

Isolation of m-RNA

1965

Classification of the plasmids

1966 Marshall Nirenberg/ Severo Ochoa

Determined that a sequence of three nucleotide bases determine each of 20 amino acids

1970

Isolation of reverse transcriptase

1971

Discovery of restriction enzymes

1972 Paul Berg

Cut sections of viral DNA and bacterial DNA with same restriction enzyme
Spliced viral DNA to the bacterial DNA

1973 Stanley Cohen/ Herbert Boyer

Produced first recombinant DNA organism
Beginning of genetic engineering

1975

Moratorium on recombinant DNA techniques

1976

National Institute of Health guidelines developed for study of recombinant DNA

1977

First practical application of genetic engineering human growth hormone produced by bacterial cells

1978 Genentech, Inc.

Genetic engineering techniques used to produce human insulin in E. coli
First biotech company on NY stock exchange
Stanford University First successful transplantation of mammalian gene
Discoverers of restriction enzymes receive Nobel Prize in medicine

1979 Genentech, Inc.

Produced human growth hormone and two kinds of interferon
DNA from malignant cells transformed a strain of cultured mouse cells new tool for analyzing cancer genes

1980

US. Supreme Court decided that manmade microbes could be patented

1983 Genentech, Inc.

Licensed Eli Lilly to make insulin
First transfer of foreign gene in plants

1985

Plants can be patented

1986

First field trials of DNA recombinant plants resistant to insects, viruses, bacteria

1988

First living mammal patented

1993

Flavr savr tomatoes sold to public

REFERENCES

1. Micklos, D.A. & Freyer, G. A., DNA Science: A First Course in Recombinant DNA Technology. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory & Carolina Biological Supply Company. 477 pp. Available from: Cabisco Biotechnology, 2700 York R., Burlington, NC 27215; 800-334-5551 or 800-632-1231 (NC only).

2. NABT Sourcebook of Biotechnology.

3. Bud, Robert, "Janus-faced Biotechnology - An Historical Perspective", Trends in Biotechnology v. 7, 1989, p. 230-33.

4. Torrey, John G., "The Development of Plant Biotechnology", American Scientist, 1985, 73:354-363.

5. Goodman, David C., From Farming to Biotechnology: A Theory of Agro-industrial Development Oxford: Blackwell, 1987.

6. Seabrook, John, "Tremors in the Hothouse", The New Yorker July 19, 1993 p. 32-41.

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