Biotech Research

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Other titles in the Inside Science series: Climate Change Research Gene herapy Research Infectious Disease Research Renewable Energy Research Space Research Stem Cell Research Vaccine Research

Inside SCIENCE

Biotech Research Charles George and Linda George

®

San Diego, CA

®

© 2012 ReferencePoint Press, Inc. Printed in the United States For more information, contact: ReferencePoint Press, Inc. PO Box 27779 San Diego, CA 92198 www. ReferencePointPress.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, web distribution, or information storage retrieval systems—without the written permission of the publisher.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA George, Charles, 1949– Biotech research / by Charles and Linda George. p. cm. — (Inside science) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-60152-316-7 (e-book) 1. Biotechnology—Juvenile literature. I. George, Linda. II. Title. TP248.218.G46 2012 660.6—dc22 2011007744

Contents Foreword

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Important Events in Biotech Research

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Introduction Biotechnology: Life Revealed

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Chapter One What Is Biotech Research?

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Chapter Two Biotech in Foods and Agriculture

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Chapter Three Biotech in Medicine

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Chapter Four Industrial and Environmental Biotech

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Chapter Five What Is the Future of Biotech Research?

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Source Notes

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Facts About Biotech Research

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Related Organizations

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For Further Research

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Index

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Picture Credits

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About the Authors

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Foreword

FOREWORD

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n 2008, when the Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication asked Americans, “Do you think that global warming is happening?” 71 percent of those polled—a signiicant majority—answered “yes.” When the poll was repeated in 2010, only 57 percent of respondents said they believed that global warming was happening. Other recent polls have reported a similar shift in public opinion about climate change. Although respected scientists and scientiic organizations worldwide warn that a buildup of greenhouse gases, mainly caused by human activities, is bringing about potentially dangerous and long-term changes in Earth’s climate, it appears that doubt is growing among the general public. What happened to bring about this change in attitude over such a short period of time? Climate change skeptics claim that scientists have greatly overstated the degree and the dangers of global warming. Others argue that powerful special interests are minimizing the problem for political gain. Unlike experiments conducted under strictly controlled conditions in a lab or petri dish, scientiic theories, facts, and indings on such a critical topic as climate change are often subject to personal, political, and media bias—whether for good or for ill. At its core, however, scientiic research is not about politics or 30-second sound bites. Scientiic research is about questions and measurable observations. Science is the process of discovery and the means for developing a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Science strives for facts and conclusions unencumbered by bias, distortion, and political sensibilities. Although sometimes the methods and motivations are lawed, science attempts to develop a body of knowledge that can guide decision makers, enhance daily life, and lay a foundation to aid future generations. he relevance and the implications of scientiic research are profound, as members of the National Academy of Sciences point out in the 2009 edition of On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research: 6

Some scientiic results directly afect the health and well-being of individuals, as in the case of clinical trials or toxicological studies. Science also is used by policy makers and voters to make informed decisions on such pressing issues as climate change, stem cell research, and the mitigation of natural hazards. . . . And even when scientiic results have no immediate applications—as when research reveals new information about the universe or the fundamental constituents of matter—new knowledge speaks to our sense of wonder and paves the way for future advances. he Inside Science series provides students with a sense of the painstaking work that goes into scientiic research—whether its focus is microscopic cells cultured in a lab or planets far beyond the solar system. Each book in the series examines how scientists work and where that work leads them. Sometimes, the results are positive. Such was the case for Edwin McClure, a once-active high school senior diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease that leads to diiculties with coordination, speech, and mobility. hanks to stem cell therapy, in 2009 a healthier McClure strode across a stage to accept his diploma from Virginia Commonwealth University. In some cases, cutting-edge experimental treatments fail with tragic results. his is what occurred in 1999 when 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger, born with a rare liver disease, died four days after undergoing a newly developed gene therapy technique. Such failures may temporarily halt research, as happened in the Gelsinger case, to allow for investigation and revision. In this and other instances, however, research resumes, often with renewed determination to ind answers and solve problems. hrough clear and vivid narrative, carefully selected anecdotes, and direct quotations each book in the Inside Science series reinforces the role of scientiic research in advancing knowledge and creating a better world. By developing an understanding of science, the responsibilities of the scientist, and how scientiic research afects society, today’s students will be better prepared for the critical challenges that await them. As members of the National Academy of Sciences state: “he values on which science is based—including honesty, fairness, collegiality, and openness—serve as guides to action in everyday life as well as in research. hese values have helped produce a scientiic enterprise of unparalleled usefulness, productivity, and creativity. So long as these values are honored, science—and the society it serves—will prosper.” 7

Important Events in Biotech Research 1953

1995

he scientiic journal Nature publishes James Dewey Watson and Francis Crick’s manuscript describing the double helix structure of DNA, marking the beginning of the modern era of genetics.

Gene therapy, immune system modulation, and recombinantly produced antibodies enter the war against cancer.

1990 First experimental gene therapy treatment is performed successfully on a four-year-old girl sufering from an immune disorder.

1979 Human growth hormone irst synthesized.

1980

1985

1995

1992

1978 Recombinant human insulin irst produced.

1982

IMPORTANT EVENTS

1990

First biotech drug (human insulin produced in genetically modiied bacteria) approved by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

1986 he Environmental Protection Agency approves the release of the irst transgenic crop—genetically altered tobacco plants.

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he FDA declares that transgenic foods are not inherently dangerous and do not require special regulation.

1994 First FDA approval for a whole food produced through biotechnology—a tomato marketed under the name FLAVRSAVR.

2010 J. Craig Venter’s company Synthetic Genomics creates the irst synthetic organism.

2000 Golden Rice is created by inserting genes from a dafodil into rice DNA.

2009 he United States produces 10.6 billion gallons (40.1 billion L) of ethanol fuel created through biotech research.

1997 First animal (a sheep in Scotland named Dolly) cloned from an adult cell.

1996

1999

2003 Human Genome Project completed.

2002

2005

2008

2004

1998 Human embryonic stem cell lines are established.

2001 First complete map of the rice genome completed.

he FDA approves AVASTIN, a monoclonal (derived from a single cloned cell) medication developed to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS.

2002 Biotech research leads to the development of a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.

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Biotechnology: Life Revealed

INTRODUCTION

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hirty years ago, a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS was a death sentence. Since then, scientists studying this virus have made discoveries that have all but removed the death sentence that once was associated with an HIV infection. hey accomplished this through biotech research. One promising discovery came in July 2010 at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. A team of researchers led by Nathalia Holt treated human stem cells—cells with the ability to become any type of cell in the body—with naturally occurring proteins called zinc ingers. he scientists then gave the zinc ingers to mice that had been specially bred to have immune systems identical to humans. According to an article in the journal Nature Biotechnology, “Holt’s team found that the treated stem cells multiplied rapidly in the mice and were highly resistant to HIV infection.”1 Scientists believe this form stem cells of treatment may one day lead to a cure for AIDS or a vaccine to prevent it. Cells that have not yet grown On November 3, 2010, Harvard Univerinto speciic cells in the sity AIDS researcher Bruce Walker announced body, such as blood cells or another amazing discovery. He called it indskin cells, and are capable of ing “the needle in the haystack!”2 Walker and changing into cells that could replace diseased or otherwise his colleagues located six genetic variations damaged cells. that alter amino acid building blocks in certain proteins in the immune system. hese variations, when present in a person’s DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid, the molecule that carries genetic information in all living organisms), prevent HIV from progressing into AIDS. Walker felt that the discovery would lead to even more precise ways of manipulating the human immune system in order to help people who do not have genetic protection from AIDS. his discovery, too, came from biotech research.

Biotechnology he irst use of the term biotechnology appeared in 1919, in a book by Karl Ereky, acknowledged as the founder of biotechnology. Ereky, an 10

agricultural engineer, was born in 1878 in Hungary and eventually wrote more than 100 publications based on his personal experiences with agriculture. His classic work, published in Berlin, was Biotechnologie der Fleisch-, Fett- und Milcherzeugung im landwirtschaftlichen Grossbetriebe (Biotechnology of Meat, Fat and Milk Production in an Agricultural LargeScale Farm). Ereky’s primary goal was to eliminate world hunger through science and technology—in other words, using biotech research. Biotechnology, broadly deined, is the use of biological systems, cells, or microorganisms to carry out technical processes for the good of living things. hese processes are the result of research in diverse ields: foods, agriculture, medicine, environmental science, and industry, to name a few. In recent years, scientists amino acids have begun referring to the various categories of Organic acids biotechnology using colors: green biotechnology considered to be the refers to research dealing with foods and agriculbuilding blocks of ture, red biotechnology refers to the ield of mediproteins. cine, and white biotechnology concerns industrial applications and the environment. Every day, research in all areas of biotechnology expands, often leading to unexpected discoveries. What drives this research is the hope that manipulating the genetic makeup of even simple organisms can lead to major breakthroughs that may beneit all of humanity. It is diicult to imagine, for example, that studying a tiny transparent roundworm that lives in soil could possibly lead to a cure for diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease. Yet this unlikely chain of events actually occurred.

A Favorite Lab Animal For years, scientists have used a particular worm—more precisely a nematode called Caenorhabditis elegans, or C. elegans—in their experiments. In fact, this nematode has become most researchers’ favorite laboratory animal. he attraction to this worm, for scientists, is based on several of its traits. According to Gary Taubes, science journalist for Discover magazine: Caenorhabditis elegans develops from egg to adult in three days and produces a few hundred ofspring three days after that. . . . And because the worm is transparent and the adult has only 959 cells, development of every stage from egg to adult can be observed under the microscope and documented with near perfect detail while the worm is alive.3 11

he soil-dwelling nematode worm, C. elegans, is one of the most studied animals in biological and genetic research. Its rapid reproduction cycle and transparent body are just two of the characteristics that make it so useful in biotech research. In the lab, the worm is irradiated or exposed to chemicals that cause genetic mutations—changes in its genetic material—and these changes can be observed in only a few days. One speciic C. elegans mutation, referred to as “bag of worms,” irst fascinated Victor Ambros, now a biologist at the University of Massachusetts, in 1979. A worm alicted 12

with this particular mutation was unable to lay the dozens of fertilized eggs inside its body. he eggs eventually hatched into larvae inside their mother’s body, and, with no way to escape, ate their way out, killing her in the process. Ambros became fascinated with this bizarre and grotesque mutation. He worked 13 years to identify and sequence the gene responsible for the “bag of worms” mutation. What he discovered, according to Taubes, “launched the RNA revolution and changed the face of modern biology.”4 he responsible gene turned out to be a tiny piece of ribonucleic acid, or RNA, a cousin of mutation DNA. Ambros named this snippet of genetic maAn alteration or terial “microRNA.” Once he had documented its change. A genetic existence, he wondered if other types of microRNA mutation is a change existed and if they were present in other organisms. of the DNA sequence He discovered that they are, and the role they play within the nucleus of a cell that results in in living organisms astounded him. hrough his the creation of a new research, Ambros learned that diferent types of character or trait not microRNA perform opposite functions in living found in the parental cells. Where one type of microRNA might cause a type. mutation like “bag of worms,” another might prevent such a mutation.

A Revelation he mystery soon became a revelation. If certain types of microRNA can trigger a mutation that leads to illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or others that cause nerve deterioration, Ambros wondered if other types of microRNA that can do the opposite and stop these neurodegenerative diseases might exist. As it turns out, the answer is that they do. Remarkably, research that began with a tiny, seemingly insigniicant worm may lead to possible cures for some of the world’s most devastating diseases. his demonstrates the importance of biotech research. Using biotech research, scientists today strive to ind ways to provide food for the hungry, to ind cures for diseases such as AIDS, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes, and to ind ways humanity can protect the earth’s environment and its ecosystems. Biotech research is the future.

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What Is Biotech Research?

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CHAPTER ONE

s early as 10,000 years ago, people raised crops and domesticated animals for food and clothing. hrough accidental discoveries, or by trial and error, our ancestors learned how to use biological processes such as microbial fermentation to brew beer, make wine, leaven bread, make cheese, and pickle foods. Farmers noticed that plants grew better when a cow’s dung had fallen in the area where seeds had been planted, thus discovering the miracle of natural fertilizer. hey also learned how to increase the yield of crops through cross-pollination and how to increase milk or meat production in various species of animals through cross-breeding. Today, these bioprocesses, as they are called, are considered forms of biotech research. During the past 50 years or so, the scope and pace of biotech research has increased exponentially due to a series of discoveries that changed scientiic inquiry forever. According to the Biotechnology Industry Organization, scientists are currently able to use a wide variety of biotech techniques to accomplish their goals, which include the creation of “a wide range of biobased products including human insulin, the hepatitis B vaccine, the calf enzyme used in cheese-making, biodegradable plastics, and laundry detergent enzymes. Bioprocessing technology also encompasses tissue engineering and manufacturing as well as biopharmaceutical formulation and delivery.”5 Biotech research has come a long way from the trial-and-error techniques of early humans to improve plants and animals. Today’s biotechnology has evolved through a series of baby steps, skips and hops, and giant leaps that began in the 1800s.

History of Biotech Research Between 1868 and 1950, scientists discovered much about the mechanics of heredity. hey learned, for example, that hereditary materials are contained within the nucleus of the cell, and that the hereditary material contains phosphoric acid, nitrogen, and sugar. hey discovered that the nitrogen in the hereditary material occurs in two types of organic bases—purines, 14

which have a molecular structure of two fused rings of carbon and nitrogen atoms, and pyrimidines, which have a single ring of the same elements. In the hereditary material of the cell’s nucleus, two purines—adenine (A) and guanine (G), bond with three pyrimidines—thymine (T), cytosine (C), and uracil (U)—to form nucleotides. hese nucleotides then combine with phosphoric acids and one of two sugars—ribose or deoxyribose—to create RNA and DNA molmicrobial ecules. Researchers also learned that DNA fermentation contains the information needed by the cell to divide and reproduce, or replicate. hese he breaking down of a early discoveries led the way to even more exsubstance by the action traordinary discoveries in the second half of of microbes, as in the conversion of sugar the twentieth century. into carbon dioxide and In 1950 American biochemist Erwin Charalcohol by yeast during gaf, while studying the chemical composition the fermentation of beer of DNA, provided a key piece to the DNA puzand wine. zle. According to Tara Robinson, instructor of genetics at Oregon State University: Using DNA from a wide variety of organisms, [Chargaf] discovered that all DNA had something in common: When DNA was broken into its component bases, the amount of guanine luctuated wildly from one organism to another, but the amount of guanine always equaled the amount of cytosine. Likewise, in every organism he studied, the amount of adenine equaled the amount of thymine.6 Chargaf’s discovery was made using a process called paper chromatography to separate the purines in DNA—adenine and guanine—from the pyrimidines—thymine and cytosine. (Uracil, the third pyrimidine, is present only in RNA, not in DNA.) In this test, a piece of specially treated paper is dipped into the target solution—in this case, DNA mixed in a solvent such as water or ethanol—and the diferent parts of the solution move up the paper. Knowing that adenine and thymine always seem to be paired, and that guanine and cytosine are also exclusively paired, the next questions that needed answering were: How are the nucleotides arranged within the DNA molecule? What is the signiicance of that arrangement? What is the structure of DNA? 15

In 1951 Rosalind Elsie Franklin, a British biophysicist working with Maurice Wilkins at King’s College in London, England, used X-ray difraction technology—a process that bounces X-rays of the target substance— to produce incredibly sharp photographs of the DNA molecule. he results included an image, now called “Photo 51,” that suggested that DNA was shaped like a corkscrew, or helix. Only weeks away from the publication of Franklin’s indings, Maurice Wilkins showed the photograph and some of Franklin’s data—without her knowledge or consent—to American molecular biologist James Dewey Watson at Cambridge University. his deception led to an announcement that shook the scientiic world.

