Biotechnology & Genetic

Conditions
“Biotechnology is a scientific term that describes the use or
modification of living things to improve our lives in areas such as
medicine, agriculture, and engineering” – SK Sci 9 textbook
-the development of technology to combine desired traits in an
organism in a variety of low-to-high-tech ways
Selective Breeding
• Organisms with desirable traits would be chosen to breed together to
make the trait stronger.
• Also used individuals that are not closely related are crossed to
introduce new, beneficial genes (alleles) to the existing population.
• Ex. breeding horses, dogs, for transportation
• Ex. dairy cows, beef cows for food
• Ex. breeding teosinte into modern corn
Genetic Engineering
• Any technology that manually alters the DNA of an organism
• Used to control or change traits to artificially improve crops, food animals, medicines,
etc.
• Includes inserting a genes into an organism’s DNA in order to attain a desirable trait
Recombinant DNA

• Using recombinant DNA:

– recombinant DNA inserted into
bacterium to produce a desired trait
-can be used to make large amounts
of rare substances (ie insulin
interferon, resistant plants)
Stem Cells
 Stem cells are cells that can grow into any cell type (and thus tissue/organ type);
we can manipulate these signals to grow specific cell types under ideal
laboratory conditions
• From the zygote until the 16th division embryos are stem cells
• Stem cells can also be readily found in umbilical blood, and adult bone
marrow cells
Studying/using stem cells helps us to:
-understand of how diseases occur
-create healthy cells to replace
diseased cells
-test new drugs for safety and
effectiveness
Gene Therapy
• The transferring normal genes into cells
• inserting copies of the normal gene into
the chromosomes of the defective cells
(from disease or injury)
• Over time the inserted genes work to
make the proper proteins within the cell,
making them function closer to normal

Ex. cystic fibrosis, copies of the normal genes

are inserted into the cells of the respiratory
tract of the patient such that less mucus is
produced by the genes in those cells to limit
the filling of the lungs
Ethics of Biotechnology
• In food:
• better yields from the crops
• plants better suited for growing in certain climates
• fewer pesticides/herbicides
• different levels of food quality
BUT
• more expensive to buy seeds
• possibly new weeds/bugs
• Unkown long-term ecological and health impacts
• For diseases:
• vaccinations
• cures for chromosomal and gene mutations
• cancer treatments
• limit the spread of diseases
• grow transplant organs
BUT
• where is the line for designing life?
• More food and healthier people means larger populations – what
impact does that have on our planet?
• More people with longer life spans to keep healthy and feed
• More energy for transportation
• More space for people to live
• More goods that people buy = more manufacturing
• More pollution
• For the environment:
• natural selection to get traits VS technology to get traits
• what does it do to the rest of the ecosystem to grow GMO food (crops, fish)
• is keeping endangered species around good or bad for the environment?
• new diseases in nature?
• more people = more stuff = most taken from the Earth
Genetic Conditions
• Disease or disorder that is caused by damaged or faulty DNA.
• Can be challenging for organisms to live with
• Most cases genetic conditions are caused by recessive alleles
• To inherit the condition, offspring would have to inherit a recessive
allele from each parent
• Can also occur as a result of an error in the copying of DNA during cell
reproduction
Examples of Genetic Conditions
• Male infertility
• Breast Cancer
• Sex- linked generic condition
• Color Blindness
• Hemophilia
• Trisomy 21 (down syndrome)

• For further information read pages 65- 68 in textbook about genetic

conditions
ASSIGNMENT!
• Genetic Condition Brochure:
• Choose a genetic condition of your choice and answer the following
questions: research how the disorder is being treated today, describe
how emerging genetic technologies may be used to treat this disorder
in the future, what potential questions or issues may arise from the
use of this new treatment, do you agree with the use of this new
treatment and explain why using facts to support your answer.
• - Rubric will be created the following class (co-constructed) to engage
the students, and so they have an understanding of what is expected
of them.