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BTec 110 – Lecture Notes

Chapter 1: Introduction to Biotechnology

Biotechnology is an exciting and challenging field which has enabled the advancement in
areas of agriculture, medicine, industry, commerce, and the environment. As an undergraduate
beginner, it is important that you be introduced first to biotechnology from a broader
perspective. Here, we take a look at the different definitions of biotechnology that are either
broad or narrow. We study its evolution as a field – from its roots in the distant past as an
artisanal skill rather than as a science, up to the conventional and modern operationalization
it has come to be known today. For your further appreciation, highlights of biotechnological
settings in the Philippines and biotechnological products currently used are also discussed
here.

1. What is Biotechnology?
The word “biotechnology” is a compound word, made up of the prefix bio-
meaning live or living and the word technology meaning the application of knowledge
and skills in a particular area. According to Robert Bud of the Science Museum, London,
United Kingdom, it was devised by Karl Ereky, a Hungarian scientist, in 1919 in his book
entitled “Biotechnology of Meat, Fat, and Milk Production in an Agricultural Large-Scale
Farm.” For Ereky, the term biotechnology “indicates the processes by which raw
materials could be biologically upgraded into socially useful products.” Because of this,
he is also regarded by scientists as the “Father of Biotechnology”.
The term biotechnology has many distinct, but closely-related meanings. In
general, it can be defined as a field that involves the use of biological systems or living
organisms to manufacture products or develop processes that ultimately benefit
humans. Moreover, other definitions of the term are also available provided by different
countries and institutions.

Table 1. Working definitions of biotechnology of different countries and institutions.

Country/Institution Definition Remarks
FDA The application of biological General definition which
systems and organisms to covers age-old techniques,
technical and industrial and most advanced uses in
processes. recombinant DNA
technology.
Hebrew University The [direct] manipulation of Narrower definition
(1992) nature for the benefit of covering only subcellular
mankind at the subcellular and and molecular manipulation
molecular levels. of organisms.
US Office of “New” biotechnology is the Narrow definition covering
Technology and industrial use of recombinant only modern biotechnology.
Assessment (1984) DNA, cell diffusion and novel
bioprocessing techniques.
Australia (1981) The devising, optimizing, and Narrow definition
scaling-up of biochemical and encompassing industrial
cellular processes for processes based on
the industrial production of biological systems
useful compounds and involving microorganisms,
related applications. plants and animals, and
genetically engineered
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microorganisms, plants,
and animals.
European The integrated use of Narrow definition covering
Federation of biochemistry, microbiology, mostly the new
Biotechnology and engineering sciences in biotechnology.
(1982) order to achieve technological
(industrial) application of the
capabilities of micro-
organisms, cultured tissue
cells, and parts thereof.
Organization for The application of scientific Encompasses both old and
Economic and engineering principles to new biotechnology
Cooperation and the processing of
Development materials by biological agents
(OECD) (1982) to provide goods and
services.
Oxford English The exploitation of biological Narrow definition
Dictionary processes for industrial and encompassing more of new
other purpose, esp. genetic biotechnology
manipulation of
microorganisms for the
production of antibiotics,
hormones, etc.
Philippines (as A set of tools and procedures Broader definition covering
defined in Senate involving living both old and new
S.B. No. 3140 organisms or parts thereof that biotechnology.
“Bioindustry produces a product or service.
Development Act of
2009”)

Aside from the definition presented in Table 1, different individuals from

different walks of professional life may give equally true definitions of biotechnology.
For a farmer, biotechnology may be the “production of high yield or pest-resistant
crops”. For a doctor, he/she may refer to it as the “making of new vaccines and
antibiotics”. For an engineer, it may be the “designing of innovative machinery or
techniques for disease diagnosis”.
Despite the various definitions, there is one common theme about the meaning
of biotechnology: Biotechnology has immensely affected our day-to-day life with
various products. Even if some are completely unaware of its formal definition, it is for
sure that all of us have benefitted from biotechnological products and innovations
such as alcoholic beverages, cheese, detergent, fertilizers, biodegradable plastics,
antibiotics, etc.

