BIOL 1050 Lecture 16 Outline of Last LectureI. BiotechnologyII. MethodsOutline of Current LectureI. Human health usesII. Better medicinesIII. DNA technology used to make vaccinesIV. Gene therapy to cure diseasesV. Gene therapyVI. Difficulties with gene therapyVII. Biotech to prevent diseaseVIII. Agricultural issues Current LectureI. Human health usesa. To produce better medicinesb. To cure diseasesi. Called gene therapyii. Most frequently used to treat disease, not cure itc. To prevent diseasesII. Better medicinesa. Example: diabetesi. Previously injected insulin from cattle or pigsii. Now made by GM bacteriaiii. Now don’t have to worry about body rejecting the insulinIII. DNA technology used to make vaccinesa. Vaccine: harmless form of bacteria or virusi. The body will make a specific defense that can fight off future harmful formsbased off of the vaccineIV. Gene therapy to cure diseasesa. Human gene therapy seeks to cure disease by inserting a functional gene into an individual’s cells that have a defective versionb. Blood doping (lance Armstrong): induces body to produce more red blood cells and therefore oxygen, allowing him to beat his competitorsThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.V. Gene therapya. Used for SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency)i. Caused by defective genes in immune cells in bloodstreamii. Patients must avoid infectionb. Gene therapy for SCID patientsi. Remove immune system cells from patientii. Infect the cells with virus carrying the normal alleleiii. Return cells carrying the normal alleleVI. Difficulties with gene therapya. Getting the functional gene into the cells where it is needed i. Can’t specifically insert genes in a certain place and can disrupt healthy patients (for instance disrupting a tumor suppressor gene)b. Getting the functional gene into enough cellsc. Viruses/bacteria infecting unintended cellsd. Can still pass disease to offspring VII. Biotech to prevent diseasea. Genetic screening of parents and embryos detect likelihood of kids having diseaseb. Genetic screening to determine own risk for futurec. Ethical concerns and risk of discriminationVIII. Agricultural issuesa. GM cropsi. Genetic modification of crops can increase1. Shelf life2. Yield3. Nutritional valueii. Also may reduce need for pesticidesiii. Corn plants have been engineered to kill the insects that eat themiv. Bt corn1. Corn plant destroyed by insect2. Bacterial gene coding for Bt cyrstals which are poisonous to the insect pests is inserted directly into the corn plants DNA3. Bt crystals-toxic to insect pests are now produced by the corn plant itself, reducing the amount of pesticides the farmer must use (insecticides are bad and expensive for farmers)v. Almost everyone in the U.S. consumes genetically modified foods regularly without even knowing it. 1. Currently more than 170 million acres worldwide are planted with genetically modified crops, most containing built-in insecticides and herbicide resistance, representing more than a forty-fold increase over the past 10 years. T he financial benefits to farmers-at least in the short run-are so great that more and more of them are embracing the genetically modified crops2. 86% of corn is genetically modified 3. 93% of cotton4. 93% of soybeans5. Two factors explain the extensive adoption of genetically modifiedplantsa. Many plants have had insecticides engineered into them, which can reduce the amounts of insecticides used in agricultureb. Many plants also have herbicide-resistance genes engineered into them. 6. These plants can reduce the amount of plowing required around crops to remove weeds. As consequence, then, the use of genetically modified plants can reduce both the costs of producingfood and the loss of topsoil to erosion vi. Insect resistance1. Every year about 40 million tons of corn are unmarketable as a consequence of insect damage2. Increasingly farmers have been having greater success in their battles against insect pests, primarily through the use of transgenic crops3. Soil dwelling bacteria produce spores containing crystals that are highly poisonous to insects but harmless to crops and people4. Biotechnology can improve food and nutrition and make farming more efficient and eco-friendlya. Most primal forms of genetic engineering have been present for thousands of yearsi. Selecting which plants or animals a breeder used ascropsb. Genetic engineering is any manipulation of species genome in ways that do not normally occur in naturec. What used to take many generations of breeding can now be accomplished in a fraction of time using recombinant DNA technologyi. The combination of DNA from two or more source into a new product ii. This can help feed malnourished people by increasing vitamins in food (golden rice)iii. There are many controversies over these foodsb. Concerns about GM foodsi. Organisms we want to kill may become invincibleii. Organisms we don’t want to kill may be killed inadvertently1. Pollen from Bt corn that dusks milkweed might unintentionally kill the butterfly larvae that eat the milkweediii. Amount of regulationiv. Is it dangerous to eat GM foods?v. Loss of genetic diversity among crop plants1. Cloning, dolly the