The “Big Bang” of Biotech Research One theory that explains how the universe might have begun is called the “big bang theory.” For biotech research, that “big bang” discovery—the inding that launched a new era of biotechnology—came from a team of scientists led by Watson and British molecular biologist Francis Crick at Cambridge University in England in 1953. Watson and Crick, impressed with all the earlier work on DNA, had set their sights on discovering the structure of the DNA molecule. Linus Pauling, an American chemist, earlier had discovered that proteins were shaped like a spring coil. He suggested that DNA was in the shape of a coil with three strands, but his hypothesis failed to answer a great many questions about the molecule and how it replicated. Watson and Crick attempted to construct a DNA model with metal sticks and wooden balls, but were likewise unable to arrive at a structure that answered every question. Something was missing. When Watson saw Franklin’s “Photo 51” in 1953 and later sketched what he had seen for Crick, the two realized that the photograph suggested the missing evidence they had been searching for. DNA had to be a double helix. Working from that concept, they combined Franklin’s photograph with Chargaf’s indings—pairs of nucleotides occurring in like amounts—into a hypothesis that DNA was a double helix with base pairs—A bonded with T, and G bonded with C—as rungs for the ladder. hey published their indings. Watson and Crick’s paper, “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid,” was published in 1953 in Nature magazine, announcing that they had discovered the structure of the DNA molecule. It was the “big bang” that geneticists had been waiting 16

for. heir amazing model of DNA’s molecular structure answered every question about DNA so perfectly that scientists the world over accepted it almost immediately. For their discovery, Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962. Franklin might have been included in the prize, but she died of cancer three years earlier, in 1958. he Nobel Prize is awarded only to living recipients. Her paper, with the essential photos of the DNA molecule, was published in the same issue of Nature with Watson and Crick’s paper, but she never received the recognition that should have been hers. Scientists James Watson (left) and Francis Crick use a model to explain the structure of the DNA molecule in their lab at Cambridge University in 1953. he discovery of the structure and composition of DNA marked the beginning of modern biotech research.

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Rosalind Elsie Franklin, British Biophysicist Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born in London, England, July 25, 1920. She attended a girls’ school in London that taught physics and chemistry. Her interest in becoming a scientist led her to Newnham College in Cambridge, where she graduated in 1941. She pursued a graduate degree for a year and then left Newnham to work at the British Coal Utilization Research Association. here, her studies of carbon and graphite microstructures became the basis of her doctorate in physical chemistry from Cambridge in 1945. Following the attainment of her PhD, she spent three years in Paris (1947–1950) at the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de L’Etat, learning X-ray difraction techniques. In 1951 she became a research associate at King’s College in London and met Maurice Wilkins, who shared her interest in genetics and assigned her a project involving X-ray photographs of DNA. Franklin’s photo of DNA, shared with James Watson by Maurice Wilkins, led to Watson and Crick’s announcement of their discovery of the structure of DNA. Despite having laid much of the groundwork for research in DNA, Franklin did not receive credit. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1956 and died two years later.

Altering the Structure of DNA After publication of Watson and Crick’s paper, the DNA molecule became known as “the double helix,” and DNA, the storehouse of genetic material, was acknowledged to be the blueprint for all life on Earth. Discovering the structure and composition of DNA was the beginning of modern biotech research. his research began in earnest in the early 1970s, when scientists developed methods of cutting and pasting sections of the DNA molecule from one organism to another. he purpose was to alter an organism, such as a plant, animal, or microbe, in a speciic way, through the introduction of a desirable gene from another organism. his process is called genetic engineering. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, genetic engineering is “the artiicial manipulation, modiication, and recombination of DNA or other nucleic acid molecules in order to modify an organism or population 18

of organisms.”7 his combination of genetic material between two organisms produces new genetic material. In order to combine the DNA of diferent organisms, scientists must splice the genes. Gene splicing involves cutting segments of the DNA from one organism and then inserting those segments into the DNA of a new organism. he idea is similar to how a ilm editor cuts and then splices together scenes to make the inal version of a movie. Today, ilm editors use computer programs to combine scenes. Earlier ilm editors had to physically cut and splice pieces of ilm together to create scenes that moved nucleotides seamlessly from one shot to another. Instead of ilm, scientists work with actual DNA, using mohe building blocks lecular substances to perform the cutting.

“Molecular Scissors”

of DNA, composed of a deoxyribose sugar, a phosphate, and one of four nitrogenous bases.

In 1970 Hamilton O. Smith, an American microbiologist, put bacteria and a bacteria-attacking virus together and accidentally discovered what are called restriction enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that cause chemical reactions to occur. Restriction enzymes chop viral DNA into pieces, destroying it completely. According to Biotechnology Online, restriction enzymes perform speciic tasks within cells that make gene splicing possible: Restriction enzymes are like molecular scissors. hey are used to cut up DNA. hey were originally found in bacteria, where they act as a defence mechanism. he bacterial restriction enzymes recognise foreign DNA, such as from a virus, when it enters a bacterial cell, and inactivates it by cutting it up. he handy thing for scientists is that restriction enzymes do not cut DNA randomly—they cut at very speciic places. . . . Diferent restriction enzymes cut at diferent sites. Each restriction enzyme recognises a certain DNA sequence, usually about four to six base pairs long, and cuts the DNA within this sequence.8 When a piece of DNA has been cut and removed from its original strand, it can be moved to the new strand of DNA, where it is pasted. his process is called transformation. According to Biotechnology Online, one process for transferring genes to plant, animal, and yeast cells is called electroporation:

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Plant cells are irst treated to remove their cell walls. Animal cells don’t have cell walls, so don’t require this irst step. he cells are placed in a solution with the new DNA that is to be added. he solution is then subjected to a high voltage electric shock for a fraction of a second. his causes small holes to form in the cell membrane, through which DNA can enter. he cells are then placed in a nutrient solution, allowing them to repair their membranes and cell walls and recover their normal functions.9 Once gene splicing has been completed, scientists wait for the chromosomes—strands of genetic material containing the combined DNA— to replicate. he resulting ofspring should then exhibit the new trait. Concerning the discovery of restriction enzymes, Tara Robinson writes: “his fortuitous (and completely accidental) discovery was just what was restriction enzymes needed to spark a revolution in the Enzymes that break DNA in study of DNA. . . . Today, researchers speciic places, creating spaces use thousands of restriction enzymes where new genes can be inserted. to help map genes on chromosomes, determine the function of genes, and manipulate DNA for diagnosis and treatment of disease.”10 Hamilton O. Smith and two other geneticists, Dan Nathans and Werner Arber, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978 for their discovery of restriction enzymes.

Additional Discoveries In 1985 Alec Jefreys, a British geneticist, took restriction enzymes one step further when he invented a way to “ingerprint” DNA. After DNA was cut into pieces using restriction enzymes, Jefreys examined the patterns in the pieces and realized that each person’s DNA produces a different number of fragments of various sizes. Just as human ingerprints are unique, Jefreys realized that human DNA is also unique and can be used to identify a speciic person. His discovery has led to scientists using short tandem repeats (STRs), which are sections of DNA repeated several times in a row, to identify individuals. One example of an STR sequence is TCATTCATTCATTCAT. he number of repetitions varies from person to person, making the STR unique to each person and therefore identiiable. he variations are called 20

alleles and have become invaluable in establishing not only precise identiication of an individual but also how that person might be related to other individuals. he more alleles that two people have in common, the more closely they are related. According to Robinson: “More than 100 laboratories in the United States alone now make use of the methods that Jefreys pioneered. he information that these labs generate is housed in a huge database hosted by the FBI, granting any police department quick access to data that can help match criminals to crimes.”11 Test tubes containing all of the DNA found in a human cell, a collection that makes up the entire human genome, are stored in a laboratory refrigerator. he identiication and mapping of all human genes greatly enhances the ability to treat, prevent, and cure disease.

In 1989 another major discovery in biotech research took place— isolating and identifying a single gene responsible for causing a major disease. American physician and geneticist Francis Collins, along with his team and collaborators, succeeded in locating and identifying the gene responsible for causing cystic ibrosis, a debilitating disease that causes early death in its victims. Collins and his team continued their research until they had identiied genes that cause other serious illnesses such as Huntington’s disease, a type of leukemia. Collins later led possibly the most important research since the discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule—the mapping of every human gene.

The Human Genome Project In 1990 an international project was launched that promised to expand genetics beyond any expectations previously held for the use of DNA. he goal was to map all the genes of human DNA—the human genome. Experts estimated it would take 15 years to accomplish this task. Watson initially headed the efort, dubbed the Human Genome Project (HGP), but he was later replaced by Collins. Collins, for the remainder of the project, kept the Human Genome Project ahead of schedule and under the proposed budget of $3 billion. he team completed its work two years earlier than predicted. he Human Genome Project revealed amazing things about the nature of humanity and how alike and diferent humans are from other living things on Earth. According to the National Human Genome Research Institute: he HGP has revealed that there are probably about 20,500 human genes. he completed human sequence can now identify their locations. his ultimate product of the HGP has given the world a resource of detailed information about the structure, organization and function of the complete set of human genes. his information can be thought of as the basic set of inheritable “instructions” for the development and function of a human being.12 In the February 2001 issue of Nature, the irst draft of the human genome, with about 90 percent of the 3 billion base pairs complete, was published. Scientists were surprised to discover that, instead of the ge22

Early DNA Discoveries From the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s a series of scientiic discoveries— three concerning the component elements of DNA and one identifying its function—led to a revolution in biotech research. hese steps began in 1868 when a Swiss medical student, Johann Friedrich Miescher, separated DNA from white blood cells in pus that had been drained from surgical wounds. Miescher called the substance “nuclein,” since it was contained in the nuclei of white blood cells. He also determined that the substance contained phosphorus and nitrogen and was acidic. One of his students renamed the substance “nucleic acid.” In the late 1800s a German medical doctor and biochemist, Albrecht Kossel, discovered that “nucleic acids” contained not only phosphoric acid and nitrogen but also sugar. American biochemist, Phoebus Levene, who had studied with Kossel, subsequently determined that the types of sugars found in nucleic acids were ribose and deoxiribose. he nucleic acids containing these sugars were named ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). In 1943 American scientist Oswald Avery conducted a series of experiments in which he learned that DNA might actually carry inherited information. When Avery removed proteins from the cells, the parent bacteria were still able to reproduce. When he removed DNA from the cells, the bacteria were unable to reproduce. Avery proved that DNA was the gene carrier in cells. Without these discoveries, Watson and Crick would not have had the necessary information to conduct their studies in 1953 and to identify the structure of DNA. Each early step contributed to their groundbreaking discovery.

nome possessing between 50,000 and 140,000 genes, as had been previously predicted, the human genome contains only 20,000–25,000 genes. he full sequence of the human genome was completed in 2003, giving scientists a whole new world of information to use in biotech research. A nonscientist might wonder why mapping the human genome and locating and identifying the exact number of genes is signiicant. In 2001, just after publication of the majority of the genome in Nature, 23

Collins summarized the incredible accomplishment and predicted: “It’s a history book—a narrative of the journey of our species through time. It’s a shop manual, with an incredibly detailed blueprint for building every human cell. And it’s a transformative textbook of medicine, with insights that will give health care providers immense new powers to treat, prevent, and cure disease.”13 Since completion of the Human Genome Project, Collins’s predictions have started to come true, primarily in the ield of medicine. Mapping the human genome has led to the mapping of other genomes— plant and animal—and to new biotech research techniques that promise to make life better for every living thing on Earth for generations to come.

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Biotech in Foods and Agriculture

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25

CHAPTER TWO

n the twenty-irst century, two of the primary goals of biotech research have been to improve the nutritional value of food and to increase food production to feed an ever-expanding world population. According to the 2010 World Population Bureau, almost 7 billion people inhabit the earth. As of June 2009, according to the United Nations, more than 1 billion of those people were starving. Scientists theorize, however, that it may be impossible to feed the earth’s population in the future without completely exhausting the planet’s natural resources unless humanity inds a way to signiicantly improve the eficiency of its animal and crop production. his is especially signiicant, considering that some world population estimates for 2060 reach as high as 10 billion. Many agencies, organizations, and corporations are working to resolve this hunger crisis, with the dual goals of using biotechnology research to produce more food, while simultaneously preserving the earth’s natural resources. Ismail Serageldin of the World Bank says: “Biotechnology will be a crucial part of expanding agricultural productivity in the 21st century. If safely deployed, it could be a tremendous help in meeting the challenge of feeding an additional three billion human beings, 95% of them in the poor developing countries, on the same amount of land and water currently available.”14 Additional improvements in food production will be needed, but it is already possible to genetically engineer plants to produce greater yields. Scientists have created plants that contain their own internal pesticides (chemicals that kill insects), herbicides (chemicals that kill plants), or antibiotics (chemicals that kill microbes). With those genetic characteristics, plants could repel insects, be resistant to weed killers, and be resistant to disease. Using gene splicing to separate and then recombine the DNA of two plants or animals—creating what is called recombinant DNA—causes traits of the recipient plant or animal—resistance to herbicides, pests, drought, and disease, for example—to be altered.

Researchers evaluate the growth of genetically modiied plum plants. he plants are designed to have greater resistance to certain viruses than plants that have not been genetically modiied. Genetically engineered plants, though they could conceivably end world hunger, are not favored by everyone. Some opponents of their widespread use worry about unknown potential health problems or environmental problems after prolonged consumption by humans. A few critics go so far as to call any genetically altered plant a “Frankenfood,” referring to the ictional monster created by Doctor Frankenstein in the Mary Shelley novel. Despite such opposition, though, scientists continue in their eforts to improve the world’s food supply. One relatively imprecise method for doing this is called mutation breeding. 26

Mutation Breeding Farmers have been combining DNA for as long as they have been crosspollinating plants to produce hybrid species that exhibit characteristics of the parent plants. Using pea plants, Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk and scientist, was one of the irst to study how genetic characteristics are passed from parent plants to ofspring. hrough the relatively slow process of cross-pollination, Mendel gradually worked out the basics of genetics by observing changes that occurred when plant traits were combined. His work was published in 1866. Not until the twentieth century, though, did farmers truly understand the signiicant role genetics plays in crop successes and failures and how genes can be combined to produce entirely new species of plants. After James Dewey Watson and recombinant DNA Francis Crick identiied the structure DNA that has been altered by of DNA and determined that its basic joining genetic material from two structure is the same in all living spediferent sources. cies, scientists began to wonder if they could speed the process of combining genes in plants without having to wait for generations of plants to grow, bear fruit, and produce new plants. One technique for altering the genetic makeup of plants more quickly is genetic mutation. Genetic mutations do occur in nature, but they are rare. heir occurrence and results cannot be predicted. Scientists for years had wondered if they could artiicially alter a plant’s genetic code. One way, they found, was to expose plant cells to chemicals. he chemical that caused the biggest stir among scientists was colchicine. In 1936 this chemical was extracted from autumn crocus or from meadow safron and used as a pesticide. However, scientists later discovered that it also does something quite extraordinary with chromosomes. It doubles them. he doubling technique tended to produce larger, hardier plants and was applied to at least 50 species during the next few years. Another way to alter a plant’s genetic code is to expose it to various forms of radiation. In the 1920s two scientists studied the efects of radiation on plants. In 1927 Hermann Joseph Muller proved that radiation causes mutations in plants. In 1928 Louis Stadler published the results of his experiments in which he exposed plant seeds to X-rays and radium. Other types of radiation—gamma rays, fast neutrons, and thermal neutrons—have also been used to cause mutations in plants. 27

Genetically Altered Wheat Mutation breeding is the process of using substances to cause mutations, or changes, in the DNA of an organism. Mutation breeding was used to produce Creso, a variety of durum wheat (also called macaroni wheat, because of its almost exclusive use in the production of pasta). Creso wheat, a cross between two diferent types of wheat whose seeds mutated after exposure to neutrons or X-rays, demonstrated a strong resistance to wheat leaf rust, a particularly damaging plant disease. A second mutationally bred plant, Golden Promise barley, was created in 1956 using gamma rays. It became the standard for barley used in the brewing of ine beers and is still in use today. Another genetically altered grain—Calrose 76, a high-yielding variety of rice released in California in 1976—was created through mutation breeding using gamma rays from cobalt-60. Approximately 200 varieties of bread wheat grown around the world today have been created using gamma rays, neutrons, X-rays, or chemicals to produce genetically mutated species. However, mutation breeding is not an exact science. When genes are irradiated, hundreds of mutations may be caused, with only a small fraction producing traits that match the scientist’s goals in creating a new species. Scientists wanted to be able to recombine genes from diferent species in a more precise way. hat ability came about as a result of an early twentieth century study of a particular bacterium.

