LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

QUARTER: 4th/ WEEK: 2-3

Name: ________________________________________ Score: _______________

Grade & Section: ____________________________ Subject: BIOTECHNOLOGY

Name of Teacher: ______________________________ Date: ________________

I. Title: Applications of Biotechnology

II. Type of Activity: Concept notes with formative activities

LAS for summative assessment ( Written Work Performance Task)

III. MELC: Recognize different applications of biotechnology on the field of health,

agriculture, industry, and environment.

IV. Learning Objective/s:

 Identify and discuss the different applications of biotechnology
specifically on the field of health, agriculture, industry, and
environment.
 Recognize the importance of biotechnology on the different fields that
benefited society.

V. Reference/s:

Print Material/s:
Herren, R. V. (2004). Introduction to Biotechnology. Unit 2105- 2106
Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City, MG Reprographics, pp. 229- 304.

Online Resource/s:

Applications of biotechnology. Retrieved at

https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Bi
ology/Book%3A_Introductory_Biology_(CK-12)/03%3A_Genetics/
3.14%3A_Biotechnology_Applications on April 1, 2021.
Biotechnology in agriculture. Retrieved at
https://www.ck12.org/book/cbse_biology_book_class_xii/section/1
5.2/ on April 1, 2021.

Biotechnology in industry. Retrieved at https://www.biooekonomie-

bw.de/en/articles/dossiers/industrial-biotechnology-biological-

1
 resources-for-industrial-processes#:~:text=Industrial%20or
%20white%20biotechnology%20uses,pharmaceutical%20products
%20and%20energy%20carriers.&text=These%20processes
%20break%20down%20and,taken%20up%20in on April 1, 2021.

Biotechnology in environment. Retrieved at

https://www.biologydiscussion.com/biotechnology/applications-
biotechnology/applications-of-biotechnology-in-environment-cell-
biology/39204 on April 1, 2021.

VI. Concept Notes

Applications of Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a broad area of biology, involving the use of living systems

and organisms to develop or make products. Depending on the tools and
applications, it often overlaps with related scientific fields. In the late 20 th and early
21st centuries, biotechnology has expanded to include new and diverse sciences,
such as genomics, recombinant gene techniques, applied immunology, and
development of pharmaceutical therapies and diagnostic tests. The term
biotechnology was first used by Karl Ereky in 1919, meaning the production of
products from raw materials with the aid of living organisms.
Biotechnology in Health

One of the greatest modern tools for treating and curing diseases is the
genetic engineering of cells to produce therapeutic drugs and vaccines through
biomanufacturing. Through biomanufacturing, the bacteria producing human insulin
are grown in large liquid cultures in a device called bioreactor. Hormones, vaccines,
therapeutic drugs, and small molecules may all be produced by genetically
engineered cell cultures via biomanufacturing. Biomanufacturing is elegant to a
relatively new yet expensive method for producing medicines.
To avoid the expense of using cell cultures but keeping the benefit of using
eukaryotic cells, researchers came up with the idea of pharming. Pharming is the
production of pharmaceuticals in genetically modified whole plants or animals and
gets in name from a combination of the terms “pharmaceutical” and “farming.”
Pharming is the growing of organisms (usually genetically altered) for the purpose of
producing pharmaceuticals.

Figure 1: The most used cells to produce human medicines are cells from

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 the ovary of the Chinese Hamster

a. Plant Cells of Biomanufacturing

In addition to the cost- effective, scalable whole-plant production of

pharmaceuticals, plant cell cultures may also be used in closed bioreactor systems.
Although similar in cost and design to mammalian, fungal, bacterial, or insect cell
culture systems, plant cell cultures are advantageous in several ways. First, plant
cell cultures are not susceptible to infection or contamination by animal, bacterial, or
viral pathogens. Second, plant cells have an advantage over microbial cells because
plant proteins are processed in a similar fashion to human proteins, both being
higher eukaryotes. Third, plant cells seem to be good at expressing many different
types of therapeutic proteins, including some that are difficult to express in
mammalian cell culture. Finally, there are economic advantages to using plant cell
culture versus mammalian cell culture: plant cell culture used a simpler, cheaper
nutrient media, and plant cells are easier to physically separate from the media at
the end of the production process.
In comparison to field grown pharma crops, plant cell cultures have a
regulatory advantage in that the process is completely contained. Like other forms of
biomanufacturing, there is no risk of pharmaceutical contamination of the food supply
or gene flow to related organisms. Because of the similarity to traditional
biomanufacturing, regulatory approvals have been faster for the use of pharm crops.
Therapeutic proteins and pharmaceuticals derived from plant cell cultures are
currently on the market.