1.1. Why the concern on the meaning of biotechnology?

A common understanding of the definition of biotechnology is needed
for a societal consensus to cope with the demands of communication,
political, and legislative matters. Yes, biotechnology not only touches the
technical side of applied science – knowing how it works, but also largely
encompasses societal scopes.
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1.2. How is it different from the discipline of bioscience?

Table 2. Differentiation between bioscience and biotechnology.

Bioscience Biotechnology
studies the basics and fundamentals of deals with the use of organisms for
organisms, which include their making useful products.
structures, functions, and survival.
deals with the internal organization of geared towards the use of organisms for
organisms. human benefits.

2. Importance of biotechnology
To better understand the importance of the science of biotechnology, we will
briefly discuss its major fields and their corresponding applications.

2.1. Types (or Colors) of Biotechnology

A unique differentiation of the fields of biotechnology is their grouping to seven
colors, like the stripes of a rainbow, or research and development areas. The
scope for each color type is based on DaSilva (2004).

a. Red biotechnology
- Also known as medical biotechnology. It deals with the molecular
engineering of cells or microorganisms in the development of
pharmaceutical products. It includes the designing of organisms to
manufacture medicinal or therapeutic products like growth hormones,
insulin, antibiotics, vaccines, regenerative medicine, and gene therapy
(Figure 1). It may also be used in forensics such as identification of
crime suspects via DNA fingerprinting.

Figure 1. Various Applications of Red or Medical Biotechnology. Source:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-0875-7_1

b. Green biotechnology
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- Also known as Agricultural, Environmental Biotechnology – Biofuels,

Biofertilizers, Bioremediation. It involves the use of environment-
friendly solutions as alternatives to traditional industrial agriculture,
horticulture, and animal breeding processes (Figure 2). These include
products of bioengineering and classical breeding. Examples of green
biotechnology applications include the following:
i. Selection of plants with desirable traits for many generations which
allows for the perpetuation of the trait in the population (classical
breeding).
ii. The use of bacteria to facilitate the growth of plants.
iii. The development, use and regulation of biological systems for
remediation of contaminated environments.
iv. Development of pest-resistant grains.
v. Engineering of plants to express pesticides.
vi. Accelerated evolution of disease-resistant animals.
vii. The use of bacteria to assure better crop yields (instead of using
pesticides and herbicides).
viii. Production of superior plants by stimulating the early development
of their root systems.
ix. The use of plants to remove heavy metals such as lead, nickel, or
silver, which can then be extracted (or “mined”) from the plants.
x. Genetic manipulation to allow plant strains to be frost-resistant.
xi. The use of genes from soil bacteria to genetically alter plants to
promote tolerance to fungal pathogens.
xii. The use of bacteria to have the plants grow faster, resist frost, and
ripen earlier.

Figure 2. Various applications of Agricultural Biotechnology. Source:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-0875-7_1
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Figure 3. Bioengineering of a plant. Insertion of a gene (cry gene producing

parasporal inclusion protein, Cry) from a bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis corn
(Bt corn) becomes resistant to corn borer infection. Source: Khan (2020)
Biotechnology Fundamentals 3rd Edition pg. 7.

c. White biotechnology
- Also known as industrial biotechnology. It is the industrial application
of biotechnology in the (bulk) manufacturing of biomolecules, enzymes
or chemicals, and biomaterials. It uses living organisms such as yeasts,
bacteria, molds, plant and animal cells, and enzymes to synthesize
products which are degradable, require less energy, and create wastes
by-products during production.

Figure 4. Production process of cheese which involves the use of

microorganisms and rennet enzymes. Source: Khan (2020) Biotechnology
Fundamental, 3rd Edition pg. 2.

d. Yellow biotechnology
- Also known as food biotechnology. This type of biotechnology seeks to
improve the quality of food using but not limited to bioengineering
techniques. Examples include improving the nutritive value of food
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from algal sources, in vitro production of bovine (cattle, buffalo) meat,

extraction of useful insect products for food, etc.

e. Blue biotechnology
- Also known as aquatic biotechnology. This is the use of aquatic
resources for aquaculture, cosmetics, food, and medicinal products.
These also include the harvesting of microalgae as high-yield sources
of biofuels without compromising food supplies, forest, or arable land.