“A Natural Genetic Engineer” he irst organism to be used by researchers to transfer genes from one plant to another was Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a rod-shaped microbe that, in plants, causes tumor-like growths called crown galls. It was identiied and named in 1907 by researchers at the US Department of Agriculture. Four decades later, Armin Braun, a plant pathologist at the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research, experimented on crown galls to discover how the bacterium causes them. He discovered that the tumors could exist without growth hormones that were previously thought necessary to keep plants alive. Instead, they were living on nothing more than salts or sugars. Braun’s discovery led him to the conclusion that Agrobacterium permanently alters the plant cells it infects. hree decades later, in the 1970s, three diferent groups of scientists set out to learn the secrets of Agrobacterium. Scientists from the Univer28

Mary-Dell Chilton, Plant Biologist Mary-Dell Chilton is one of the founders of modern plant biotechnology. She did post-doctoral research at the University of Washington in Seattle, then continued that research at Washington University in St. Louis. Her discoveries laid the groundwork for much of current plant biotech research. In 1977, she became the first scientist to identify a fragment of Agrobacterium Ti plasmid DNA inside crown gall nuclei. This led to her most significant discovery—that disease-causing genes can be separated from the bacterium without damaging the way the bacterium subsequently inserts its own DNA into plant cells, thereby altering the plant’s genetic makeup. Chilton’s colleagues consider her work to be revolutionary in the field of plant science. In 1983, Chilton left academia to join what is today Syngenta Corporation in North Carolina, where she rose to become vice president of Agricultural Biotechnology. In 2002, Syngenta announced construction of a new administrative and conference center—the Mary-Dell Chilton Center—in honor of her many achievements. Chilton has now turned her attention to gene targeting—sending DNA to speciic points within a plant’s genome.

sity of Leiden in the Netherlands, from the University of Washington in Seattle, and from the Free University of Ghent in Belgium all determined to unlock the secrets of how this bacterium carries new traits into plant cells. Eugene Nester, Milton Gordon, and Mary-Dell Chilton, from the University of Washington at Seattle, later wrote: “At the time of our discovery there was controversy over the safety of recombinant DNA experiments, but here was a bacterium [Agrobacterium tumefaciens] that was a natural genetic engineer.”15 Chilton, whose work earned her the nickname, “Queen of Agrobacterium,” eventually became a consultant for Monsanto, a US-based multinational agricultural biotech corporation that today spearheads the use of genetically engineered seeds. Chilton continued her work, using the bacterium to create genetically engineered plants. One hurdle her team had to overcome was forcing bacterial genes to keep working 29

he rod-shaped microbe called Agrobacterium tumefaciens (pictured on a tobacco leaf in this highly magniied view) causes tumor-like growths in plants but it has also played an important role in biotech research. It was the irst organism used by scientists for transferring genes from one plant to another. when they were introduced into plant DNA. In one experiment, the researchers wanted to take a bacterial gene that shielded cells from an antibiotic’s toxic efects and insert it into a plant to protect it, allowing it to grow to maturity. But the genes of the bacterium and those of the plant recognized diferent bits of DNA as switches or signals to turn genes of or on. What her team had to do was splice the bacterial gene in between signals recognized by the plant: its head, called a “promoter,” and its tail, called its “termination sequence.” When they did that, according to Dan Charles, author of Lords of the Harvest, they would have created a strand of DNA that was “half-bacterial, half-plant . . . called a ‘chimeric’ gene, after the mythical chimera, which was part goat, part lion, and part serpent.”16 Michael Bevan, a scientist who joined Chilton’s team in 1981, pinned down the exact position of the promoter in Agrobacterium and successfully used it to create chimera plants—single organisms constructed from two genetically diferent types of tissue.

Fighting Crop Losses Another gene widely used to genetically engineer plants comes from a species of bacterium that lives in soil—Bacillus thuringiensis. Referred to as Bt, the bacterium secretes a protein that scientists believed would kill various types of caterpillars. One caterpillar, Ostrinia nubilalis, the European corn borer, was particularly damaging to US and Canadian corn crops, so scientists were eager to ind an eicient way to control or eliminate them. he speciic Bt gene, once inserted into the corn’s DNA, produces crystal-like proteins, called Cry proteins, which are activated when a caterpillar’s digestive enzymes cut the protein in two. he Cry proteins bind to receptors on the caterpillar’s intestinal lining and rupture the cells, causing the caterpillar to shrivel and die within two to three days. he caterpillar stops feeding within two hours of eating genetically altered Bt corn, which limits the amount of damage done to the plant by the larvae. 31

here are diferent strains of the Bt gene, each with diferent Cry proteins that kill diferent types of caterpillars. So far, biotech researchers have identiied more than 60 Cry proteins. hese proteins have been found to be efective against the Colorado potato beetle, corn ear worm, tobacco budworm, as well as the European corn borer. Geneticists create Bt plants by inserting genes from the Bt bacterium into the DNA of the target plant. hree types of genetic material are inserted into the targeted DNA. First is a gene that produces Cry proteins. Second is a promoter, which controls two factors: how much of the Cry protein is produced by the plant, and which parts of the plant will contain the protein. Some promoters, for example, limit protein production to leaves, green tissue, or pollen, while others allow its production throughout the plant. he third type of genetic material inserted into the targeted DNA is a genetic marker. hese markers allow scientists to test genetically engineered plants to see if the genetic alteration was successful. hese markers also mutation breeding include genes to make plants resistant he use of chemicals or radiation to herbicides. A genetic package conto bring about changes in plant taining these three elements is inserted DNA. into a plant, using what is called a plant transformation technique. hese transformations are also called events, and they difer, based on where the gene package is inserted into the DNA of the target plant.

Controlling Pests he discovery of Bt bacterium’s efectiveness in controlling insect pests led to a frenzy of genetic engineering to produce plants, including tobacco, potatoes, cotton, and corn, that were immune to insect damage. he Bt toxin, however, did not work at all on tobacco. And, although it is successful in preventing or limiting insect damage to potatoes, major buyers like McDonald’s refused to use genetically engineered potatoes. hey were concerned that their customers would stop buying their french fries because of adverse publicity about genetically altered plants. As a result of those fears, Bt potatoes were virtually eliminated as an economically viable crop. Bt cotton was successfully grown for years, but pink bollworms eventually developed a resistance to the Bt protein. It, too, is no longer used. 32

Creating Steaks from Stem Cells A decade or two from now, steaks may not come from cows. As much as 200 pounds (90.7kg) of meat may eventually be made from a single cell. he In Vitro Meat Consortium, including scientists from the Netherlands, the United States, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, are currently working toward the goal of being able to create meat in a laboratory for a hungry world. his technology involves the use of animal stem cells, which are the building blocks for all types of animal tissue and cells. According to Science Illustrated: “Take a single stem cell, called a satellite cell, from an animal’s muscle, coax it to diferentiate into a muscle cell, feed it nutrients, and let it grow and divide. If the stem cell is cultured correctly, the result is a large quantity of muscle cells, which can then be formed into meat.” Stig W. Omholt of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences chairs the consortium. He says: “here are several million stem cells in an umbilical cord from a pig. Each cell could, in principle, turn into 220 pounds of meat, so a handful of pig umbilical cords could be suicient to make enough meat for the whole world.” If enough scientists are brought together, and with suicient funding, Omholt says industrial production of in vitro meat might be possible within 10 years. Science Illustrated, “Meat (Minus the Animals),” November/December 2010, p. 58.

he most successful use of Bt Cry proteins has been in corn. Bt corn has proven to be extremely efective in controlling corn borers without having to spray or dust the corn plants with insecticides. Chemical insecticides, if they are sprayed at the right time, usually control an average of 80 percent of the irst generation of European corn borer larvae and 67 percent of second generation larvae. Bt corn hybrid varieties, by comparison, control an average of 96–99 percent of irst generation borers and 75 percent of second generation borers. his high rate of efectiveness increases the yield of Bt corn. Farmers in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana responded to what they had seen in test ields of Bt corn by planting more of the genetically altered seed. he amount of land used for growing Bt corn doubled in 1998, from 6 million acres (2.4 million ha) to 15.6 mil33

lion acres (6.7 million ha), producing one-fourth of the corn grown in the United States that year.

Weed Control Due to the success of Bt corn, and despite continuing adverse publicity about genetic engineering in general, US farmers have begun planting many more genetically engineered crops and, in many cases, have realized higher yields and reduced the need for pesticides. For farmers, however, weed control is equally as important to a successful harvest as insect and disease control. Herbicides—chemicals designed to kill weeds—can be applied between crop rows to eliminate weeds, but drift of the chemical can also cause crops to shrivel and die. In 1973 Monsanto introduced Roundup, a systemic herbicide—one that moves through the system of the plant—that killed every plant it touched. Farmers had to be very careful applying the chemical, which made its use expensive, labor-intensive, and time-consuming. Monsanto researchers realized they needed to create plants that could survive being sprayed with Roundup. hey accomplished this using genetic engineering. Beginning in the 1990s, Monsanto began releasing genetically engineered seed for corn, soybeans, cotton, rapeseed (canola), potatoes, and sugar beets that were immune to Roundup. hese “Roundup Ready” crops reduced the danger of losing crops to herbicides while at the same time creating a booming business for Monsanto.

Saving Lives with Rice Swiss scientist Ingo Potrykus had seen genetically engineered foods appear on the market for what he considered frivolous reasons. hese included the White Iceberg blackberry, created in the 1890s by plant breeder Luther Burbank; the cranberry-colored All Red potato, bred by Robert Lobitz in 1984; the deep blue-purple Graiti caulilower that was created in Europe in 2002; and the Star Ruby and Rio Red grapefruit created in the 1960s by Richard Hensz, a researcher at Texas A&M University. Potrykus was not interested in creating new fruits and vegetables he corn ear worm (pictured) can cause signiicant crop damage. Biotech researchers have discovered that a speciic gene inserted into the DNA of corn, potatoes, and other plants can protect them from destructive pests. 34

in designer colors. Instead, he wanted to increase the nutritional value of a food that could help save lives throughout the world. At the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines in 1984, a question was raised by Gary Toenniessen, a microbiologist of the Rockefeller Foundation: “What gene would you put into rice, if you could put in any gene at all?”17 he answer came from Peter Jennings, creator of IR8, a variety of rice grown widely in India. Jennings said, “Yellow endosperm. . . . As long as I’ve been a rice breeder, over 20 years, I’ve been looking for a rice with yellow endosperm, because then it would produce vitamin A.”18

Golden Rice Around the world are children whose diet consists primarily of rice. A million of these children go blind or die each year because of a vitamin A deiciency. he leaves of rice plants contain beta carotene (the substance that produces vitamin A in humans), but rice grains do not. As Toenniessen put it, “If Nature has igured out how to do it, then we can igure out how to do it. And Nature does it. Maize produces beta carotene in the endosperm with no deleterious impacts on other parts of the plant.”19 Toenniessen believed, since maize and rice are grasses, they are similar in important ways, and therefore rice should be genetically alterable to produce vitamin A. To explore the possibilities of inserting genes into rice that would enable the plants to produce beta carotene in the grain, Toenniessen invited scientists who were familiar with beta carotene and genetics to a workshop in the late 1980s. From that workshop sprang an international team of researchers headed by Potrykus and German biologist Peter Beyer, an expert on beta carotene in dafodil plants. hese two, along with 60 other scientists from Germany, Switzerland, Poland, India, Japan, and China, worked 10 years to create the irst golden-colored grains of rice. To accomplish this, they inserted genes from dafodils into rice DNA to induce the rice plant to express those genes in rice kernels and not just in the plant’s leaves. In 1999 Potrykus and Beyer patented Golden Rice—a yellow-gold rice containing beta carotene, which gave the rice its golden color—that would provide up to 50 percent of the daily requirement of vitamin A. Once this new rice had been thoroughly tested, it could have been dis36

tributed throughout the world without cost to farmers since its development had been publicly funded. Golden Rice could have saved 1 million children a year from blindness and death, but it was not to be. Extensive media frenzy over Potrykus’s Golden Rice turned into a nightmare. Golden Rice was dubbed genetic pollution—a Frankenfood—by some skeptics and public panic ensued at the prospect of eating such an “unnatural food.” As a result, Golden Rice has never been released for public use. Recently, though, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and national instigenetic marker tutes involved in researching rice in Bangladesh and the Philippines have joined forces A gene or DNA sequence that has a known location with Helen Keller International (HKI) and the on a chromosome and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to further that is associated with a the development of Golden Rice. IRRI has particular gene or trait. been working on Golden Rice for the past 10 years. hey have determined that a single cup of Golden Rice could supply half of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A for an adult. he use of Golden Rice worldwide could prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths and cases of blindness in children. he Golden Rice being developed is a version of the most popular rice grown in Bangladesh—BRRI dhan29. he genetically modiied rice would cost farmers the same as other types of rice being grown, and the seeds could be saved for replanting.

Controversy over Genetically Engineered Foods he FDA has certiied some genetically modiied foods safe for public consumption, while banning or delaying others. Various consumer activists do not want the public to be exposed to genetically modiied foods without appropriate labeling that clearly states the food has been genetically altered. Yet many foods currently on the shelves of American supermarkets already contain ingredients that have been genetically modiied, and they are sold every day without labeling that speciies they are genetically modiied or that they contain genetically modiied ingredients. hese include cereal, muins, milk, taco shells, frozen pizzas, Hawaiiangrown fresh papayas, hot dogs, and soft drinks. On September 6, 2010, the FDA approved genetically altered salmon—salmon that keep producing growth hormones, and therefore 37

continue growing longer than normal salmon—for consumption in the United States. his was the irst genetically modiied animal food product to gain governmental approval. Experiments are ongoing on other genetically modiied animal food supplies. he value of genetically altered foods, produced through green biotechnology, remains a matter of ierce debate in the United States and around the world. Whether these foods pose a risk to humans or whether they ultimately could solve the problem of hunger in a rapidly increasing world population remains to be seen. he controversy surrounding genetically modiied organisms that are used as food is based upon whether or not they are safe for human consumption. It also focuses on whether or not growing genetically engineered food crops might someday prove to be hazardous to the environment. he concern is that these crops might contaminate other crops through uncontrolled cross-pollination. Objective, unbiased sources on this topic—whether in print or on the Internet—are rare. One point of view is that genetically modiied organisms do not pose a threat to the environment and that they could help end world hunger. he opposing view is that they pose a major threat to the health of consumers and the biosphere. Gathering information that is not sharply slanted toward one viewpoint or the other is diicult. Consumers are caught in the middle between these two opposing schools of thought. Making informed decisions about foods that are currently available in supermarkets has also become extremely diicult, since genetically engineered foods and ingredients are not always labeled as such. Perhaps, in time, all such foods will be labeled, enabling consumers to make informed decisions about the foods they eat. Until then, the controversy continues, as does the production and consumption of genetically modiied foods.