Figure 2: Plants such as tobacco are being explored for their potential for pharming, which
entails the genetic modification of an animal or a plant to produce pharmaceutical
compounds.
b. Animal Pharming

The used of animal cell cultures in biomanufacturing systems is now

widespread. Although the development of reproductive cloning in animals, it is now
possible to genetically engineer “pharm” animals. Using animals as a source of
medicine is not a new idea. In fact, animals have for many years been the source of
many different types of medicines and other products of medicinal value. For
example, people with disorders that require hormone replacement therapies have
relied on animal sources of hormones for treatment in the recent past. Hormones,
like insulin used to treat diabetes in humans, used to come from organs of animals
slaughtered for meat.

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 However, traditional processes of extracting hormones from animal organs
are slow and expensive. These methods have been widely replaced by
biomanufacturing. One of the greatest promises for efficiency producing drugs is to
create them in milk. Cows can be implanted with embryos that have been genetically
engineered to possess a gene that produces a certain drug through the mammary
gland. Once the new animals have been born and is raised to maturity, the milk from
the animal will contain the desired drug. Since the transferred gene is activated only
in the mammary gland, the rest of the animal’s body is perfectly normal, and the
animal continues to produce a constant supply of the drug- containing milk. Drugs,
such as human serum albumin, that are given to patients with blood loss; lactoferrin
that is used to combat digestive disorders in human infants, and human insulin are
all examples of drugs that can be successfully produced in milk from genetically
modified cows.

Figure 3: Milk holds great promise to produce drugs. Nature uses milk to impart
immunities to newborn animals.

c. Stem Cells

Stem cells are special human cells that can develop into many different cell
types. This can range from muscle cells to brain cells. In some cases, they can also
fix damaged tissues. Researchers believe that stem cell-based therapies may one
day be used to treat serious illnesses such as paralysis and Alzheimer disease. The
only stem cells now used to treat disease are hematopoietic stem cells. These are
the blood cell-forming adult stem cells found in bone marrow. Every type of blood cell
in the bone marrow starts as a stem cell. Stem cells are immature cells that can
make other blood cells that mature and function as needed. These cells are used in
procedures such as bone marrow transplants. These help people with cancer make

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new blood cells after their own hematopoietic stem cells have been killed by
radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

Figure 4: These cells are used in procedures such as bone marrow transplants.

d. Xenotransplantation

In the absence of genetically similar human organ donors (allotransplant) or

an appropriate adult stem cell treatment (autotransplant), researchers have also
been working on the possibility of organ transplant from other species, known as
xenotransplantation. Xenotransplantation is any procedure that involves the
transplantation, implantation, or infusion into a human recipient of either (a) live cells,
tissues, or organs from a nonhuman animal source, or (b) human body fluids, cells,
tissues, or organs that have had ex vivo contact with live nonhuman animal cells,
tissues or organs. The development of xenotransplantation is, in part, driven by the
fact that the demand for human organs for clinical transplantation far exceeds the
supply.

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Figure 5: Pigs are the most likely animals for growing organs for humans. Their organs are about the
same size as human organs and their systems are similar.

Biotechnology in Agriculture

Biotechnology has been used to create transgenic crops. Transgenic crops

are genetically modified with new genes that code for traits useful to humans.
Transgenic crops have been created with a variety of different traits, such as yielding
more food, tasting better, surviving drought, and resisting insect pests.
Biotechnology has many other useful applications besides those that are medically
related. Many of these are in agriculture and food science. These include the
development of transgenic crops, the placement of genes into plants to give the crop
a beneficial trait. Benefits include: (1) improved yield from crops, (2) reduced
vulnerability of crops to environmental stresses, (3) increased nutritional qualities of
food crops, (4) improved taste, texture or appearance of food, (5) reduced
dependence on fertilizers, pesticides and other agrochemicals, and (6) production of
vaccines.

Figure 6: Transgenic Purple Tomato. A purple tomato is genetically modified to contain a cancer-
fighting compound. A gene for the compound was transferred into normal red tomatoes.

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Biotechnology in Industry

Industrial or white biotechnology uses microorganisms and enzymes to

produce goods for industry, including chemicals, plastics, food, agricultural and
pharmaceutical products, and energy carriers. Renewable raw materials and
increasingly also waste from agriculture and forestry are used for the manufacture of
industrial goods. Biotechnology is also used in many other industrial areas.
Microorganisms and enzymes can be used to produce food supplements such as
vitamin B2, biobased plastics such as polylactic acid and energy carriers such as
biogas and bioethanol.