f. Grey biotechnology
- Also known as Classical Fermentation and Bioprocess Technology.
Involves classical biotechnology techniques including breeding of
animals and crops, and using microorganisms to make cheese, yoghurt,
bread, beer, and wine.

g. Gold biotechnology
- Includes bioinformatics and nanobiotechnology.
- Bioinformatics refers to the acquisition, storing, analyzing, and sorting
of biological information, primarily DNA (genomics), RNA
(transcriptomics), and amino acid sequences (proteomics). This field
allows for the computer-aided analysis of millions of data to get
meaningful insights for biotechnological innovations such as finding a
gene from thousands of gene sequences – a process comparable to
finding a needle in a haystack (Figure 5). This can be used to screen for
genes of great importance in cancer development, pesticide, and
drought resistance in plants.
- In nanobiotechnology, tools and techniques in nanotechnology are
implored to make nanoparticles or nanomaterials which may be used
as probes, sensors for use in diagnostics, or as carriers of drugs or
biomolecules of delivery or as drug molecules in treating of diseases
such as cancer (Figure 6).

Figure 5. Application of Bioinformatics to molecular modeling, genetic

analysis, protein analysis, and prediction for drug action. Source: Khan
(2020) Biotechnology Fundamentals, 3rd Edition pg. 14.
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Figure 6. Difference between traditional medicine and nanomedicine.

Notice the difference of therapeutic payload between capsules and
nanospheres. Source: Khan (2020) Biotechnology Fundamentals, 3rd
Edition pg. 7.

Figure 7. Production of therapeutic recombinant protein. A gene is inserted

into a microbial host called a vector which allows for the microorganisms
to produce the recombinant protein. Source: Khan (2020) Biotechnology
Fundamentals, 3rd Edition pg. 4.

Microbial biotechnology and animal biotechnology are also

independent fields which are integral to the different colors of biotechnology.
Microbes have tremendous capacities in product development. They are used
in classical biotechnology and in modern biotechnology such as in
recombinant DNA technology (e.g., recombinant insulin, vitamins, antibiotics,
growth hormones) (Figure 7). Meanwhile, products of animal biotechnology
include transgenic animals (animals with one or more genes added to it),
knock-out animals (animals with one or more genes are turned off), identical
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animals (clones) from somatic nuclear transfer (e.g., Dolly the sheep) (Figure
8). These animals were produced for increased growth rates, enhanced lean
muscle mass, enhanced disease resistance, and in dairy animals – production
of desired proteins in their milk. Xenotransplantation is also a revolutionizing
process in animal biotechnology. It is the transplantation of cells, tissue, or
organs from animals, i.e., first pig to human heart transplant last January 7,
2022.

Figure 8. The cloning process of Dolly the Sheep. Source:

https://askabiologist.asu.edu/content/story-dolly

3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Biotechnology

3.1. Advantages
Aside from those enumerated in Section 2.1, the following are also considered
advantages of biotechnology:

a. Efficient in the reduction of waste and in production time. The use of

microorganisms has been a groundbreaking discovery in the production of
economically important enzymes such as insulin which previously sourced
from the pancreas of pigs – a destructive procedure which kills the pig in
the process. The process reduces the carbon footprint (i.e., CO2 emissions
may be reduced up to 52%) and waiting time during production. Large-scale
productions are also carried out in bioreactors instead of petri dishes
(Figure 8).
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Figure 8. Small-scale vs. Large Scale production of microorganisms in a

petri dish and in a bioreactor, respectively. Source: Khan (2020)
Biotechnology Fundamentals, 3rd Edition pg. 7.

b. Improved diagnosis of human, animal, and plant diseases. Molecular

diagnostics provide precise and specific identification of disease-causal
agents previously difficult to detect.

c. Healthy and sustainable agriculture. Production of disease-resistant, and

abiotic stress-tolerant crops have improved crop quality and yield and have
limited the use of pesticides and chemicals. It has also allowed for the
production of more nutritious, toxin and allergen-free food which, if
continually developed, will address world hunger, malnutrition, and food
insecurity.

