Biotechnology Unit8.L.2

8L2.1 – Essential Understanding

Understand how biotechnology is used to affect living organisms.◦Biotechnology can affect living organisms

either directly or indirectly.

Main Essential Question

What are the pros and cons of biotechnology?

8L2.1 Essential Standard

Summarize aspects of biotechnology including:◦Specific genetic information available◦Careers◦Economic benefits to NC◦Ethical issues◦Implications for agriculture

Essential Understandings #1

Technology is essential to science for such purposes as sample collection and treatment, measurement, data collection and storage, computation, and communication of information.

Traditional biotechnology #2

Traditional biotechnology was (and still is) the use of living organisms to solve problems and make useful products.

Domesticated crop plants and farm animals through

selective breeding

Yeast to make bread rise and produce wine

Essential Questions

Is it ethical to create/design living organisms?Should you know/have a say in which foods

are genetically altered before eating them?How might advances in biotechnology affect

society?How have we benefitted from biotechnology?Do the benefits of genetically altered food

outweigh the risks?

New Biotechnology

Involves the use of living cells and their molecules to solve problems and make useful products.

A Bio-Patch Regrows Bone Inside the Body

http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology

Biotechnology is not just one technology, but many.

3 basic kinds of biotechnology toolsWorking with cells. Working with proteinsWorking with genes

Working with cells

Selective Breeding

Produces specific offspring with specific traits.

Working with genes

Genetic Modification - changes the genetic material of a living organism.

This practice is used to make medicines and treat diseases. Used to improve crops and produce organisms used in scientific research)

Industrial Uses

Many industries are finding uses for new tools provided by biotechnology.

Health care industry: diagnose, treat and prevent disease.

• Food and agriculture industries are rapidly adopting the tools of biotechnology.

• Energy and Environment where living cells and their molecules can help us to clean up our environment, detect environmental contamination, reduce our dependence on petroleum.

Microbial world

Emerging world of biotechnology which gives us advances and new careers in medicine, agriculture, genetics and food science.Benefitted NC in many ways, has raised ethical issues

How does biotechnology affect us?

Through food, water and shelter

Modern uses: Some examples: penicillin, human insulin for diabetes, combat crime through DNA testing and forensic

testingRemoving pollution from soil and water

(bioremediation)Improving quality of agricultural crops and

livestock.

New areas that are controversial

Genetic Modification

Cloning

What is biotechnology?

is the science of using or changing living things to improve or benefit people’s lives.

Science that uses living things (or parts of them, such as genes) to change other living things to make products for human use.

Vocabulary for unit

Biotechnology: is the science of using or changing living things to improve or benefit people’s lives.

Science that uses living things (or parts of them, such as genes) to change other living things to make products for human use.

Microorganism: (micro – very small) organism = any living thingvery small organism

Selective breeding: two organisms with desirable traits are mated to produce offspring with those same desired traits.

Vocabulary continued

Ethics: moralsGenetic engineering: change the DNA

of organismsBioengineering: another term for

genetic engineering: the use of artificial tissues, organs, or organ components to replace damaged or absent parts of the body, such as artificial limbs and heart pacemakers.

Vocabulary continued

Clone: an organism that is the exact genetic match of another organism.

Genetic Modification: changes the genetic material of a living organism

Bioremediation: (bio – living) (remediation – process of fixing a problem) – using living things to help fix an environmental problem. Example: bacteria eating up oil from an oil spill.

Vocabulary from readings

Genes – passed from one to another: the instructions for all traits. Physical Traits – how an organism looks Behavioral trait – are how an organism acts Somatic cell – any cell in an organism other than a sperm or egg

cell. Enucleate – remove the nucleus from the cell. Specialized cells – As the embryo develops cells change and

then have specific jobs to do. Unspecialized cells – cells in an embryo are the same: none

have a specific job as of yet. Gene gun: machine that shoots gene-coated pellets through the

cells of a plan in order to introduce a new gene to that plant. Undifferentiated cells: cells which have not become specialized

Vocabulary from reading cont.

Herbicides - chemical s used to kill weeds that can harm crops. Not selective and will kill other living organisms.

Stem cells: unspecialized cells that make up the embryo in its early stages of development

Embryonic stem cells: Unspecialized cells n an embryo that differentiate into most cell types of an organism

Adult stem cells: unspecialized cells that are found in certain parts of an organism’s body and which are used to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found.