38

Biotech in Medicine

B

Research Moves in New Directions As with all research, medical biotech research often involves a lengthy series of steps. Also, it can sometimes achieve unexpected results, revealing connections that lead researchers toward diferent goals than those 39

CHAPTER THREE

iotech research is probably most visible to the general public in the ield of medicine. Doctors, scientists, and medical researchers use biotech therapies today that were unknown 20 years ago. Many of these became possible only after completion of the mapping of the human genome. No matter which area of medical research is examined, the goals remain largely the same—to identify, prevent, manage, or cure diseases and conditions that alict human beings. housands of researchers work tirelessly, hoping to ind ways for people to live longer, healthier lives. Biotech research has provided tools such as gene mapping, gene splicing, gene therapy, and stem cell therapy. With these tools researchers seek cures for cancer, AIDS, malaria, lu, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, muscular dystrophy, and many other diseases. When James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA, scientists scrambled to identify speciic genes on human chromosomes. By the 1970s they had learned how to use restriction enzymes to cut and paste genes from one organism to another. Removing or inserting genetic material often changed how a disease progressed or cured it altogether. When microRNA was discovered, scientists realized they could turn genes on or of, efecting desired changes. he discovery that stem cells have the ability to develop into speciic types of cells in the body spurred research in new directions. Scientists hoped eventually to be able to accomplish goals that had long been deemed impossible, such as replacing nerve cells to restore damaged spinal cords, growing new heart tissue to replace tissue that had been damaged in a heart attack, or growing replacement organs for those that were damaged or diseased.

initially identiied. A prime example of this occurred in 1951, when doctors detected a cancerous cervical tumor in a woman from Baltimore, Maryland. Her name was Henrietta Lacks. Cells that had been removed from her tumor were examined and determined to be malignant. hey were sent to George Gey, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, for gene therapy further study. he introduction of For years, Gey had been hoping to ind hugenetic material into a man cells that would grow indeinitely in the lab, human body with the to facilitate cancer research. He took Lack’s cells goal of curing a disease and propagated, or grew them, in a culture mecaused by a genetic dium in his lab, creating a human cell line called defect. HeLa cells (using the irst two letters from the irst and last names of the donor). He expected them to divide about 50 times and then die, like other human cells had done when grown in a lab. Gey was not particularly surprised to discover that HeLa cells replicated themselves every 24 hours, but what astounded him was that they did not die after 50 or so replications. Instead, they grew in virtually every growth medium and could be frozen and later reanimated to continue replicating. Scientiically speaking, the HeLa cell line was immortal. his result was unique. According to author Rebecca Skloot: Most cells in culture [medium] grew in a single layer in a clot on a glass surface, which meant they ran out of space quickly. Increasing their numbers was labor-intensive: scientists had to repeatedly scrape the cells from one tube and split them into new ones to give them more space. HeLa cells, it turned out, weren’t picky—they didn’t need a glass surface in order to grow. hey could grow loating in a culture medium that was constantly stirred by a magnetic device, an important technique Gey developed, now called growing in suspension. his meant that HeLa cells weren’t limited by space in the same way other cells were; they could simply divide until they ran out of culture medium. he bigger the vat of medium, the more the cells grew.20 Because of the tenacity of HeLa cells, researchers found they could conduct long-term lab experiments that previously had not been possible. 40

Microbiologist Jonas Salk administers polio vaccine to a young girl in the 1950s. he discovery of human cells that could be grown indeinitely in the lab made possible the large-scale production of polio vaccine.

HeLa Cells and Biotech Research At roughly the same time Gey made his startling HeLa cell discovery, another US medical researcher, Jonas Salk, and his team at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School developed a vaccine to prevent polio. his highly contagious neuromuscular disease spread around the world in the 41

irst half of the twentieth century, paralyzing hundreds of thousands of adults and children each year. Unfortunately, at the time of Salk’s discovery, his vaccine could not be reproduced in amounts large enough for dissemination throughout the world. Months later, though, HeLa cells came to the rescue when they were discovered to be compatible with the vaccine, and when combined, replicated at the same rate as HeLa cells alone. Huge vats of the HeLa cell/Salk vaccine mixture were produced at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, beginning in 1952, enabling Salk to make his revolutionary polio vaccine available worldwide. Salk’s vaccine, with the help of HeLa cells, reduced the number of new polio cases to about 1,000 per year. he successful use of HeLa cells to propagate the Salk vaccine led scientists around the world to request the immortal cells for their experiments. HeLa cells have since been sent into space, placed next to atomic testing sites, and exposed to toxic chemicals to ind out how cancer reacts to extreme environments. Finding ways to control the growth of HeLa cells—or to kill them without killing healthy cells—could help researchers ind cures for many forms of cancer. Lacks died at the age of 31 in 1951 as a result of her cancer, but her legacy endures. HeLa cells live on in labs around the world. Cell culture technology using HeLa cells enabled scientists to learn how to create cell lines from other types of human cells through cloning— creating thousands of cells that were identical to an original single cell. his technology produced further discoveries that led to the isolation of stem cells, to cloning animals, and to the use of gene therapy to treat diseases and conditions.

Gene Therapy Gene therapy is the treatment of a disease, disorder, or condition through the insertion of genetic material into a person’s cells. To insert DNA into a cell, a vector is used. A vector is a carrier that incorporates DNA easily into its own DNA. he vector scientists use most often is a virus. Viruses can neither live nor replicate themselves outside other organisms. hey possess only DNA or RNA, within a coat of protein, but can incorporate new genes into their own DNA. hen, when the genetically altered virus is injected into a target organism, it passes along the new DNA to 42

The Virus as a Vector

its host whenever its cells divide. Clinical trials are underway, but so far, gene therapy has had varying degrees of success. Doctors hope to be able to develop gene therapies for diseases that are caused by a single defective gene. According to author Sharon Walker: “Even though the revolution in health care through gene therapy has yet to arrive, the future will probably see increased use of this strategy. Even the failed trials are adding to our knowledge and improving chances of successes in the future. However, clearly we have a lot to learn about genetic manipulation of human patients.”21 Recent attempts have been made to detercloning mine whether spinal cord injuries can be treated with gene therapy in order to reverse paralysis. Creation of a Researchers, for example, have discovered that genetically identical glyburide, a drug used to treat diabetes, helps duplicate of a living when administered immediately after the spinal organism from a single cell taken from cord injury. he drug keeps a gene called Abcc8 that organism. from producing too much SUR1, a substance that regulates insulin and inadvertently kills nerve tissue and blood vessels after such an injury. By curtailing that particular genetic response, the chance of recovery from a spinal injury increases. Clinical trials on humans are currently in the planning stage. Gene therapy, combined with cell therapy, molecular genetics, and chemical engineering, may lead to numerous medical treatments in the future. Ian Wilmut, an embryologist and director of the Medical Research Council’s Centre of Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, discusses the potential uses of gene therapy: Over the long term we should be able to control degenerative disorders like Parkinson’s, motor neuron disease, and heart disease. We will have the opportunity to understand the molecular basis of these diseases and to identify drugs that may be able to prevent symptoms, or to identify stem cell populations that can be implanted to replace damaged or dead cells. Stem cells may be used in conjunction with gene therapy to correct inherited diseases such as thalassemia [a blood disease that causes anemia]—it would be wonderful to be able to apply a single treatment fairly early on in a child’s life and have it be fully efective from then on.22 44

Gene therapy and stem cell treatments are among the options being explored for treatment of spinal cord injuries. Researchers are looking for ways to reverse paralysis caused by such injuries. A human spinal cord is pictured. Researchers agree that gene therapy may one day enable scientists to develop treatments only dreamed about in the past, many involving the use of stem cells.

Stem Cell Therapy One of the most controversial yet promising new goals of medical research is to use stem cells to treat a vast range of human diseases including cancer, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, injuries such as spinal cord damage, and 45

Anthony Atala and the Growth of Replacement Organs Anthony Atala was born in Peru in 1958 but is of Syrian/Lebanese descent. He attended the University of Miami, where he received an undergraduate degree in psychology. He attended medical school at the University of Louisville and completed a residency in urology. At the Harvard Medical School–ailiated Children’s Hospital in Boston, he served as director of the Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Cellular herapeutics, where one of his projects was growing human tissues and organs to be used as replacements. Atala discovered that usable stem cells could be obtained from the amniotic luid surrounding the fetus without harming the fetus. hese stem cells could be used to create nerve, muscle, bone, and other tissues. hese cells, according to Atala, are easier to grow in the lab than embryonic stem cells. Atala is currently the W.H. Boyce Professor and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and chair of the Department of Urology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina.

eye disease. Scientists have already achieved some signiicant results using stem cells. New techniques for harvesting stem cells are being developed by researchers, including some that may ease the controversy surrounding the use of embryonic stem cells. he controversy comes from the fact that embryonic stem cells must be taken from an embryo approximately ive days after fertilization of the egg has occurred. At this stage, the embryo consists of a ball of cells called a blastocyst. Stem cells within the blastocyst can be removed, but the embryo is destroyed during the extraction process. Some critics see this as destroying an unborn child. Scientists discovered in late 2004, however, that it is possible to remove only one stem cell from a blastocyst, leaving the embryo alive and viable to grow, with no harm to the developing fetus. Most of the embryos that have been used for stem cell extraction are created in the lab through in vitro fertilization, as a means of achieving pregnancy for couples who cannot conceive a child on their own. his process involves the harvesting of numerous eggs from the prospective mother, fertilizing them with sperm from the prospective father, and im46

planting several of the fertilized eggs—called zygotes—into the mother, hoping to facilitate a full-term pregnancy. More eggs are fertilized than are needed for implantation, though, and discarded zygotes are often donated by the parents for stem cell extraction. he zygotes, containing between six and eight cells, can be frozen in liquid nitrogen for future use. here are approximately 400,000 frozen embryos in the United States, of which some 3 percent have been donated to research for the extraction of stem cells.

Expanding Capabilities Depending on when stem cells are extracted from an embryo, the cells are capable of being manipulated to develop into virtually any type of cell in the human body. his potential provides researchers the opportunity to attempt to grow replacement organs or tissues or to treat diseases or injuries with cells that are capable of replacing damaged or dead cells. A recent study at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston demonstrates the value of using stem cells to treat brain injuries in children. Charles S. Cox Jr. led the study of 10 children, ages 5 to 14, who sufered severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Within 48 hours of their injuries, Cox and his team extracted stem cells from each patient’s bone marrow, processed them, and then injected the vector stem cells directly into each patient’s bloodstream. In follow-up studies after six months, all 10 children A carrier of genetic exhibited signiicant improvement. Seven of the 10 material such as displayed no disability whatsoever, or only mild disa bacterium or ability as a result of their injuries. Without treatvirus, used in gene therapy or genetic ment, the children almost assuredly would have sufengineering. fered serious disability and complications from the injury to their brains. While embryonic stem cells are extracted from an embryo, stem cells can also be taken from adult tissues, umbilical cords, and fetal tissue. heir uses, however, are conined to the production of the same type of cells from which they were taken. For example, adult stem cells taken from bone marrow can be used to treat blood cancers and hemophilia with good results, since these illnesses involve the blood. Using bone marrow stem cells for heart disease produces less successful results, since the transplanted cells were not originally heart cells. According to Walker, 47

“he hope is that adult stem cells can be used to repair damaged organs. heoretically, stem cells could be induced to develop whole new organs that could then be used to replace damaged organs.”23 In 2010, at a small hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, stem cell therapy using millions of embryonic stem cells was employed to treat a paralyzed patient, in the hope that the cells would become spinal sheath cells to repair damage to the patient’s spinal cord. hanks to the stem cell injection and extensive physical therapy, the patient—a deputy sherif injured in an auto accident while responding to a 911 call—seems to be regaining some movement in his legs. Regenerative-medicine expert Chris Mason calls this case’s result “a major morale boost for scientists, clinicians, and most of all patients. . . . Stem-cell therapy is being transformed from a scientiic curiosity into advanced health care.”24

Growing Organs and Tissue in the Lab In addition to the use of stem cells to treat injuries and diseases, cells from other human tissue have been used in extraordinary ways to help people in need of new organs and tissue, thanks in large part to biotech research. Scientists, for example, have been successful in taking an individual’s own cells and multiplying them in laboratories. Using a patient’s own cells to grow organs and tissues means that the replacement organ or tissue matches that of the patient, so the patient’s body will not reject the new tissue. In 2004, scientists in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, treated ive boys, ages 10 to 14, who had been involved in accidents that had damaged their urinary tracts. Each boy was unable to urinate in the normal way because his urethra—the tube that carries urine out of the body from the bladder—had been damaged beyond the ability to function. Each boy had to wear a catheter that drained into a bag strapped to his leg. Wearing the bag caused the boys pain, making it necessary for them to remain relatively still, either in bed or in a chair. Researcher Anthony Atala of Wake Forest University in North Carolina and his colleagues used techniques perfected in earlier biotech experiments to grow new urethras for the boys. Atala’s team, from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, irst removed a small piece of tissue from each boy’s bladder—less than half the size of a postage stamp. his tissue contained muscle cells 48

and endothelial cells—cells similar to the ones that line the urethra. According to science writer Richard Knox: he researchers multiplied these cells in the lab until there were 100 million of them. hen they used the cells to “seed” a cylinder made out of biodegradable material. A week or so later, the cells covered the cylinder, creating a tube of tissue about as long as a deck of cards, with a diameter a little bigger than a soda straw. he researchers stitched these made-to-order tissue tubes into the gaps in the boys’ urinary systems. Eventually, the biodegradable “scafolding” melts away.25 Stem cells taken from bone marrow can be used to treat blood cancers and hemophilia with good results. Pictured is a colored scanning electron micrograph of a bone marrow stem cell.

Common Pickling Agent Used to Make Vaccines Alum is an agent commonly used in pickling foods. It has also been used in making vaccines for 90 years because it serves as an adjuvant, which is an immunity booster. All these years, scientists have used alum to make vaccines without knowing how it works. Now, they do. Canadian researchers from the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine recently achieved the breakthrough knowledge after using new technology called single cell force spectroscopy, which enabled the team to measure the response of individual cells to alum. he study revealed the importance of dendritic cells—special immune cells that are key regulators of the immune system. It also showed how they behave with T cells—a type of white blood cell also essential to the immune system. According to Tracy L. Flach from the Faculty of Medicine: he research reveals that alum interacts with a group of immune cells called dendritic cells via their cell membrane lipids [fats]. Dendritic cells, the sentinel of our immune system, heed the call of alum and move on to activate a group of T cells that control antibody production. . . . Knowledge provided in this study may help us manipulate alum with additional adjuvant components to direct an attack against major diseases which require a killer T cell response such as HIV, Tuberculosis, and malaria. his discovery could lead to new vaccines for diseases related to the immune system. Science Daily, “How Common Immune Booster Works: Research May Lead to New and Improved Vaccines,” March 16, 2011. www.sciencedaily.com.