3.2. Disadvantages
The following are three of the major concerns surrounding biotechnology:
a. Reduced crop diversity. Laboratory-grown crops may escape
confinements, become invasive, and threaten diversity in the wild which will
affect ecosystem balance.

b. Rise of unforeseen health risks. Genetically modified organisms, or

recombinant proteins may cause new types of allergies, poison living
organisms, and antibiotic resistant and more infectious microbes may
escape from the laboratory. However, there has not been serious reports of
such cases relating to biotechnological products.

c. Issues with Bioethics. Eugenics – the selection of desirable traits to

improve future generations (i.e., designer babies), cloning, human genome
changes, and assisted reproduction is surrounded with ethical and social
controversies. Scientific controversies on the long-term impacts of
biotechnology on human rights and the environment, remain uncertain.
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4. History of Biotechnology
Many people may be surprised that biotechnology is a relatively new discipline.
Although the term was devised only in 1919, many technologies subscribed in the field
actually have its roots from ancient practices and methodologies. Here, we will go
through the historical aspects of biotechnology which, if we examine closely, hold true
for the aphorism, “Necessity is the mother of all Inventions [biotechnology]”.

4.1. Periods of Biotechnology History (Verma et al., 2011)

a. Ancient Biotechnology (Pre-1800). This period covers the earliest
discoveries or developments in the field which includes inventions,
common observations and speculations from nature which were tested for
human welfare at that point in time.
We can divide the developments of biotechnologies during this period
into two:
(i) Agricultural revolution (around 10, 000 B.C.)
o Prior to this period, humans hunt game and gather wild plants
for food. However, the paucity of the supply of food during harsh
environmental conditions (i.e., winter, storm, etc.) had prompted
for the domestication of food products by planting seeds and
rearing different wild animals near their shelters. These
changes in the living conditions to satisfy hunger can be
considered the initial period of evolution of farming.
o During this period, humans have consciously or unconsciously
selected the best plants and animals to carry desirable traits in
succeeding generations. This process of selective breeding
resulted in high-yield plants and good quality traits in animals
(e.g., leaner muscle mass and higher milk-production traits).

(ii) Classical fermentation techniques and use of traditional

medicines
o Following the domestication of food crops and animals,
humans moved to the speculations of natural occurrences such
as the process of fermentation, bread-making, and cheese-
making. The use of microorganisms has been around for
thousands of years although the understanding was still lacking.
o Early cheeses were made around 8000 BC by adding rennet (an
enzyme found in the stomach of calves) to sour milk.
o Account of beverage fermentation from honey, fruits, and rice
has been recorded in as early as 7000-6000 BCE in Neolithic
China.
o Yeast was used by the Egyptians to bake leavened bread in 4000
BC.
o Vinegar, due to its low pH, was used in food preservation to
inhibit growth of food spoilage microbes. Vinegar making and
use may be as old as alcoholic brewing, but first documented
evidence was by ancient Babylonians around 3000 BC from
dates, figs, and beer. They use it for both culinary and medicinal
purposes.
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o Accounts on the use of herbal medicine can be traced back to

5, 000 years ago based on Sumerian written records, but
archeological evidence also shows its practice 60, 000 years
ago in Iraq and 8, 000 years ago in China (Pan et al., 2014).

b. Classical Biotechnology (1800-mid 20th century or 1950s). This is the

second phase of the development of biotechnology. This includes the
significant advances in the understanding of genetics. Table 3 lists the key
events in classical biotechnology.

Table 3. Timeline of Key Events during the Classical Biotechnology Period.

