MCAT Biochemistry
Biotechnology is a field focused on the development and manufacturing of products or technology using living organisms, their derivatives, or other biological systems. This field has impacted various industries, including human gene therapy, pharmaceuticals, forensics, agriculture, and environmental cleanup. One significant innovation within biotechnology is CRISPR, a gene-editing tool that enables researchers to add, remove, or modify genes within an organism's DNA. Other notable applications of biotechnology include recombinant insulin, human growth hormone (HGH), the hepatitis B vaccine, and various forensic analyses, such as short tandem repeat (STR), Y-STR, and mitochondrial DNA analysis. Biotechnology is also used to genetically modify bacteria for environmental waste management and crops for enhanced growth and disease resistance. However, it is essential to consider safety precautions and the ethical implications of these technologies. Concerns include the potential for long-term health effects, privacy rights, and socio-economic access disparities. As biotechnology continues to evolve, addressing these issues remains critical.
Lesson Outline
<ul> <li>Real-life applications of biotechnology</li> <ul> <li>CRISPR gene-editing tool</li> <ul> <li>Guide RNA creation</li> <li>Binding to target DNA</li> <li>Utilization of Cas9</li> <li>Gene knockout or knock-in</li> </ul> <li>Pharmaceutical field</li> <ul> <li>Human insulin production</li> <li>Human growth hormone production</li> <li>Hepatitis B vaccine</li> </ul> <li>Forensic science</li> <ul> <li>Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis</li> <li>Short tandem repeat (STR) analysis</li> <li>Y-STR analysis</li> <li>Mitochondrial DNA analysis</li> </ul> <li>Environmental cleanup</li> <ul> <li>Genetically modified microorganisms</li> </ul> <li>Agriculture</li> <ul> <li>Genetically modified crops</li> <li>Improved growth, disease resistance, and pest resistance</li> </ul> </ul> <li>Safety and ethics</li> <ul> <li>Potential long-term effects and risks</li> <li>Concerns with human gene manipulation</li> <li>Current safety guidelines</li> <li>Ethical issues</li> <ul> <li>Gene therapy for human trait enhancement</li> <li>Privacy rights and socio-economical access</li> </ul> </ul> </ul>
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FAQs
Biotechnology has made significant contributions to medicine, particularly in areas such as gene editing (using tools like CRISPR), recombinant DNA technology, and the development of recombinant proteins and medicinal products such as human insulin, human growth hormone, and the hepatitis B vaccine. Biotechnology also plays a role in forensics, with short tandem repeat analysis being widely used in DNA fingerprinting.
Recombinant DNA technology has revolutionized the production of human insulin by enabling the synthesis of insulin in a lab instead of extracting it from animal sources, such as pigs or cows. This method involves inserting the human insulin gene into a bacterial plasmid, which is then cultured and used to produce human insulin in bulk quantities. This approach has significantly improved the availability, safety, and affordability of insulin for people with diabetes.
CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a revolutionary gene-editing tool that works as a molecular scissor, allowing scientists to precisely add, remove, or modify specific DNA sequences in living organisms. While CRISPR has promising applications, such as treating genetic diseases, improving crop yields, and developing new therapies, it also raises ethical concerns, such as the potential for creating designer babies, unintended genetic mutations, and exacerbating social inequalities through the accessibility of gene-editing technologies.
Biotechnology plays an important role in environmental cleanup through a process called bioremediation, wherein living organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and plants are used to degrade or detoxify contaminants in soil, water, and air. The utilization of organisms for this purpose allows for a more sustainable and eco-friendly approach to cleaning up pollution, as opposed to using chemical or mechanical methods.
In forensic science, biotechnology is employed to analyze DNA samples for the purpose of identification or validation. One such technique is short tandem repeat (STR) analysis, which focuses on specific regions of DNA that consist of repeating nucleotide sequences. By comparing the patterns of STRs in a DNA sample to those of a known individual or a database, forensic scientists can establish a match or identify relationships between individuals. This technique has become a gold standard in the field of forensics and is widely used in criminal investigations, paternity testing, and disaster victim identification.