More than six years later, all ive boys are leading normal lives with their special laboratory-grown urinary tracts. Not only was the procedure initially successful, but as the boys have grown, their new urethras have also grown, indicating that each boy’s body recognizes the tissue as its own. 50

Advanced Organ Growth in the Lab Building on this success, Atala and his team of researchers have since taken healthy cells from another patient’s diseased bladder, multiplied them in the lab until there were millions of them, and then coated the cells onto a balloon-shaped structure made, in part, from collagen, a ibrous protein found in skin, bone, and other connective tissues. he lab-grown muscle cells adhered to the outside of the structure, while urothelial cells—cells found in the lining of the urinary tract—adhered to the inside. he structure was kept at body temperature for six to eight weeks to allow the cells to cover it. Miraculously, Atala’s team “grew” a new bladder for the patient and eventually implanted it in place of the patient’s diseased bladder. Atala’s group is currently working on 22 diferent experiments, attempting to grow replacement organs and tissues in the lab that can later be implanted in their patients. hese include replacement ears, kidneys, and livers. Other researchers have successfully produced jawbones and lungs. Doris Taylor, working at the University of Minnesota, has created a rat heart that actually beats. She grew heart cells from one rat on a scafold made from another rat’s heart, after its own cells were washed of the scafold, leaving only collagen behind. H. David Humes, at the University of Michigan, created a cell phone–sized artiicial kidney in the same way. he manufactured kidney has been tested on sheep. It cannot yet be implanted but can be worn and carried around, replacing hours of having to be connected to a dialysis machine, a bulky machine that removes toxins from the blood of millions of patients whose kidneys have ceased functioning. Humes’s artiicial kidney, however, does more than any dialysis machine. It also produces hormones and performs other kidney functions the machine cannot do. Genetically modifying human DNA ofers hope for cures for many of humanity’s most debilitating and deadly diseases. Humans may live much longer, thanks to biotech research that is taking place today.

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Industrial and Environmental Biotech

CHAPTER FOUR

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reating life in a laboratory from a mixture of chemicals was once the stuf of science iction, but that is not the case anymore. In 2010, using DNA from a bacterium called Mycoplasma mycoides as a model, biotech researchers at Synthetic Genomics in San Diego, California, took the four chemicals found in DNA—adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine—and created 1000-unit segments of DNA, which were then joined to create an exact copy of the bacterium’s DNA. Once that had been accomplished, they transplanted the synthesized DNA into another bacterium that had been stripped of its own DNA. he synthesized organism divided and grew, which meant it was a living organism. he scientists who undertook this experiment are hoping to someday use what they have learned to possibly eliminate the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. It is a huge step forward. his synthesized living cell was created in May 2010 by J. Craig Venter and his associates at Synthetic Genomics. Venter and his team spent 15 years working toward this goal. Venter, the quintessential biotech researcher, begins by asking, “What if . . . ?” hen, he takes the question to his laboratory to ind answers. But even when preliminary answers are found, it sometimes takes decades to complete the research. Biotech research associated with the creation of environmentally friendly products is known as white biotechnology. White biotech research focuses on reducing the pollution of the earth’s air, water, and soil, cleaning up existing pollution, and creating products and industrial processes that will be more environmentally friendly. At the top of this list, for most scientists, is a substitute for fossil fuels. he development of biofuels is one way this goal may be reached.

Biofuels he irst attempts to produce ethanol—a lammable, colorless form of alcohol—occurred in the 1970s in the United States using corn. Etha52

nol, it was hoped, could be mixed with gasoline to help stretch the world’s supply of petroleum. hanks to biotech research, the eiciency of producing ethanol increased dramatically in the past decades and became commercially feasible in 2004. Today, most gasoline sold in the United States contains up to 10 percent ethanol. he irst ethanol was A processing plant spits out corn grain, a byproduct of the ethanol production process. Biotech research has led to methods for producing the biofuel ethanol from corn kernels.

53

produced using enzymes found in wheat straw cellulose to break down plant matter so that ethanol could be extracted. Ethanol and biodiesel, another biofuel that is made from vegetable oil or animal fat, can now be made from corn, sugar cane, sugar beets, groundnuts, rapeseed, sunlower seeds, soybeans, palm oil, wheat, or maize. hrough biotech research, scientists have devised two methods for producing biofuel from corn kernels—dry milling and wet milling. In dry milling, corn kernels are ground into meal, then water is added to make a slurry, or mash. Enzymes added to the mash convert the starch of the corn into a simple sugar called dextrose. Ammonia is added to provide a nutrient for yeast, added next. he mixture is heated to reduce the level of bacteria, then cooled. Yeast converts sugar into ethanol. he process takes 40–50 hours. Once the fermentation process is complete, ethanol is removed from the mixture and distilled, using molecular sieves. When corn is processed by wet milling, kernels are mixed with sulfuric acid and water, then steeped for 24 to 48 hours to separate the grains into a slurry. he slurry goes through grinders and a separator. his process results in liquid called fuel cell “steeping liquor,” which contains corn starch that A device in which is then processed and fermented into ethanol. the chemical reaction he United States has been the largest probetween a fuel and ducer of ethanol in the world since 2005. An avera catalyst produces age acre of corn will produce about 440 gallons electricity. (1665.6L) of ethanol. In 2009 the United States produced 10.6 billion gallons (40.1 billion L) that were added to America’s gasoline. In 2010 that amount rose to approximately 20 billion gallons (75.7 billion L).

Bioelectricity Fuel additives are not the only kind of biofuels currently in production. More than 20 years ago, scientists observed that a fuel cell—a device in which the chemical reaction between a fuel and a catalyst releases electricity—is full of microorganisms that can generate electricity. At the time, they had no idea how this could happen, because earlier experiments with fuel cells used only elements like hydrogen and oxygen, not living organisms. By 2006, though, researchers had discovered some types of bacteria that can transfer electrons into an electrode and produce electricity. he microbial fuel cell (MFC) became reality. 54

New Biofuels he irst biofuels were made primarily from corn. But now, new types of biofuels that will be more environmentally friendly are in the works, thanks to innovative researchers at Iowa State University and the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. A new biofuel called isobutene (isobutylene) is currently being researched by homas Bobik, professor of biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology at Iowa State University. Isobutene will be produced using a new but natural enzyme instead of a petroleum product. Isobutene also is used in the production of plastics, adhesives, and synthetic rubber. he research involves identifying natural enzyme called Bobik’s enzyme that can produce isobutene from plant glucose. Bobik’s enzyme will be used extensively in the production of biofuels. his process will be environmentally friendly and less expensive than producing ethanol. Another new biofuel being researched is derived from carbon dioxide and solar energy. A team of scientists at Sandia National Laboratories has experimented with producing liquid fuel using solar panels. By converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, their hope is to convert water into hydrogen using solar power. Both of these may be used to produce a synthetic fuel called Syngas. James Miller, a combustion chemist at Sandia, says: “his area holds out promise for technologies that can produce large amounts of carbon-neutral power at afordable prices, which can be used where and when that power is needed.” Alternative Energy, “Synthetic Fuel from CO2 and Solar Energy?,” June 21, 2010. www.alternative-energy-news.info.

MFCs operate the same way conventional fuel cells work, with electrons traveling between an anode and a cathode, producing electricity. But in this fuel cell microbes grow in a ilm on the anode and use organic waste materials in the cell to produce free electrons. he electrons move to the cathode. Microbial fuel cells are revolutionary because electricity can be produced using organic materials, or biomass, as fuel. Traditional fuel cells use hydrogen gas, produced by fossil fuels, to achieve combustion in an engine. MFCs can produce up to three times 55

the electricity, without combustion, one of the major causes of air pollution. he microbial fuel cell can run on waste materials from crops, which would provide an energy source that could be used the world over. his discovery has the potential to be especially important for underdeveloped countries, giving them access to power they might otherwise not be able to aford. MFCs may also lower the consumption of the earth’s inite supply of fossil fuels while, at the same time, signiicantly reducing the amount of pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

Biodegradable Plastics Biotech research is targeting other forms of pollution, too. Waste products such as Styrofoam and plastics make up a large percentage of the content of landills. Approximately 40 to 50 million plastic bottles are thrown away every day in the United States alone. Plastic bottles and other plastic products can take up to a million years to biodegrade, depending on the type and thickness of the plastic. Biodegradable plastics decompose relatively quickly in a landill, through interaction with microorganisms that cause the plastic to break down into a humus-like material. For decades, biotech researchers have searched for ways to make plastic more biodegradable. A huge step toward reducing plastic waste is the PET plastic bottle. PET stands for Polyethylene terephthalate, which is made from a type of resin. PET is used to make synthetic ibers and containers for liquids, such as sodas and bottled water. he manufacture of PET bottles also helps the environment. During the manufacturing process, corn starch is converted into sugar, which is then fermented, separated, and made into a plastic resin. he process uses half as much fossil fuel as petroleumbased plastics, and when burned, these bottles do not release harmful pollution into the air. Researchers during the past decade have developed other plastics made entirely or in part from plant matter, making the bottles compostable. hese bottles, made mostly from corn, can disappear in a compost pile or a landill when exposed to temperatures of 120°–140°F (49°–60°C) in as few as 75 to 80 days.

Bioremediation Pollution that contaminates air, soil, and water has led researchers to ind new and better ways to remediate, or clean up, polluted areas of the earth’s biosphere. he process is known as bioremediation. 56

Environmental biotech researchers wrestle constantly with problems of hazardous waste treatment and pollution control. he most widely publicized such events are oil spills, which occur, unfortunately, all too often. Bruce Barcott, writing for National Geographic, reports: “Over the past 40 years an annual average of 383,040 gallons of oil has spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from pipelines, platforms, and wells. An additional 41 million gallons discharge every year from natural seeps in the Gulf sealoor.”26 Scientists have searched for ways to make plastic more biodegradable. Pictured is a colored scanning electron micrograph of the surface of a sheet of biodegradable plastic. he spherical orange object is a granule of starch that will cause the plastic to break apart once it is buried in soil. his process increases contact with soil bacteria that digest the plastic.

One of the most spectacular examples of environmental biotech at work is the ongoing bioremediation of seawater in the Gulf of Mexico. his work began after the explosion of the British Petroleum (BP) Macondo Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and well, 50 miles (80.5km) ofshore from Louisiana on April 20, 2010. As a result of that explosion, oil gushed into the Gulf for three months before the well was eventually sealed in July 2010. By that catalyst time, approximately 5 million barrels of crude oil A substance that had escaped into the Gulf. One-fourth of the oil changes the rate of a was physically removed from the water by BP after chemical reaction— the spill. Another quarter evaporated or dissolved, either speeding it up and another quarter broke up into tiny droplets. or slowing it down. he rest caused oil slicks, tar balls, and globs that covered beaches, wildlife, and marshes. Eforts to clean up millions of gallons of crude oil that escaped from the collapsed BP well began with skimming and burning the oil loating on the surface. Later, chemicals were added to the water to break the oil into small particles that could then be “eaten” by microbes that live naturally in seawater and whose numbers increase when oil is present in the water. Scientists and researchers discovered these bacteria living at depths of up to 3,000 feet (9,144m) where there is little oxygen to feed them. But they were too unstable to be of use in bioremediation eforts.

Oil-Eating Bacteria In 1981 microbiologist Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty, working for General Electric, created a genetically modiied oleophilic (oil-eating) bacterium that was more stable than the four naturally occurring species, and therefore easier to use. his new species became known as oil-eating bacteria. Chakrabarty accomplished this by using plasmids—pieces of DNA that exist separately from the DNA on chromosomes—from four species of pseudomonas oil-eating bacteria. Since then, other species of natural oil-eating bacteria have been discovered by scientists who have been trying to account for all the oil released during the BP disaster. Terry Hazen, a microbiologist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, reports that plumes of bacteria have been found living half a mile (0.8km) down, in extremely cold water on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, around places where oil naturally seeps from the ground. Hazen explains: “here’s the 58

J. Craig Venter, Biotech Visionary John Craig Venter was born October 14, 1946, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He earned a doctorate in physiology and pharmacology in 1975 from the University of California at San Diego. Venter joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1984 and began the work that would propel him to the forefront of biotech research in genetics. In 1992 he left NIH and established he Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Gaithersburg, Maryland, followed in 1998 by the founding of Celera Genomics. At Celera, Venter joined the quest to sequence the human genome, using whole genome “shotgun” sequencing, a rapid sequencing technique he had developed at TIGR. he technique enabled Venter to sequence the human genome more quickly than the government-run Human Genome Project. Both succeeded in completing a irst draft of the genome at virtually the same time. President Bill Clinton honored Venter, along with Francis Collins, Director of the Human Genome Project, in 2000 for their joint eforts. Venter’s next company, Synthetic Genomics, tackled his dream of creating a synthetic organism using chemicals in the lab. Venter is now working with Exxon-Mobil to use what has been learned from the synthetic organism to produce a biofuel that feeds on carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. He is also currently on a quest to locate and record every type of gene living in the earth’s oceans. His team has already collected more than 6 million genes. Venter is a true scientiic visionary and the essence of a biotech researcher.

equivalent of two Exxon Valdez spills going into the Gulf every year from just natural seeps. And that’s been going on for millions of years. So these bugs don’t have much carbon down there, and what they do have is oil. And so, they’ve adapted to it.”27 Hazen’s team of researchers took samples of the bacteria and examined the DNA, RNA, lipids, and proteins they contained. hey learned that bacteria living near the seeps were actually degrading the hydrocarbons in the oil. Normally, oil-eating bacteria are found in areas of low oxygen. hese bacteria, however, were found where oil droplets had 59

been widely distributed by ocean currents. he researchers found them by looking for genes and enzymes that the oil eaters give of after they eat oil. hese bacteria consume a great deal of oil every year from seeps, and could prove to be enormously useful when applied to an oil spill as large as the BP spill, roughly the size of the state of Rhode Island.

Other Biotech Remedies Many biotech researchers are searching for ways to remove oil from soil, polluted beaches and marshes, and from animals that become coated with spilled oil. A researcher and his team from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, have developed another product for removing spilled oil that uses a crop grown in Texas and many other southern states—cotton. Seshadri Ramkumar and his team from Texas Tech’s Department of Environmental Toxicology invented Fibertect, which sandwiches carbon between layers of raw cotton. When dragged across spilled oil, Fibertect can absorb up to 15 times its own weight in oil. Fibertect was tested on the oil-polluted beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, soon after the BP oil disaster. he wipes were successful in removing the oily paste that had washed ashore onto marshes and beaches. hey also absorbed toxic vapors that emanated from the oily sludge, causing cleanup workers to become sick. Ramkumar said: “[Fibertect] deinitely has proven itself a perfect product for cleaning up the oil spill. his preliminary test in Louisiana has shown that our wipe material is unique from others in that it easily absorbs liquids, and it has vapor-holding capacity. his will help workers clean beaches and stay safe at the same time.”28 Oil is not the only environmental contaminant biotech researchers are working to remove from the earth’s air, water, and soil. Organic solvents and compounds produced by industrial processes, pesticides and herbicides used on crops, and even metals ind their way into soil and water and require removal. Metal contamination can be a serious problem for animals and humans. When ingested over long periods, metals such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic can cause mental problems; kidney, liver, and gastro-intestinal problems; skin poisoning; and damage to the central nervous system. he traditional method of removing metal from soil or water is called “pump and treat.” his process involves removal of the contaminated soil or water to another location for treatment, but it is terribly expensive. Biotech researchers from New York believe they have found a better way to remove metals from soil. 60