Year Important Events/Discovery/Inventions
1673 o Anton van Leeuwenhoek invented hist hand-held microscopes.
1796 o Edward Jenner injected cowpox material, called Vaccinia (Jenner Vaccine)
to a boy named James Philipp which induced resistance against smallpox.
This will later on eradicate smallpox in the population.
1856 o Karl Ludwig devised a technique to keep organs outside the body alive by
pumping blood through them.
1859 o Charles Darwin proposed the theory of “Natural Selection”. Provide initial
explanation to changes of plants and animals during domestication.
1863 o Louis Pasteur invented the process of pasteurization – quick heat treatment
of food such as dairy products, to kill pathogenic or infectious microbes.
o Proposed the Germ Theory of Disease which states that diseases are
caused by microorganisms.
1865 o Gregor Johann Mendel, the Father of Modern Genetics, discovered and
postulated the laws of Inheritance, with his experiments primarily on Pisum
sativum. These laws will revolutionize the understanding of inheritance
patterns from parents to offsprings.
1869 o Freidrich Meischer first isolated DNA from the pus in bandages.
1870 o Walther Flemming discovered mitosis.
1873- o Robert Koch proposed Koch’s postulate to establish the role of microbes in
1876 diseases. He proposed that a particular microorganism is the causative
agent for a particular disease.
1901 o Shigetane Ishiwatari, a Japanese biologist, first isolated the bacterium
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) responsible for killing silkworms.
1902 o Study of Human Genetics was born.
1907 o Thomas Hunt Morgan established the Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance
o Morgan established mutation theory.
1909 o Wilhelm Johannsen coined the terms gene, phenotype, and genotype.
1926 o Morgan published his book “The Theory of the Gene”
1928 o Fredrick Griffiths noticed that a rough type of bacterium changed to a
smooth type when an unknown “transforming principle” from the smooth
type was present.
1941 o George Beadle and Edward Tatum proposed the “one-gene-one-enzyme”
hypothesis.
1945 o Selman A. Waksman discovered streptomycin, an effective antibiotic for
tuberculosis (TB).
1944 o Oswald T. Avery identified DNA as the genetic material.
and o Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase confirmed this in 1952 in their blender-
1952 experiment of bacteria and bacteriophages. They concluded that the DNA
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injected by the virus contains the information for its replication inside the
bacterial cell.
1948 or o Cortisone (a 21-carbon steroid hormone) was the first biotech product
1949 manufactured in large amounts by Merck and Co.
1945- o Animal cell cultures were first successfully grown in the laboratory.
1950 o Although the first attempt was undertaken by Ross Harrison in 1907.
1947 o Barbara McClintock first reported on “transposable elements” or jumping
genes.
1950 o Discovery of Chargaff’s Rule – the number of A=T and G=C by Erwin
Chargaff.

c. Modern Biotechnology (1950 onwards). This period covers the recent

discovery of DNA, recombinant DNA technology, genetically modified
organisms, animal cloning, and stem cell research (Table 4).

Table 4. Timeline of Key Events in the Modern Biotechnology period. .

