Biotechnology

1. What is biotechnology?

Biotechnology is a broad term used to describe using living things to create products and do tasks for human beings. Like Biology in industrial processes such as agriculture, brewing and drug development. It is also the practice of using plants, animals, micro-organisms and biological processes to benefit society, like, medicine and agriculture to produce foods, medicines, and test for diseases and remove waste. 2. Difference between DNA and genes?

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a molecule found as long chains in the nucleus of a cell, that determines the types of protein that a cell can make. Genes are a part of a cells DNA, DNA molecules contain thousands of genes and holds the information needed to make thousands of different proteins, therefore genes are made of DNA but only about two percent of the entire DNA is not composed of genes. 3. Other uses of biotechnology?

Antibiotics, Identification of hereditary diseases, DNA sequencing, DNA profiling, antibiotics, stem cells, gene therapy, genetic disorders, transplantation, reproductive technologies, producing human products, genetically modified foods, and fighting infectious diseases. 4. Define: Transgenic organisms: Refers to an organism that contains DNA, with one or more genes that have been transferred to it from another organism using recombinant DNA techniques. Bacteriophages: A virus that parasitizes a bacterium by infecting it and reproducing inside it. Recognition site: The nucleotide sequence in duplex deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to which a restriction endonuclease binds initially and within which the endonuclease cuts the DNA. Restriction enzyme: Enzymes (normally derived from bacteria) that cuts strands of DNA at particular points of nucleotides. Blunt end: The ends, of a double stranded molecule, produced by a straight cut of a sequence of nucleotide bases. Sticky end: The overhanging ends, of a DNA double helix, produced by a staggered cut of a sequence of nucleotide bases. 5. How is it possible to locate gene responsible for favourable characteristics?

The Human Genome Project is a scientific project that has made the location of all the genes in the human genome available to scientists. A genetic probe is a fragment of DNA or RND labelled with radioactive isotopes or a fluorescent marker that is used to find specific sequences of bases in another DNA or RNA molecule. They are used to detect the presence of the allele responsible for hereditary diseases or favourable characteristics. The DNA examined is denatures so it splits from double to single strands. The material is then mixed with the genetic probe, it finds the complementary base sequence and binds to it and the probe finds exactly where its located.

6.

Process of producing an organism with recombinant DNA? Include diagram well labelled.

Recombinant DNA is taking a piece of one DNA, and combining it with another strand of DNA. By combining two or more different strands of DNA, scientists are able to create a new strand of DNA. The most common recombinant process involves combining the DNA of two different organisms.

Isolating the gene of interest is the first step in producing an organism with recombinant DNA. The gene is cloned in a vector. The DNA in the vector can grow and replicate on its own. The gene of interest is inserted into plasmids, circular double stranded units of cytoplasm DNA found in bacteria and is capable of replicating within a cell free of chromosomal DNA, and is referred to as recombinant DNA. Once large quantities are produced of the vector they are inserted into host cells, such as bacteria or yeast. The host cells then produce foreign protein instructed by the gene in recombinant DNA and can be manufactured.

7.

What is insulin used for? Why produced artificially.

Insulin reduces the amount of glucose in the blood (blood sugar level). It achieves this by up taking glucose from the blood by the cells of the body. This happens as insulin causes cells in the liver to converse glucose to glycogen and fat and storing it as glycogen in the liver, and skeletal muscles. Purified animal-sourced insulin, bovine and porcine insulin such as pig and cattle from pancreas glands are similar to human insulin, was the only type of insulin available to diabetics, until insulin was produced artificially . The use of animals to produce insulin caused some allergic reactions, as it was not a true human match to insulin, immune systems produce antibodies against it, neutralising its actions and resulting in inflammatory responses at injection sites. The gene that produces human insulin was added to the genes in a normal E. coli bacteria. Once the gene was in place, the normal cellular machinery produced it just like any other enzyme. By culturing large quantities of the modified bacteria and then killing and opening them, the insulin could be extracted, purified and used very inexpensively and distributed in large quantities. 8. What are factors VIII and human growth hormone used for?

Anti-hemophilic factor (Factor VIII) is an essential blood clotting factor. It is a naturally occurring protein in the blood that helps clot blood. Factor VIII is used to treat or prevent bleeding as, a lack in this gene results in haemophilia A, a well known recessive X-linked coagulation disorder. The Pituitary gland of the brain produces Growth hormone. Growth hormone stimulates body growth and increases the rate at which amino acids are taken up by cells and built into proteins. It determine height, bone length and muscle growth. Children who are experiencing stunted or slow growth need natural growth hormone levels checked by medical professionals before they determine if they need synthetic growth hormone; As bones need sufficient amounts of growth hormone during childhood and adolescence in order to lengthen to adult proportions. Synthetic growth hormone is used to help children with impaired hormone levels to reach their full height. 9. Stem cells, and sources of?

Stem cells are cells that are of a class of undetermined cell type that are able to set apart into specialized cell types. They are characterized by the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and separate into a different range of specialized cell types. Adult stem cells are from an adult, enable them to make a range of cell types from an originating organ or even redevelop the entire original organ, by cell division or self-renew indefinite. Because of this, that the adult stem cells are limited in their ability to distinguish based on their tissue of origin, there is some evidence that they might differentiate to become other cell types. Embryonic stem cells are originally from a four to five-day old human embryo that is in the blastocyst phase of development. The embryos are usually extras that have been created in IVF (in vitro fertilization) clinics where several eggs are fertilized in a test tube, but only one is implanted into a woman. Totipotent stem cell: has the ability to separate into all possible cell types. Pluripotent stem cells: have the ability to separate into almost all cell types. cells derived from any of the three germ layers, not cell that make up the embryonic membranes, amnion, chorion and yolk sac. Multipotent stem cells: have the ability to separate into a closely related family of cells. Can develop into more than one cell type but not all. Oligopotent stem cells: have the ability to separate into a few cells such as lymphoid or myeloid stem cells. Unipotent stem cells: can produce only one cell type, their own, but have the property of self-renewal which separates them from non-stem cells (e.g. muscle stem cells). 10. Uses of stem cells? Organ and tissue regeneration: stem cells could be used to grow a particular type of tissue or organ if distinguished in a certain way. Stem cells just beneath the skin, for example, have been engineered to make new skin tissue that can be help burn victims. Brain disease treatment: to treat brain disease such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's replacement cells and tissues may be used by replacing damaged tissue. Cell deficiency therapy: people with heart disease can culture Healthy heart cells in a laboratory and may one day be transplanted into the patients. Pancreatic cells used to replace the insulin-producing cells with People with type I diabetes as they could have been lost or destroyed by the patient's own immune system. Blood disease treatments: Diseases such as leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and other immunodeficiencies could be treated with Adult hematopoietic stem cells found in blood and bone marrow. These cells are capable of producing all blood cell types, like red blood cells, that carry oxygen, to white blood cells that fight disease.