Phytoremediation For more than 13 years, plant physiologist Leon V. Kochian, a researcher at the US Plant, Soil, and Nutrition Laboratory in Ithaca, New York, has focused his research on how certain plants can remove toxic heavy metals from soil—a process now known as phytoremediation. (Phyto- is a preix referring to plants or vegetation.) According to Kochian, “Certain plant species—known as metal hyperaccumulators—have the ability to extract elements from the soil and concentrate them in the easily harvested plant stems, shoots, and leaves.”29 In order for the plants to accomplish this task of soil remediation, they have to be able to grow in soil containing high levels of toxic heavy metals. One of these special plants—hlaspi caerulescens, commonly known as alpine pennycress—grows extremely well in soil containing high levels of zinc and cadmium. Researchers wanted to know what goes on in hlaspi that enables it to absorb heavy metals. he answer lay in the plant’s genetics. Kochian knew, by analyzing the plants, that they must possess genes that somehow dissolve metals in the soil around the roots and transport them up into the plant. hese metals move through the vascular, or circulatory, system bioremediation of the plant and ultimately into the leaves, he process of cleaning where they are stored. Ordinary plants would up pollution. be poisoned by even small amounts of zinc or cadmium in the soil, but hlaspi seems able to take in huge amounts without harming itself. Kochian explains, “A typical plant may accumulate about 100 parts per million (ppm) zinc and 1 ppm cadmium. hlaspi can accumulate up to 30,000 ppm zinc and 1500 ppm cadmium in its shoots, while exhibiting few or no toxicity symptoms.”30 By monitoring cellular activity in the lab, Kochian and his research team discovered that parts of the hlaspi were especially active when zinc was being transported from roots to leaves. hey cloned a gene for zinc transport—a breakthrough accomplishment in biotech research—that allowed them to ind out exactly how zinc transport in normal plants difered from zinc transport in hlaspi. he cloned gene helped them to see that, in normal plants, zinc transport genes became active depending on the level of zinc in the plant. But in hlaspi the genes regulating zinc transport remained active at a maximum level constantly, no matter what the zinc levels happened to be in the plant. As a result, hlaspi is 61

hese cultures of oil-eating bacteria are being used in a research project aimed at developing more eicient oil clean-up methods. Oil-eating bacteria have been found living in extremely cold water on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. able to absorb extremely high concentrations of zinc, levels that would kill normal plants. Kochian did similar studies involving other plants that are able to remove metals such as uranium and radioactive cesium from soil contaminated by nuclear waste. He and his team discovered that adding the organic acid citrate made uranium susceptible to removal by plants. hey also discovered that adding ammonium ions to soils that had been contaminated by cesium increased the ability of plants to remove the radioactive isotope, which normally takes longer than 60 years to degrade in the soil. A type of pigweed proved to be 40 times more efective in removing cesium from soil than other plants tested. he pigweed could remove 3 percent of the cesium in three months. Two or three crops per year could accomplish cleanup of the contaminated soil in fewer than 15 years. 62

Making Use of Other Genetically Altered Plants Another area where phytoremediation can be used to clean up the environment is the removal of toxins from polluted ground water. Researchers from the University of Washington, led by Sharon Doty, announced in 2007 that her team had discovered a way to remove trichloroethylene, an industrial degreaser, one of the most common contaminants of soil and ground water around sites where hazardous wastes have been abandoned. To remove this pollutant, Doty and her team genetically engineered poplar trees that had been grown in the lab, enabling them to remove the degreaser from the soil and the ground water. Since genetically engineered, transgenic trees are grown only in labs, greenhouses, or in controlled ield trials for research purposes, the researchers are eager to know how efective the transgenic poplars would be if they were approved for growing outside a transgenic controlled environment. he poplars contain Genetically altered. an enzyme that metabolizes—digests, or breaks down—the degreaser. he test plants, even though only a few inches tall, metabolized the degreaser into components that are not harmful to the environment 100 times faster than plants that had not been genetically altered. Another pollutant targeted by Doty’s team is RDX—Research Department Explosive, also known as cyclonite—an organic nitrate explosive used extensively by the military and in industry. Researchers extracted genetic material from microbes that are capable of degrading the explosive and injected it into Arabidopsis plants, also known as thale cress or mouse-ear cress. he genetically altered plants were then able to remove RDX from contaminated soils and liquids. Whether altering the genetic makeup of existing plants or creating a genome for a new bacterium—such as J. Craig Venter’s synthetic organism—the implications of these extraordinary achievements are as farreaching as the human imagination. Biotech researchers are at the forefront, leading humanity into the future.

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What Is the Future of Biotech Research?

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CHAPTER FIVE

ow that J. Craig Venter and his team of scientists have created a living synthetic organism, what comes next? One long-term goal, according to Venter, is to create a “universal recipient cell, into which researchers can plug a variety of synthetic genomes and see how they run. And, in the future . . . it might be cheaper for scientists to synthesize simple organisms than to grow them.”31 High on Venter’s list of goals at present is eventually using his synthetic organism—which the media nicknamed “Synthia”—to develop a biofuel that could replace gasoline. He hopes to create an organism that extracts carbon dioxide (CO2 ) from the atmosphere. Venter, who has already forged a partnership with Exxon-Mobile to create this fuel, explains how these organisms might someday solve the world’s energy crisis: “hese organisms use sunlight. hey ix the CO2 into these hydrocarbon molecules that [hopefully will] go right into the Exxon reineries and create gasoline [or] diesel, that’s indistinguishable from what we use today. . . . [Within a decade] you [could] have gasoline in your tank made from CO2 .”32 Gasoline and diesel from CO2 would virtually eliminate the need to extract and reine fossil fuels, while at the same time lowering greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere that help cause climate change. Venter’s goal is probably decades away, but in the meantime, researchers have already created various types of biofuels to be used in transportation, manufacturing, and in the generation of electrical power. Just over the biotech research horizon, however, are revolutionary new biofuels and more eicient methods for producing them.

The Future of Biofuel Production When most people think about biofuel, they think about ethanol made from corn. After all, most of the ethanol produced during the past two decades has come from corn. However, devoting so much corn acreage to the production of biofuel removes that acreage from food produc64

tion. Some critics feel this may lead to food shortages or inlated prices. Scientists and researchers are tackling that issue head-on, through the development of new biofuels that can be made from crop waste materials—stalks and leaves—that would not interfere with food production. Various teams of researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, are working on methods of producing ethanol to be used as an additive for gasoline and diesel, using plant wastes as biomass for the process. he most important step in the production of ethanol is separating the sugars from biomass so they can be fermented. he genetic makeup of most plants is not geared toward the easy release of these sugars. Components of the cell walls of some plants—speciically lignin, a complex

Cellulosic Ethanol Through Biotechnology

chemical compound present in woody stems that enables plants to stand rigid and not fall over—are natural barriers that keep those sugars intact. Oak Ridge scientists discovered through their research that pretreatment of plant biomass at medium-high temperatures, with dilute acids or bases, can make it easier to extract those sugars. Heating causes components of the biomass to dissolve, freeing the sugars. Researchers are attempting to remove the sugars from this dissolved biomass solution with specialized membranes, so the sugars can then be fermented using yeast or other microbes. he liquid produced by fermentation of the sugars is a dilute solution, containing only 7 to 10 percent ethanol, requiring another costly and time-consuming step—distilling the liquid, evaporating the water to leave only the ethanol behind. Researchers’ goal today is to discover a way to use catalysts to convert ethanol directly into a substance that contains a higher level of hydrocarbons. If that is possible, they hope the ethanol could be added directly to gasoline or diesel without further treatment, thus reducing production costs and improving the quality of the ethanol. Researcher Chaitan Narula, a senior scientist at Oak Ridge’s Materials Science and Technology bioreagents Division, is attempting to pass a stream of dilute Biological substances ethanol through a catalyst known as a zeolite. A that can be used in zeolite is a type of molecular sieve that sorts molchemical reactions ecules by size. Narula has had success using a hyto detect, measure, drogen zeolite as the catalyst to produce ethylene, examine, or produce other substances. a simple hydrocarbon. His goal is to ind the most eicient zeolite in order to increase the quality of the biofuel produced. here are hundreds of zeolites, so Narula uses computer simulations to narrow the possibilities to those that have the highest probability of success. Narula says, “We know it can be done. Our goal now is to improve our understanding of the reaction so we can develop a catalyst to optimize the process.”33

Finding Better Plants for Biofuel Another Oak Ridge department is currently trying to identify which types of plant biomass produce the highest amounts of sugar when processed into biofuel. hey have focused primarily on members of the genus Populus, a group of trees already widely used in the production 66

David Haussler, Expert in Bioinformatics David Haussler studied art and psychotherapy before turning to his irst love since childhood—mathematics. His interest in the mathematical analysis of DNA and in the ledgling ield of bioinformatics led him to participate in the Human Genome Project as a developer of computer algorithms (formulas) to ind protein-coding genes within the human genome. he working draft of the genome was posted by Haussler and his team of researchers. Haussler recalls, “hat moment, on July 7, 2000, when the lood of As, Cs, Ts, and Gs of the human genome sequence came across my computer screen on its way to the Internet to reach thousands of scientists all over the world, was the most exciting moment of my career.” Next, Haussler and his team created the University of California at Santa Cruz Genome Browser, which enabled scientists to see annotated DNA sequences in humans and other organisms. By observing the changes in these sequences throughout Earth’s history, scientists are able to trace evolutionary pathways of various organisms and how they relate to those of other organisms. hese connections paint a picture of common ancestry at the cellular level. Haussler says, “What drives me to keep exploring the genome is the same thing that drives most scientists: curiosity and the excitement of the unknown. I want to know what is actually in our genome, how it works, and how it evolved to be the way it is.” Howard Hughes Medical Institute, “David Haussler, Ph.D,” Scientist Bio, www.hhmi.org.

of biofuels. he Populus genus includes such trees as aspen, poplar, and cottonwood. Of the 1,100 genetically diferent trees in the genus, researchers have identiied four species that yield 87 percent of their sugars without pretreatment. Scientists are currently analyzing the genetic makeup of these four species to determine the basis for that favorable genetic characteristic, hoping to be able to genetically alter other plants to do the same. hey also hope to be able to genetically engineer plants to produce more sugars and less lignin, so the amount of biofuel that can be obtained from them will increase. he same types of biotech research are being conducted to create foods that are more nutritious and that produce higher yields. 67

The Future of Genetically Modified Foods In the next 10 years, more plants will be developed that will hopefully be advantageous to consumers as well as farmers. hese plants will include tomatoes enriched with the antioxidant lycopene, believed to provide protection against heart disease and cancer; rice enriched with beta-carotene, which stimulates the production of vitamin A (Golden Rice); cooking oils with higher levels of vitamin E and fewer trans-fatty acids; and lettuce containing resveratrol, the compound found in red grapes that increases “good” cholesterol (HDL) and lowers “bad” cholesterol (LDL). Plans are in place to genetically engineer plants that are tolerant to drought—new varieties of corn, soybeans, and wheat, for example— that can be grown in more arid regions. Scientists are also trying to create rice and wheat varieties that are able to withstand higher salinity (saltiness) in soil, allowing them to be planted in areas that today will not support the production of crops. Finally, resistance to plant diseases is another priority of biotech researchers. Scientists are working to eradicate such plant diseases as citrus canker, that attacks oranges, and feathery mottle virus, that strikes sweet potatoes. Monsanto’s ongoing research into biotech crops includes the development of soybeans with a gene that increases photosynthesis in the plant, which will increase crop yields. he company is also researching genes to increase drought-tolerance, oilseed crops that will produce vegetable oil that is high in omega-3 fatty acids, “golden” mustard that produces cooking oil that contains beta-carotene, which produces Vitamin A, and corn and soybeans that have higher levels of essential nutrients such as lysine and tryptophan. In an interview with Panorama Magazine, Hugh Grant, chairman and chief executive oicer of Monsanto, discusses the beneits of their genetically modiied seed and explains why the development of such crops continues to be important: The benefits to farmers and the environment have been profound. We’ve seen higher crop yields. We’ve seen the elimination of millions of kilograms of pesticides from the environment. We’ve seen the decreased use of fuel use for agriculture. . . . We’re seeing a growing understanding around the world that agricultural biotechnology is too important a tool to ignore.34 68

Monsanto is conident that, given enough time, scientiic monitoring will help consumers feel more comfortable using genetically modiied foods.

Future Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology Industrial and environmental biotech research of the future will center on reducing or eliminating pollutants from the earth’s air, water, and soil. Speciically, scientists are exploring ways to reduce waste emissions from Petri dishes and test tubes show diferent stages in the research and cultivation of genetically modiied rice. Genes from diferent species have been added to the plants to promote resistance to pests and disease.

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industry and motor vehicles, to develop consumer products that do not add to pollution, and to ind ways to remediate already contaminated water and soil. One of the priorities of environmental engineers today is to ind ways to remove oil from seawater and to protect wildlife, plant life, and coastlines from being contaminated by oil spilled from deepwater wells. Accomplishing all these goals depends on furthering biotech research in every area of industry and the environment. Scientists will be focusing on discovering suitable bioreagents— biological substances that that can be nanotechnology used in chemical reactions to detect, Manipulating matter on an measure, examine, or produce other atomic or molecular scale by using substances. Bioreagents include cellumaterials between 1 and 100 lar enzymes, proteins, plant steroids, nanometers (one billionth of a catalytic DNA and RNA, mutations, meter) in diameter. bioreactors, and amino acids, to name a few. One recent discovery of a naturally occurring substance that is stronger than steel but extraordinarily lightweight demonstrates the importance of continued biotech research.

Spider Silk from Goat’s Milk A few years ago, a company named Nexia Biotechnologies in Montreal began work on a research project with far-reaching possibilities—in industry, health care, the military, and even sport ishing. Scientists at Nexia knew that spider silk—the material excreted by spiders to make their webs—is one of the strongest substances found in nature, ounce for ounce stronger than steel. But it was not feasible to produce large quantities of spider silk using spiders alone. When kept in close proximity, spiders tend to be territorial, killing each other instead of coexisting peacefully, like silkworms. Nexia researchers theorized that if they could commercially produce spider silk, it could have many useful applications. After all, a rope of spider silk no thicker than a person’s thumb would be strong enough to lift a fully loaded jet. Genetic similarities between a spider’s silk-producing proteins and the proteins found in goat’s milk prompted Nexia researchers to see if they could create a transgenic goat to achieve their goal. hey irst isolated the genes responsible for silk production in spiders, then inserted those genes into a goat embryo. When the genetically altered goat developed to 70

maturity, it possessed the gene necessary for spider silk production. he irst goats born with spider genes—two male goats named Webster and Pete—passed those spider genes on to their ofspring, thanks to the fact that the gene for silk proteins is passed unchanged from generation to generation. By 2002 Nexia had a herd of 1,200 transgenic goats. Milk from the Nexia females was irst separated into its components, then the silk proteins were concentrated in water and extruded through a tiny hole at the end of a syringe into another solution of methanol, which caused the proteins to assemble into ibers. he spider silk they produced was lighter but tougher than Kevlar, a man-made iber used in protective gear for the military and police, and almost as elastic as nylon. Nexia calls its goat-produced spider silk Biosteel, and it has gained funding from the US Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command, based on the hope that Biosteel might someday be used to make lightweight body armor for the military. Biosteel has the potential to be made into artiicial tendons and suture material to be used in microsurgery—especially surgery of the eye, where strong, tiny threads are essential for making miniscule stitches. It may also have applications in the transportation and aerospace industries, in the construction of biomedical devices, and as biodegradable ishing line.