Year Important Events/Discovery/Inventions
1951 o George Gey cultured HeLa cell lines from the cervical cancer cells of
Henrietta Lacks, a patient at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. The cells
have been widely used in scientific research because of its durability and
prolificity.
1953 o Discovery of the DNA’s double helical structure by James Watson and
Francis Crick using Photo 51 (x-ray diffraction image of paracrystalline gel
with DNA fiber) taken by Raymond Gosling under the supervision of Rosalind
Franklin. Findings were published in the journal Nature.
1957 o Francis Crick and George Gamov demonstrated the “central dogma of
molecular biology”.
1966 o Marshall Nirenberg, Heinrich Mathaei, and Severo Ochoa cracked the
Genetic Code – 64 codons that each encode a specific amino acid.
1967 o Arthur Kornberg and Severo Ochoa of New York University discovered the
“mechanisms in the biological synthesis of DNA” or DNA replication
process.
1968 o Restriction endonucleases– enzymes capable of cutting DNA at specific
sites (restritions sites) was first described by M. Messelson’s Group at
Harvard University together with H.O. Smith, K.W. Wilcox, and T.J. Kelley at
John Hopkins. This discovery revolutionized the manipulation of DNA,
particularly in recombinant DNA technology.
1972 o Paul Berg was the first to successfully insert bacterial DNA into a virus.
1973 o Rudolf Jaenisch of Massachusetts Institute of Technology created the first
transgenic animal (mice inserted with leukemia DNA sequences).
1978 o Herbert Boyer and his colleagues designed the first synthetic version of the
human insulin gene and transformed it into Escherichia coli.
1980 o Kary Mullis discovered polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which
revolutionized the field of genetics, and molecular biology and
biotechnology, among other fields, such as in DNA sequencing, cloning,
recombinant DNA technology, etc.
1982 o Genetically modified human insulin from E. coli was approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration.
1983 o The first genetically modified plant (GMP) – a noncommercial variety of
tobacco resistant to antibiotics was created by the company Calgene
Corporation in the U.S.A.
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1985 o First field testing of genetically modified plants resistant to insects, viruses,
and bacteria.
1986 o A second genetically engineered tobacco resistant to the bacterial disease,
crown gall disease, was first approved by the Environmental Protection
Agency.
1990 o Launching of the Human Genome Project aimed to map all the genes in the
human chromosomes.
1994 o The first genetically modified crop, Flavr Savr tomato which has extended
shelf life (inserted with the polygalacturonase DNA sequence) was approved
by the U.S. FDA.
1995 o Australian Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committee (GMAC) allows
unrestricted, commercial release of genetically modified blue carnation in
Australia.
1996 o Genes associated with early onset of Parkinson’s disease were discovered.
1996 o Ingard® insect-resistant (Bt) cotton is grown commercially in Australia.
1997 o Dolly the Sheep was cloned from adult ewe at Scotland’s Roslin Institute
through somatic nuclear transfer.
1998 o Genome sequencing of Caenorhabditis elegans (a model nematode) was
completed at Sanger Institute, UK.
o Forty million hectares of GM crops were planted globally, mainly soy, cotton,
canola, and corn.
o SunUp and Rainbow papaya resistant to papaya ringspot virus were
commercially introduced in Hawaii, USA.
2000 o The Human Genome Project together with the scientists from the private
company Celera Genomics released the first draft of the human genome.
o Genome sequencing of Arabidopsis thaliana (a model plant) was completed.
o “Golden Rice” which is a genetically modified variety of rice enriched with
vitamin A precursor (gene for lycopene synthase) was developed by Ingo
Potrykus and Peter Beyer to address vitamin A deficiency.
2001 o Genome sequence of rice (a model plant) was completed.
2002 o Bollgard Cotton became the first GM crops approved in India.
o Shotgun sequencing was used to complete the genome of animals such as
mouse, chimpanzee, dog, etc.
2003 o Completion of the human genome sequence by Celera Genomics and the
Human Genome Project.
2006 o Human Papillomavirus (HPV) was approved by the U.S. FDA.
o 3D structure of Human Immunodeficiency Virus was determined.
2010 o Completed genome of corn.
2011 o Faster and high-throughput Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) allowed for
sequencing of the entire genome in less than a week for under 2000 US
dollars.
o Whole genome sequencing of tomato was completed.
2012 o CRISPR-Cas9 system (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic
repeats) was discovered to be programmable to cut specific sites in isolated
DNA by Emmanuelle Charpantier and Jennifer Doudna.
2013 o Bt brinjal (eggplant) was commercially released in Bangladesh.
o Whole genome sequencing of tobacco was completed.
2014 o Whole genome sequencing of Capsicum annuum was completed.
2015 o Whole genome sequencing of wild potato was completed.
2018 o He Jiankui announced the successful delivery of twins embryonically
removed of their CCR5 gene in an attempt to confer genetic resistance to
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HIV (CRISPR-Cas9 designer babies) in an attempt to help people with HIV-

related fertility problems.
2021 o MIT researchers developed and used a pastry artificial intelligence pipeline
using deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN) to detect melanoma – a
malignant tumor responsible for skin cancer.
2022 o First pig to human heart transplantation was successfully performed at the
University of Maryland Medical Center.

5. Development of Biotechnology in the Philippines

The Philippines is distinguished for being the first ASEAN country to approve
the adoption and commercialization for food, feed, and processing of a major biotech
crop – Bt corn MON 810, in 2002. Moreover, the country is also the first member of the
ASEAN to initiate a biotechnology regulatory system following the Executive Order No.
430 in 1990 to establish the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines
(NCBP). This was benchmarked by other ASEAN members looking into the adoption
of agricultural biotechnology.

