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BIOTECHNOLOGY AND GENETIC ENGINEERING:

The Blueprints of Life
Objectives
 - Define biotechnology and genetic engineering.
- Recognize the people behind the birth of biotechnology and genetic
engineering.
- Determine the contributions of biotechnology and genetic engineering in the
advancement of science.

Through the history, many attempted to understand “what is life?”. This question was
later understood through the discovery of the DNA in 1953 by two men who won the
Nobel Prize in Physiology, but there were more people in the picture.
In1940s, science researchers are already aware that the nucleus of the cell
contains chromosomes, and they also knew that these chromosomes are built up by
proteins and other molecules. This molecule is the deoxyribonucleic acid or the
“DNA”, containing carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and phosphorus. The isolated DNA
shows a white color but by this time, no one knew about the structure of the
molecule.
Lesson Spotlight

Question:
“Why do you need to know the structure of DNA?”
Answer:
“In order to know the function of a molecule, you have to know the structure”.

In 1944, Erwin Schrodinger, an Austrian physicist published hos book “what is

Life” discussing about the role of “gene” in heredity and how does gene encode the
information that defines life?
The Phage group, a network of biologists, did an important contribution on how life
works at a small-scale using tracers inside virus, but even they, could not tell if it was
the DNA part or the protein part of the virus that took over the bacterium. One of its
members and an
American biochemist, James Watson,
was inspired by Schrodinger. He flew to
Cambridge University and worked with
the head of Cavendish Laboratory,
Francis Crick, an English biophysicist.
Together they approached the model of
DNA, by asking the location of the atoms
on the basis of laws of chemistry and
physics. Watson published his book
“The Double Helix”, which was found to
be controversial, not just because of the
Figure 5.5 (a) James Watson (left), (b) Francis
discovery, but because of potential
Crick (right) libelous acts of Watson and Crick.
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Figure 5.6 Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin, a Jewish-born English chemist and an X-ray

crystallographer, worked at the King’s College London, was part of the venture
towards understanding the structure of DNA. She attended a talk by Watson and
Crick about the DNA and tore their suggestions about the DNA model.

Figure 5.7 Photo 51, top view of DNA, photo taken by Rosalind Franklin

In 1952, Franklin, being the leading X-ray crystallographer at that time, got the
“Photo 51”, a shot that shows the top view of the possible double helix structure of
DNA (“X” pattern). She did not know that her deputy director of her lab, Maurice
Wilkins, was secretly passing her notes and shots to Watson and Crick. The
following year, she reviewed the facts about the four nucleic acids in DNA by Watson
and Crick, she realized that DNA must be double helix.
Lesson Spotlight

Erwin Schrodinger’s question:

“how does gene encode the information that defines life?”
Rosalind Franklin’s answer:
“The zipper shape of the double helix allows DNA to transmit information
 from generation to generation with few copying errors.”

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Watsons and Crick invited Franklin to the Cavendish Laboratory to review their
work, and she immediately acknowledged that their model is correct, if only she knew
how these two relied so much on her work.

Figure 5.8 DNA Double Helix structure and base pairing

In 1958, Rosalind Franklin died, few years later, in 1962, James Watson,
Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, won the Nobel Prize, without acknowledging
Rosalind Franklin.
Understanding the structure of the DNA was very crucial in understanding life,
because DNA is the language of life. Because of this discovery, this paved way that
DNA can be “read” and is also a “program”. During this period, was also the rise of
the computing age, so DNA became a language to program RNA, which became
assembly language for making proteins.
In 1970s, the biotechnology was born, and in 1980, it was declared that a
company or an organization can patent a bioengineered form, if you engineer an
organism’s genome, then it becomes technology. In the same year, companies,
organizations, hospitals and universities invested in this technology, set offices for
official licensing offices, and scientific knowledge and life, became potential
technologies.

Figure 5.9 Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering

Engineers today do not only dwell with buildings and machines but also
genetics, after the discovery of the structure of DNA, biotechnology was born, this
further paved the way to engineering the genes, called the genetic engineering. This

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form of engineering was very relevant for food, designing new materials, treat
diseases, and improve lives.
Genetic engineering revolves around DNA, this double helix structure in spiral
formation determines the codes of life. There are four types of molecules that
participates in making up the sequence of genes in an organism, which is passed
down to the next generation. Different genes produce different characteristics in
different living things.

Figure 5.10 Normal Borlaug

In 1944, Norman Borlaug, an American engineer and geneticist, pioneered

the field. He was hired by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center to
improve their crops, maize and wheat, which are huge impact for consumers. He and
his team were successful in developing new breeds of maize and wheat crops, they
crossbred new wheat with Japanese variety crops which was more resistant. In 1962,
they introduced their new developed crops to other countries like India and Pakistan,
which prevented the catastrophic famine in the region, and eventually doubled their
crop yields in the following decade. This became known as the “Green Revolution”, a
direct result of Borlaug and his team’s work, which estimated rescuing 300 million
people from starvation, and in 1970, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.
Today, genetic engineering is even more accurate and packed for facing
challenges. Apart from helping the mass food production and addressing starvation,
genetic engineering also plays a role in medications. There are certain kinds of
bacteria that produces enzymes, these enzymes can produce chemicals which could
be relevant to pharmaceutical drugs.
See the enzyme P450, it is used to create treatment drugs for cancer, but this
is naturally produced by plants. Genetic engineers found a way of reproducing the
enzyme P450 in larger amounts by inserting genes of a P450-producing plant into a
bacterium. This can also help in mass processing and production of treatment drugs,
this method is also used in insulin production. This lead genetic engineering for more
controversial uses.

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Biotechnology and genetic engineering indeed played a role in the food
industries, cosmetics, and even medicine, but there’s a long way to go in
understanding the codes of life.
Lesson Spotlight

“DNA is the language of life, and behind every language is an intellect.”