The Future of Medical Biotech Accomplishments in biotech medical research have accelerated at an incredible rate since the completion of the sequencing of the human genome in 2003. Access to the blueprint of life gives researchers unique opportunities to imagine even greater discoveries during the next 20 years and beyond. One of the most promising beneits of acquiring genomic data is the development of personalized medicine. Within the next 10 years, millions of people will be able to have their unique genomes sequenced, giving their doctors a look at their genes and what those genes mean for an existing disease, and to determine genetic susceptibility to future illnesses, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, or thousands of other diseases and conditions. Using the knowledge the genome provides, precise dosages of speciically targeted medicines can be administered to make treatment speciic to each person’s needs. his process is called pharmacogenomics. Prenatal genomics analysis can also determine potential or existing birth defects 71

A female golden orb spider produces silk for research. Scientists from at least one company are looking for ways to commercially produce spider silk. Because it is extremely strong, spider silk has numerous possible applications in health care and industry. before birth and possibly facilitate treatments or procedures to alleviate or possibly cure those defects. In the next few decades, having one’s genome read and analyzed could become a routine part of medical care. Armed with individual genomes, doctors would be able to use gene therapies to full advantage. Being able to locate speciic mutations or omissions in a person’s DNA would allow doctors to repair genetic defects through the insertion of healthy genes, or through the activation or deactivation of speciic genes in order to produce the desired outcome. Genes inserted into a person’s DNA could be created through recombinant DNA techniques, which would improve and become more controllable in decades to come. Advances are being made daily in the use of stem cells. Controversy over harvesting embryonic stem cells has forced scientists to come up with new ways to obtain the stem cells they need. he use of somatic, or body, stem cells will also expand tremendously in the next 10 years. Scientists have learned that a common skin cell can be converted to a viable stem cell using four transcription factors—proteins that bind themselves to DNA in order to facilitate the transfer of information from DNA to 72

messenger RNA. In the not so distant future, stem cells will be used to grow replacement cells, tissues, and organs that can be used to replace defective or diseased parts of the body.

Concerns About What Might Be Possible Along with the ability to identify speciic genes that control diseases, scientists will eventually be able to identify genes that control physical, intellectual, and medical traits that prospective parents may consider positive or negative for the children they wish to have. he ethics involved with being able to control the genes responsible for causing serious diseases, such as muscular dystrophy or Huntington’s disease, are already being debated. Once manipulation of an embryo’s genetic makeup becomes possible, parents may wish to “design” their child’s intellectual level, potential for musical or athletic ability, or their physical beauty. hey may also choose to remove any genes that might cause birth defects, Down syndrome, or the likelihood of developing various forms of cancer. Reading the genome of an embryo could also reveal a genetic predisposition toward incurable diseases. Should such an embryo be discarded in favor of embryos that have more desirable genes? housands of questions are already being debated, and the debate about what would be ethically acceptable and what would be considered immoral or unethical will continue.

Winning the War Against Cancer Scientists and researchers agree that the war on cancer will be won within the next few decades but not with a magic bullet treatment that will cure all cancers. Cancer cells rely on genetic mutations that occur randomly during cell division. hese mutations are ongoing and unique to each person. Once a certain combination of mutations occurs, a cancer uses them to grow. Researchers are employing the growing number of sequenced human genomes to try to pinpoint these mutations and their relationship to speciic cancers. Cancer alters the genome to make itself grow. When biotech researchers discover what cancer cells need genetically to grow, they hope to be able to remove the favorable genetic factors and thus stop that growth. Researchers also are looking for ways to treat cancer by using the body’s own immune system to produce speciic antigens to de73

stroy malignant cells. Immunogenomics, as the new science is called, involves identifying gene segments on the human genome that are speciically related to types of cancer. hese segments are known as variable, diverse, and joining, or VDJ recombination. VDJ recombination occurs in the early stages of the formation of substances in the blood that play a central role in developing immunity within the body. Once speciic VDJs are identiied, scientists believe they can be used to stimulate the immune system to produce speciic antigens to attack speciic cells. Researchers hope to be able to assemble a library of common antigens that will attack cancer-causing VDJ recombinations to give physicians and scientists the information they need to devise therapies for cancer victims. hese therapies will allow them to treat the cancer without the use of poisons or radiation. Researchers have already learned how to read VDJs and observe their efects on the immune system—a stepping stone to even more astonishing accomplishments. Within the next 20 years, numerous treatments will be found for specialized cancers using more of this type of biotechnology research.

Nanotechnology Another breakthrough in health care directly related to biotech research involves the use of nanoparticles—tiny particles only one billionth of a meter in size—to deliver drugs to precise locations in the body. he use of nanoparticles is called nanotechnology. Researchers are also learning how to use man-made nanoparticles called nanoshells and buckyballs, to treat cancer. Nanoshells are tiny metallic lenses that can be sent through the bloodstream to speciic organs or tumors. here, they capture infrared light that has been beamed through the skin, convert it to heat, and target malignant cells with it, killing them without damaging surrounding healthy tissue. Buckyballs—a nickname for the technical term Buckminsterfullerenes, named for Buckminster Fuller, an American engineer and inventor—are tiny balls of carbon molecules that can deliver drugs to speciic sites in the body, such as clogged arteries or tumor cells. he use of nanoparticles in the treatment of cancer and other diseases has just begun. It is expected to increase tremendously in the near future, allowing doctors to treat illnesses and injuries more precisely and without adverse side efects. 74

Jaguar he Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Leadership Computing Facility, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is home to one of the world’s fastest supercomputers—named Jaguar. And it is not used for classiied government projects. It is used for storing and processing biotech research, and the knowledge it contains is anything but secret. According to Oak Ridge’s journal, the ORNL Review: “he collection of capabilities that accompany this computing leviathan, including a breadth of scientiic talent; an acclaimed support staf; and a formidable computing infrastructure of power, cooling and connectivity, has made Oak Ridge one of the world’s premier computational facilities for the delivery of scientiic research.” In 2010 more than a billion processor hours of computing were handled by Jaguar. Scientists stand in line to use the computer. Jaguar’s lightning fast capabilities can reduce computation time from months to days to generate data, which tremendously speeds research. Doug Kothe, director of the Leadership Computing Facility, cites the Department of Education’s list of the “Top 10 Scientiic Achievements” for the past three years to illustrate how valuable Jaguar has been: “Five of those 10 achievements were the direct result of data enabled through simulations executed on Jaguar.” ORNL Review, “Fast Times at ORNL,” vol. 43, no. 1, 2010. www.ornl.gov.

Chemical engineers at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technolgy (MIT) recently announced an advancement in the use of nanoparticles. On April 23, 2011, MIT researchers published their achievement in the journal ACS Nano, reporting that they had succeeded in creating a drugdelivery nanoparticle that is coated with layers that respond to their environment. Most drug-delivery nanoparticles are already coated with a polymer layer that protects them from being degraded in the bloodstream before reaching their target. MIT’s nanoparticles have an additional layer that falls away as it nears a cancerous tumor. Researchers realized that, because of the way cancer cells grow, they are slightly more acidic than surrounding tissue. he new nanoparticles 75

take advantage of that fact, shedding their special layer as they approach the tumor’s cells to reveal a second layer that is positively charged to help it penetrate the negatively charged cancer cell membrane. Once inside, the innermost layer of the particle, usually a polymer carrying a cancer drug or a radioactive dot used for imaging, is released. MIT researchers have successfully tested their new nanoparticles on living animals. Human clinical trials may begin within 10 years. Once perfected, this nanoparticle treatment will allow doctors to be even more precise in their delivery of drugs to cancerous cells, virtually eliminating the painful and sometimes debilitating side efects now associated with cancer treatments.

The Next 10 Years and Beyond Every discovery in medical biotech research has as its goal the improved health of human beings, and life span extension that comes with being healthy. But researchers are also investigating genetic methods for prolonging life. Some believe it may be possible to double the human life span within the next 10 years. Darwinian evolution is based on survival of those species most able to adapt to a changing world. he evolution of humans is no longer based on that concept. Instead, the evolution of humans has changed from natural selection to intelligent direction, as scientists and researchers learn more about the human genome and how cells actually work, and how they can be controlled through genetic manipulation. his new type of evolution will continue for the remainder of the twenty-irst century and beyond.

Bioinformatics To accomplish all of these short- and long-term biotech goals, an eficient, easily accessible database of genetic information is essential. his science is called bioinformatics. Bioinformatics is the ongoing collection of genetic information—the genomes of living species—into huge computer databases. Currently, the hub for this collection is at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) under the direction of David Haussler, often called by colleagues the King of Bioinformatics. Haussler is professor of biomolecular engineering and director of the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering at UCSC. 76

Whenever a genome is sequenced, completely or partially, the sequencing information is added to the databases at UCSC, where it becomes accessible to scientists all over the world. By sharing their work, scientists are speeding research and eliminating the necessity of duplicating that research. Using the work of others enables scientists to move ahead much faster with their own work, which will eventually be shared on the databases to further speed the work of other biotech researchers. his proposed database of genomes will help scientists ind genetic causes for diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and Parkinson’s, among thousands of others, and use what they learn to ind treatments and cures. But the storage of these vast amounts of data will, in the future, require that computer storage capacity and search functions expand exponentially. Supercomputers with extraordinary data processing and memory storage capabilities will be an integral part of biotech research in the future.

The Future Is Here

bioinformatics

At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Leadhe collection of research ership Computing Facility, in Oak Ridge, indings in centrally located computer Tennessee—home of one of the world’s most databases, freely powerful supercomputers—the future is here, accessible to scientists and its name is Jaguar. heir Jaguar supercomaround the world. puter currently receives data from biotech labs around the world, and the results of those experiments are available to the world’s scientists. Jaguar has reached a peak processing speed of 1.759 petalops. One petalop equals one quadrillion mathematical calculations per second. In the future, Jaguar may be considered something of a dinosaur at that speed. Projections are that computers of the future, some of which will no doubt be used exclusively for bioinformatics, will transmit data through light rather than electrical impulses, vastly increasing their speed. he increased capability of such optical computers allows them to handle the enormous amounts of data coming in from numerous research labs and to run complicated simulations that require mega-amounts of computer memory. hese capabilities should make it possible for scientists and researchers around the world to share their discoveries and move ever 77

faster toward the answers to questions involving the improvement of life for every living thing on Earth. Whether biotech research is focused on green biotechnology (agriculture), red biotechnology (medicine), white biotechnology (industrial and environmental), or bioinformatics, it will continue to expand in ways scientists could only dream about 50 years ago. Discoveries during the past decade have been phenomenal. During the next decade, they will be mind-boggling. Beyond that, who knows what the future holds for humanity? he only limit seems to be human imagination.

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Source Notes Introduction: Biotechnology: Life Revealed 1. Nathalia Holt et al., “Human Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells Modiied by Zinc-Finger Nucleases Targeted to CCR5 Control HIV1 in Vivo,” Nature Biotechnology, July 2, 2010. www.nature.com. 2. Quoted in Richard Knox, “he Lucky Genetic Variants hat Protect Some People from HIV,” National Public Radio, November 4, 2010. www.npr.org. 3. Gary Taubes, “he Sea Change hat’s Challenging Biology’s Central Dogma,” Discover, October 2009, p. 46. 4. Taubes, “he Sea Change hat’s Challenging Biology’s Central Dogma,” p. 50.

Chapter One: What Is Biotech Research? 5. Debbie Strickland, ed., “Guide to Biotechnology,” Biotechnology Industry Organization, 2007, p. 18. 6. Tara Robinson, Genetics for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010, p. 96. 7. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, “Genetic Engineering,” 2010. www. britannica.com. 8. Biotechnology Online, “Cutting and Pasting Genes.” www.biotech nologyonline.gov.au. 9. Biotechnology Online, “Moving Genes.” www.biotechnologyonline. gov.au. 10. Robinson, Genetics for Dummies, p. 330. 12. National Human Genome Research Institute, “An Overview of the Human Genome Project: What Was the Human Genome Project?,” December 13, 2010. www.genome.gov. 13. Quoted in National Human Genome Research Institute, “An Overview of the Human Genome Project. 79

CHAPTER ONE SOURCE NOTES

11. Robinson, Genetics for Dummies, p. 331.

Chapter Two: Biotech in Foods and Agriculture 14. Quoted in Dekalb online publication, “Biotechnology: Why Biotechnology Matters,” 2009. http://dekalb-asia.com/pdf/Bio6_WhyBio technologyMatters.pdf. 15. Quoted in Dan Charles, Lords of the Harvest: Biotech, Big Money, and the Future of Food. New York: Perseus, 2001, p. 16. 16. Charles, Lords of the Harvest, p. 18. 17. Quoted in Nina V. Fedorof and Nancy Marie Brown, Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist’s View of Genetically Modiied Foods. Washington, DC: Joseph Henry, 2004, p. 3. 18. Quoted in Fedorof and Brown, Mendel in the Kitchen, p. 3. 19. Quoted in Fedorof and Brown, Mendel in the Kitchen, p. 3.

Chapter Three: Biotech in Medicine 20. Rebecca Skloot, he Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010, p. 94. 21. Sharon Walker, Biotechnology Demystiied. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007, p. 71. 22. Ian Wilmut, “Millions of Patients Will Beneit from Advances in Genetic Engineering & Stem Cell Science,” Discover, October 2010, p. 63. 23. Walker, Biotechnology Demystiied, p. 154. 24. Quoted in he Week, “he Big Scientiic Breakthroughs of 2010,” December 24, 2010/January 7, 2011, p. 23. 25. Richard Knox, “Scientists Grow Parts for Kids with Urinary Damage,” National Public Radio, March 8, 2011. www.npr.org.

Chapter Four: Industrial and Environmental Biotech 26. Bruce Barcott, “Forlorn in the Bayou,” National Geographic, October 2010, p. 71. 27. Terry Hazen, interview by Ira Flatow, “Gulf Spill Reveals New OilEating Bacteria,” National Public Radio, August 27, 2010. www.npr. org.

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28. Quoted in John Davis, “Initial Texas Tech–Created Fibertect Field Test a Success,” Oice of Communications and Marketing, Texas Tech University, June 18, 2010. http://today/ttu.edu. 29. Quoted in Hank Becker, “Phytoremediation: Using Plants to Clean Up Soils,” Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, June 2000. www.ars.usda.gov. 30. Quoted in Becker, “Phytoremediation.”

Chapter Five: What Is the Future of Biotech Research? 31. Quoted in Katherine Harmon, “What’s Next for Synthetic Life?,” Scientiic American, June 3, 2010. www.scientiicamerican.com. 32. Quoted in Wall Street Journal, “It Came from the Sea: J. Craig Venter on the Search for Biological Energy Replacements,” March 8, 2010. http://online.wsj.com. 33. Quoted in ORNL Review (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), vol. 43, no. 3, “Finding a Path,” 2010. www.ornl.gov. 34. Quoted in Panorama Magazine, “Agriculture and Biotechnology,” December 15, 2005. www.monsanto.com.

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Facts About Biotech Research DNA and Genes • If uncoiled, the DNA in all the cells in a single human body would stretch from Earth to the moon and back 6,000 times or from Earth to Pluto and back—10 billion miles. • A Japanese lowering plant called Paris japonica has 150 billion base pairs of adenine, thiamine, guanine, and cytosine—the longest known genome. • he intestinal parasite Encephalitozoon intestinalis has the smallest genome, with only 2.3 billion base pairs. • here are approximately 3 billion base pairs in the human genome. • If unwound and tied together, the DNA in one cell would stretch almost six feet, but would be only 50-trillionths of an inch wide. • It would take a person typing 10 words per minute 8 hours a day for 50 years to type all the base pairs of the human genome. • One chromosome can have as few as 50 million base pairs, or as many as 250 million base pairs. • A megabase—one million bases—of DNA sequence data is roughly equivalent to one megabyte of computer data storage space. • Scientists create proteins in the lab using a method called “molecular sex,” which involves combining genes from diferent species.

CHAPTER ONE FACTS ABOUT

Biofuel and Biofood • Biodiesel is made through a chemical process called transesteriication. Glycerin is separated from the fat or vegetable oil, leaving two products—methyl esters (the chemical name for biodiesel) and glycerin, which is sold to be used in soaps and other products. • A byproduct of the biomass-to-ethanol process called lignin can be burned to produce the electricity needed to power the ethanol production process. In fact, it can produce more than enough energy and can be sold to help inance the process.

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• About 60 percent of the foods currently sold in grocery stores are genetically engineered or contain genetically engineered ingredients. • Genetically altered crops are planted on more than 167 million acres worldwide. • he United States grows nearly two-thirds of all the world’s genetically engineered crops.