Figure 7: Microorganisms and their enzymes are the major drivers of industrial biotechnology.

Biotechnology in Environment

Waste Treatment. The overall production of methane from organic wastes is

a complex fermentation involving several groups of microorganisms (Methanogens,
member of Waste Archaebacteria). They utilize the anaerobic environment and
organically enriched sediments. The aerobic waste treatment requires a large
population of actively metabolizing microorganisms such as Pseudomonas,
Alcaligenes, Achromobacter and Brevibacterium, able to degrade both colloidal and
soluble organics with high rate of conversion of CO 2 and water. Due to anaerobic
decomposition of organic waste material, the most important component produced is
methane, which can be easily collected and used as biogas fuel. Other than
methane, some other products are produced due to the activity of facultative
anaerobes. The nitrogenous waste materials are treated both aerobically and
anaerobically alternatively. The degradation of nitrogenous compounds gives
ammonia, which is then converted to nitrate by nitrifying bacteria. Then by the action
of denitrifying bacteria in anaerobic environment releases N2 gas in the atmosphere.
Biodegradation. It is the process by which materials such as oil spill,
herbicides, pesticides, etc. are degraded by the action of microbial system. Organic
compounds which are naturally occurring (biogenic) are biodegradable while man-
made (xenobiotic) compounds may be biodegradable, persistent, or recalcitrant.
Genes coding for some enzymes essential for the biodegradation of several organic

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compounds are plasmid borne and organisms have been constructed to degrade
difficult waste. A strain of Pseudomonas putida is constructed to contain plasmids
coding for the breakdown of octane, xylene, metaxylene and camphor. This
organism is claimed to be useful for cleansing of oil spills.
Microorganisms in Pollution Control. Microbial strains can be isolated to
control various forms of chemical pollution such as biocides, detergents, plastic
materials and hydrocarbons. The bacteria belonging to the genus Pseudomonas
have oxidoreduction or hydroxylation enzymes capable of degrading many
hydrocarbon molecules or aromatic compounds that are often highly toxic. Genetic
recombination techniques should make it possible to achieve such a result that a
single microbial strain will be capable of decomposing and assimilating numerous
compounds, most often non-biodegradable (xenobiotic), produced by the chemical
industry.
Biomass Energy Production. Environmental biotechnology also deals with
various sources of energy. Biomass is the jiving matter or its residues, a perpetual or
renewable source of energy. Ethanol is formed from various sources, such as
cassava, cereals, potato, sugarcane, pineapple, sugar beet, etc. It is a solvent and a
substrate for the synthesis of many other components and dyes. Biogas formation
and methanogenesis are although ancient forms, today they are in great demand.
Methane fermentation is widely practiced and is one of the easily available sources
of energy.

YOU CAN DO THIS!

Task 1. Check your Concepts. Read and analyze the questions carefully. Choose
the letter of the correct answer.
1. These are special human cells that can develop into many different cell types
which can range from muscle cells to brain cells.
a. Stem cells c. Allotransplant
b. Autotransplant d. Pharming

2. It is a type of manufacturing or biotechnology that utilizes biological systems

to produce commercially important biomaterials and biomolecules.
a. Pharming c. Stem cells
b. Farming d. Biomanufacturing

3. It is a useful alternative to traditional pharmaceutical development.

a. Pharming c. Stem cells
b. Farming d. Biomanufacturing

4. It is any procedure that involves the transplantation, implantation, or infusion

into a human recipient of either (a) live cells, tissues, or organs from a
nonhuman animal source.
a. Autotransplant c. Allotransplant
b. Xenotransplantation d. Stem cells
5. Pharming comes from two combined terms __________ and ___________.
a. Pharmacy and Farming c. Pharmaceutical and Farming
b. Pharmaceutical and Farmers d. Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic

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Task 2. Word Search. Find the word/s related to biotechnology. These word/s may
be written vertically, horizontally, diagonally, forwards, and backwards. Draw a line
striking through the word/s.
P R N D E U K Z L M C Q E C E F J U K O E S X X
N P H A N O I T A T N A L P S N A R T O N E X E
A W B W S G Q C N S B U Q Z X J R A U G Z E S P
T Z I U W T F E L T I C Y C L X M E R M A J K S
T L O N P K P X L E O B V Y H P X L D C F G H I
V B M U I T Y X K M F Z S X Y E A S V Z D W Q N
D P A B F N T F U C U O J T D J E S W N Q A A I
D L N T S T Y D V E E Y G O G N S N O U E A O T
P A U F F F R F Y L L G A P I G U I V V A J E N
B C F D E H G T K L T M C C W W T D B C I A F A
M I A J U T N Y M S X L C U C A H Z U I U J G L
M M C J B K E Q U H F A C T D E P I U V M X N P
W E T R J Z A N S G V E I A Q V A D H N G L P S
H H O M Q W U A F E P A R T U P M V B G J T I N
P C R B J G Q A E H T G A Y X K W Q O R I D H A
R O I R J E R C A J E Q O J H J X R F R V C E R
T R N Y U E K R P D U F S D Q Z X C T R Z D X T
M G G I D G M I O W R I X A Z P P J O E W W Z O
Z A C G F I T I D E K V Y P J C M K S L X H V T
C V Q Z N S B J N M N N H J G N M P C I Q H K U
Q U M G V P A L L O T R A N S P L A N T H B Z A
J F U K K Q I C J N Y N V O O U L Q B H V B U I
I C B B O L U G R U Z L J E D D C D M W N M Y K
B B E L L P T G K O E J G Y R N K V M A V P P Y

Task 3. Check your Understanding. Read and understand the statements

comprehensively. Write True of the statement is correct or False if the statement is
incorrect.
1. Animals have been the source of many different types of medicines.

2. Industrial or blue biotechnology uses microorganisms and enzymes to

produce goods.

3. Biodegradation is the process by which materials such as oil spill is degraded

by the action of viral system.
4. Xenotransplantation is a modern biotechnology process where organ
transplant from other species can be possible.

5. Stem cells are special human cells that can develop into many different cell
types.

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 YOU CAN DO MORE!
Task 4. Let’s Analyze. Unscramble the following set of letters to identify the word/s.
Write your answer on the space provided.

1. Answer: ____________________________________________
I U N R A A M F U T O C I B G N

2. Answer: ____________________________________________
T E S M L E L C

3. Answer: ____________________________________________
I A H M G R P N

4. Answer: ____________________________________________
P A T T A N S T L N O O N R I E A N X

5. Answer: ____________________________________________
P N O S A A L T R L T N L A

6. Answer: ______________________________________________
T A P O N A T T L N U A R S

7. Answer: ______________________________________________
G L E C H I O C A M R A

8. Answer: ______________________________________________
C A C E S I N V

9. Answer: ______________________________________________
I O B L E U F
10. Answer: ______________________________________________
T A I R D G N D O O A B E I

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Task 5. Check Your Understanding. Complete the Venn diagram below to
compare and contrast plant pharming and animal pharming, then fill in the middle
section the characteristics that are shared concept.

Plant Animal
Pharming Pharming

Task 6. Let’s Understand. Indicate whether the sentence or statement is True or

False. If false, underline the word/s that makes the sentence incorrect, change the
identified word or phrase to make the statement true.
1. Biomass is the jiving matter or its residues, a perpetual or renewable source
of energy.

2. Animal cell cultures are not susceptible to infection or contamination by

animal, bacterial, or viral pathogens.

3. Pharming gets in name from a combination of the terms “pharmaceutical” and

“farming.”

4. One of the benefits of biotechnology in agriculture is it increases nutritional

qualities of food crops.

5. Researchers believe that pharming -based therapies may one day be used to
treat serious illnesses.

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 YOU CAN DO MORE!
Task 7. Let’s Create. Create a caricature about biotechnology that shows the
importance of it and how it benefited the society.

Task 8. Sci Challenge. Through a photo collage, how do you see the world if we
keep on patronizing biotechnology to meet our needs and wants in ten years’ time?

Task 9. Let’s Analyze. Among the different applications of biotechnology, which do

you consider the most important to least important field? Rank the following where 1
is the most important and 4 as the least important and give your reason why.
Applications of Rank (1-4) Reason/s
Biotechnology
Health
Agriculture
Industry
Environment

LEVEL UP!
Task 10. Sci Challenge. Read the question below. Answer the question briefly and
accurately.

How does biotechnology help improve and benefited society on the following fields:

a. Health,
b. Agriculture,
c. Industry, and
d. Environment.

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Task 11. Critical Thinking. Read the question below. Answer the question briefly
and accurately.
In your own opinion, is xenotransplantation a good thing or not? Elaborate your
answer.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

Task 12. Spotlight. Read the sentence below and question that follows. Answer the
question briefly and accurately.
The application biotechnology is quite vast, and the advantages are immense
and virtually every industry uses biotechnology directly or indirectly. The
growth of biotechnology has been happening at a scorching pace in recent
times and a lot more is expected in near future. In ten years, how do you see
the world if we keep on patronizing biotechnology to meet our needs and
wants?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

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