5.1. Modern Biotechnology in the Country

The importance of modern crop biotechnology particularly through the
use of genetic engineering in addressing concerns in food security, income, the
environment, and agriculture modernization. Project initiatives by government
or public institutions on development of GM crops were focused on important
agronomic crops including coconut, papaya, mango, banana, and corn. Aside
from the research and development support, training on biotechnology were
also invested in researchers of the projects. Table 5 lists some R and D
initiatives in the country and their corresponding status.

Table 5. Modern Crop research and development initiatives being

implemented by research institutions.

IRRI – International Rice Research Institute; UPLB-IPB – University of the Philippines Los Baños
– Institute of Plant Breeding; VSU – Visayas State University. Source: Panopio and Navarro
(2011).
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5.2. Level of Adoption of Biotech Crops

We will take a look at the level of adoption of Bt corn, since it was the
first GM crop commercially approved for propagation in the country. A total of
10, 000 hectares of land were planted with the Bt corn resistant to Asian corn
stem borer on its promulgation in 2003, a year after its initial approval. Since
then, tremendous adoption of the crop was recorded leading to the approval of
new traits like herbicide-tolerance (Round-up Ready RR) stacked on top of the
Bt trait. In 2009, the Bt and RR corn and other GM corn constituted 25% of the
1.28 million hectares planted with yellow corn.
Throughout the years, the level of adoption of GM corn have quickly
expanded from Luzon – the northern portion of the country, to Mindanao – the
southern portion of the country. Although, reluctance for adoption in the
Visayan region is recorded because it is being groomed as “Organic Bowl” of
the Philippines (Figure 9).

Figure 9. Adoption of Biotech Corn in the three major islands of the Philippines.
Source: Panopio and Navarro (2011).

In 2021, the Philippines also became the first country to grant biosafety
permits for direct use as food, feed, and in processing of Golden rice (Figure
10) developed under the GR2E Golden Rice Project aimed at addressing
vitamin-A deficiency in the population. It was declared as safe as ordinary rice.
The Golden rice is transformed with two-beta carotene biosynthesis genes: psy
or phytoene gene from daffodil, and crtl or phytoene desaturase gene from the
soil bacterium, Erwinia uredovora.
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Figure 10. Golden rice genetically modified to produce beta-carotene

(Vitamin A). Source: https://www.irri.org/news-and-
events/news/philippines-approves-golden-rice-direct-use-food-and-
feed-or-processing

6. Review of Currently Used Biotechnological Products

Since there are a huge number of biotechnological products currently in use or
in the process of getting approved, we limit our list here to plant and animal products
of biotechnology.

Table 6. Genetically modified crops completing the regulatory process in the USA in 1997.

Source: Ratledge and Kristiansen (2006). Basic Biotechnology, 2 nd Edition pg. 9.

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Table 7. Agricultural Applications of Animal Transgenics.

Source: https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33334.html

References:

Khan, F. A. (2015). Biotechnology fundamentals, second edition. Biotechnology

Fundamentals, Second Edition. https://doi.org/10.1201/b19517

Navarro M.J., Panopio, J.A. (2011). Chapter 3 Philippines: Drama and Communication Behind
Asia's First Commercialized Bt Corn. In Communication, Challenges, and Convergence in
Crop Biotechnology. International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
(ISAAA): Ithaca, New York and SEAMEO Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate
Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA): Los Baños, Philippines.

Pan, S.Y., Litscher, G., Gao, S.H., Zhou, S.F., Yu, Z.L., Chen, H.Q., … Ko, K.M. (2014). Historical
Perspective of Traditional Indigenous Medical Practices: The Current Renaissance and
Conservation of Herbal Resources. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative
Medicine, 2014, 1–20. doi:10.1155/2014/525340.

Ratledge, C., & Kristiansen, B. (2001). Basic Biotechnology. (C. Ratledge & B. Kristiansen, Eds.)
(2nd ed.). University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Verma, A., Rastogi, S., Agrahari, S., & Singh, A. (2011). Biotechnology in the realm of history.
Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences, 3(3), 321. doi:10.4103/0975-7406.84430