Human Health • Genetically engineered substances currently in use in humans include insulin, human growth hormone, interferon (an antiviral drug), interleukin (a stimulant for the immune system), a substance that dissolves blood clots, and blood-clotting factors that are given to people with hemophilia. • Stem cell treatments have been developed for cancer, blood diseases, and immune disorders. • Bone marrow stem cells can be inserted into a person’s bone marrow to make it possible for that person to produce the blood cells needed for a healthy immune system. • In their quest to extend human life spans, researchers have doubled the life spans of yeast, worms, fruit lies, and mice. • Human stem cells can be used to test new drugs. • Blastocysts are the size of a grain of sand and consist of about 150 cells. • More than 4,200 diseases occur because of abnormal genes. • About one out of every 180 babies born has a chromosome abnormality, most commonly Down syndrome.

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Related Organizations Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Polaris House, North Star Ave. Swindon,Wiltshire SN2 1UH UK phone: 44 01793 413200 fax: 44 01793 413201 website: www.bbsrc.ac.uk BBSRC is a research council that works on such widely diverse biotech projects as stem cells, brain function, nanotechnology, climate change, aging, food production, and energy production.

Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)

CHAPTERORGANIZATIONS ONE RELATED

1201 Maryland Ave. SW, Suite 900 Washington, DC 20024 phone: (202) 962-9200 fax: (202) 488-6301 e-mail: [email protected] website: http://bio.org BIO is the world’s largest biotechnology organization, with members worldwide. It is involved in research in the ields of agriculture, medicine, industry, and the environment.

Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine 679 Hoes Ln. Piscataway, NJ 08854 phone: (732) 235-5310 website: www2.cabm.rutgers.edu his research institute, part of Rutgers University, focuses on cell and developmental biology, molecular genetics, and structural biology—all areas of research aimed at the improvement of human health. 84

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00153 Rome, Italy phone: 39 06 57051 fax: 39 06 570 53152 email: [email protected] website: www.fao.org FAO is an agency of the United Nations that leads international eforts to eliminate world hunger. It aids developing countries to improve agriculture, isheries, forestry, and good nutrition. It also works to prevent the transfer of pests and diseases across national boundaries. Its website has a feature called Ask FAO, which answers most questions about what the organization does.

Human Genome Project Information Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) 545 Turnpike, MS 6495 Oak Ridge, TN 37830 website: www.ornl.gov Begun formally in 1990, the US Human Genome Project was a 13year efort coordinated by the US Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. he project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances accelerated the completion date to 2003. his website provides links to a multitude of information about HGP.

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Science Park, Padriciano 99 34149 Trieste, Italy phone: 39 040 37571 fax: 39 040 226555 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.icgeb.trieste.it 85

his organization focuses on research dealing with molecular biology, particularly in the ields of biomedicine, crop improvement, remediation of the environment, and biotech-related pharmaceuticals and pesticides.

National Center for Biotechnology Information e-mail: [email protected] website: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov A clearinghouse for bioinformatics, this agency works to improve information technologies to better handle the tremendous amount of molecular and genetic research data being generated around the world, to help scientists understand the genetic and molecular processes that control human health.

National Research Council (NRC) Saskatoon Research Facilities 110 Gymnasium Pl. Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W9 Canada phone: (306) 975-5248 fax: (306) 975-4839 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca Canada’s premier research and development agency, the NRC has, since 1916, worked in such ields as construction, oceanography, aerospace, molecular sciences, and biotechnology.

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For Further Research Books Lauri S. Friedman, Stem Cell Research. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Russ Hodge and Nadia Rosenthal, Genetic Engineering: Manipulating the Mechanisms of Life. New York: Facts On File, 2009. Aaron D. Levine, Cloning. New York: Rosen, 2009. Joseph Panno, Gene herapy: Treatments and Cures for Genetic Diseases. New York: Facts On File, 2010. Tara Rodden Robinson, Genetics for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010. Tamara L. Rolef, Cloning. San Diego: ReferencePoint Press, 2008. Rebecca Skloot, he Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010. Sharon Walker, Biotechnology Demystiied. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Internet Sources and Websites

Biotechnology Institute for Students (www.biotechinstitute.org/re sources/index.html). his site has videos, facts, a timeline of biotechnological events, biographies of biotech scientists, and links. Biotechnology Online (www.biotechnologyonline.gov.au). Excellent information about all aspects of biotechnology. Biotechnology Website (www.ouhsc.edu/biotechhighschool/frame. html). Information about biotechnology and careers in biotech ields. Council for Biotechnology Information: Activity Book for Kids (www.whybiotech.com/resources/activity-book.asp). Excellent site 87

CHAPTER ONE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (www.bbsrc. ac). Articles about numerous areas of biotechnology. Excellent up-tothe-minute information for students.

which includes fact sheets, issue briefs, myths and facts, and an activity book with good information about biotechnology. he Human Genome Project (www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Hu man_Genome/home.shtml). Excellent information about the HGP—its goals, accomplishments, and what has been accomplished since the completion of sequencing human DNA, using information from the project. On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research (www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12192&page=R1). his is a free, downloadable book from the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy. he 2009 edition provides a clear explanation of the responsible conduct of scientiic research. Chapters on treatment of data, mistakes and negligence, the scientist’s role in society, and other topics ofer invaluable insight for student researchers. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (www.aphis. usda.gov/help/biotechnology_sitemap.shtml). he federal government’s exhaustive site concerning everything dealing with biotechnology in agriculture—from transgenic insect permit guidance to Roundup Ready alfalfa. Wonder WhizKids—Biotechnology (www.wonderwhizkids.com/ Frontiers/Biotechnology.html). Information about various areas of science, math, and biotechnology.

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Index Note: Boldface page numbers indicate illustrations. ACS Nano (journal), 75 adenine (A), 15, 16 adjuvants, 50 adult stem cells, 47 agriculture genetically modiied crops, 83 historical bioprocesses, 14 microbial fuel cells from waste, 56 pest control, 35 weed control, 34 See also foods Agrobacterium tumefaciens, 28–29, 30, 31 alleles, 21 All Red potatoes, 34 alpine pennycress, 61–62 alum, 50 Ambros, Victor, 12–13 amino acids, 11, 15, 16 Arabidopsis plants, 63 Arber, Werner, 20 Atala, Anthony, 46, 48–51 AVASTIN, 9 Avery, Oswald, 23

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), 11–13, 12 Calrose 76 (rice), 28 cancer treatments, 73–76

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CHAPTER ONE INDEX

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in corn, 31–32, 33–34, 35 in potatoes and cotton, 32 bacteria creation of chimeric genes and, 31 creation of synthetic, 52 as fuel cells, 54–56 oil-eating, 58–60, 62 separation of disease-causing genes from, 29 bag of worms mutation, 12–13 Barcott, Bruce, 57 beta carotene, 36–37 Bevan, Michael, 31 Beyer, Peter, 36–37

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 37 biodegradable plastics, 56 biodiesel, 54 bioelectricity, 54–56 biofuels biodiesel, 54 from carbon dioxide in atmosphere, 59, 64 ethanol cellulosic, 65, 65–67 from corn, 52–54, 53, 64–65 isobutene, 55 produced with solar panels, 55 bioinformatics, 67, 76–77 bioprocesses, historical, 14 bioprocessing technology, examples of, 14 bioreagents, 66, 70 bioremediation described, 56, 61 for oil spills, 57–60, 62 phytoremediation, 61–63 Biosteel, 71 biotechnology, overview of, 10–11 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), 84 Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), 84 blackberries, 34 blastocysts, 46, 83 blindness prevention, 36–37 Bobik, homas, 55 brain injuries, 47 Braun, Armin, 28 British Petroleum (BP), 58, 60 buckyballs, 74 Burbank, Luther, 34

carbon dioxide (CO2) extraction, 59, 64 catalyst, deinition of, 58 caterpillars and Cry proteins, 31–32 caulilower, 34 Celera Genomics, 59 cells generation of organs and tissues from patient’s, 48–51 hereditary material in, 14–15 single cell force spectroscopy and, 50 stem deinition of, 10 gene therapy and, 44–48, 49, 72, 83 meat created from, 33 skin cell conversion, 72–73 universal recipient, 64 cellulosic ethanol, 65–67, 65 Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, 84 cervical cancer vaccine, 9 Chakrabarty, Ananda Mohan, 58 Chargaf, Erwin, 15, 16 Charles, Dan, 31 children, treatment of brain injuries in, 47 Chilton, Mary-Dell, 29, 31 chimera plants, 31 chimeric genes, 31 chromosome, deinition of, 20 Clinton, Bill, 59 cloning, 9, 44, 61–62 colchicine, 27 collagen, 51 Collins, Francis, 22, 24, 59 computers, role of, 75, 77 corn Bt gene, 31–32, 33–34, 35 ethanol from, 52–54, 53, 64–65 for PET bottles, 56 cotton, 32, 60 Cox, Charles S., Jr., 47 Creso wheat, 28 Crick, Francis, 16–17, 17 cross-pollination, 27, 38 crown galls, 28 Cry proteins, 31–32 cyclonite, 63 cystic ibrosis, 22

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cytosine (C), 15, 16 Deepwater Horizon spill clean-up, 58, 60 dendrite cells, 50 designer children, controversy over, 73 DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) composition of, 14–15 early discoveries, 23 ingerprinting, 20–21 gene splicing and, 19 information transfer to RNA, 72–73 insertion into cells, 42, 43, 44 mapping of human genome, 22–24, 59, 67 mutation, 12, 13, 27, 28, 32, 72, 73 recombinant, 25, 27 sequence changes and evolution, 67 shotgun sequencing technique, 59 structure of, 8, 16–20, 17 viral, 19–20 Doty, Sharon, 63 double helix theory, 16–17 electricity generation, 54–56 electroporation, 19–20 embryonic stem cells, 46, 72 environment biodegradable plastics and, 56, 57 bioelectricity and, 54–56 biofuels and, 52–54, 53, 55, 59 bioreagents and, 66, 70 bioremediation of, 56–61, 62 genetically engineered plants and, 38 phytoremediation of, 61–63 enzymes, 19–20 Ereky, Karl, 10–11 ethanol, 9 cellulosic, 65, 65–67, 82 from corn, 52–54, 53 evolution, 67, 76 Exxon-Mobil, 64 fetal stem cells, 46, 72 Fibertect, 60 ingerprinting DNA, 20–21 Flach, Tracy L., 50 FLAVRSAVR tomato, 8

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 85 Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 37–38 foods chimeric genes/plants, 31 cross-pollination, 27, 38 genetically modiied, 26, 69, 83 Bt gene, 31–32, 33–34, 35 colors, 34 controversy over, 26, 32, 37–38 current research, 68–69 FDA approval of, 8 Golden Rice, 9, 36–37 Roundup Ready seeds, 34 historical bioprocesses, 14 laboratory-created steaks, 33 mutation breeding, 26–28 production needs, 25 use of corn for ethanol and, 64–65 weed control, 34 fossil fuel replacements bioelectricity, 54–56 biofuels, 52–54, 53, 55, 59 Frankenfood, 26, 37 Franklin, Rosalind Elsie, 16, 17, 18 fuel cells, 54–56 garbage, 56 gene mapping, 20, 22–24, 59, 67 gene splicing, 19, 25 gene targeting, 29 gene therapy, 44–48, 45, 72 genetic engineering chimeric genes, 31 deinition of, 18–19, 40 of plants Bt gene, 31–32, 33–34, 35 colors of, 34 controversy over, 26, 32, 37–38 current research, 68–69, 69 Golden Rice, 36–37 Roundup Ready seeds, 34 techniques gene splicing, 19 mutation breeding, 27–28, 32 plant transformation, 32 recombinant DNA, 25

vectors, 42, 43, 44 genetic markers, 32, 37 genetic mutation, 13 breeding, 27, 32 bag of worms, 12–13 natural, 27, 73 genetics disease-causing genes, 22 early discoveries, 14–16, 27 human genome, 22, 82 RNA, 15, 72–73 See also DNA genomes, 82 database, 67, 76–77 mapping, 22–24, 59, 67 Gey, George, 40 goats and spider silk production, 70–71 Golden Promise barley, 28 Golden Rice, 36–37 Graiti caulilower, 34 Grant, Hugh, 68 grapefruit, 34 green biotechnology, 11 See also biofuels; foods groundwater pollution, 63 guanine (G), 15, 16 Gulf of Mexico, oil spills in, 57–60, 59, 62 Haussler, David, 67, 76–77 Hazen, Terry, 58–59 health. See medicine HeLa cells, 40, 42 Helen Keller International (HKI), 37 Hensz, Richard, 34 herbicides, 34, 60 heredity. See genetics history DNA discoveries, 14–20, 23 plants, 14, 27 HIV/AIDS treatment, 10 Holt, Nathalia, 10 Human Genome Project (HGP), 9, 21, 22–24, 59, 67, 85 human growth hormone, 8 Humes, H. David, 51 hydrogen, 55

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immune system, 50, 73–74 immunogenomics, 74 industry. See white biotechnology insulin, 8 Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), 59 International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, 85–86 International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), 37 in vitro fertilization, 46–47 In Vitro Meat Consortium, 33 isobutene, 55 Jaguar computer, 75, 77 Jefreys, Alec, 20–21 Jennings, Peter, 36 kidneys, artiicial, 51 King of Bioinformatics, 76 Knox, Richard, 49 Kochian, Leon V., 61–62 Kossel, Albrecht, 23 Kothe, Doug, 75 Lacks, Henrietta, 40, 42 Levene, Phoebus, 23 lignin, 65–66, 67, 82 Lobitz, Robert, 34 Lords of the Harvest (Charles), 31 Mason, Chris, 48 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 75–76 mathematics, 67 McDonald’s, 32 meat, laboratory-created, 33 medicine cancer treatments, 73–76 early discoveries, 39 gene therapy and, 40, 44–48, 49, 72, 83 nanoparticles, 74–76 personalized, 71–72 polio vaccine, 41, 41–42 Mendel, Gregor, 27 metal contamination, 60–62 metal hyperaccumulators, 61–62

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microbial fermentation, 15 microbial fuel cells (MFCs), 54–56 microRNA, 13 Miescher, Johann Friedrich, 23 Miller, James, 55 “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” (Watson and Crick), 16–17 Monsanto, 34, 68–69 mouse-ear cress, 63 Muller, Hermann Joseph, 27 mutation, genetic,12, 13, 72, 73 mutation breeding, 27–28, 32 bag of worms, 12–13 Mycoplasma mycoides, 52 nanoshells, 74 nanotechnology, 70, 74–76 Narula, Chaitan, 66 Nathans, Dan, 20 National Center for Biotechnology Information, 86 National Geographic (magazine), 57 National Research Council (NRC), 86 Nature (journal), 17, 22 neurodegenerative diseases and microRNA, 13 Nexia Biotechnologies, 70 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 17, 20 nucleic acid, 23 nucleotides, 14–15, 19 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), 65, 75, 77 oil spills, 57–60 oleophilic bacteria, 58–60, 62 Omholt, Stig W., 33 optical computers, 77 organic solvent contamination, 60 organs, growing replacement, 48–51 ORNL Review (journal), 75 Ostrinia nubilalis (European corn borer), 31–32 Panorama Magazine, 68 paper chromatography, 15

Pauling, Linus, 16 personalized medicine, 71–72 pesticides, 25, 27, 60 PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, 56 Photo 51, 16 phytoremediation, 61–63 pickling agents, 50 pigweed, 62 plants disease resistance of, 68 early work with, 27 phytoremediation, 61–63 transformation technique/events, 32 See also foods plasmids, 58 plastics, 55, 56, 57 polio vaccine, 41, 41–42 pollution environmental biodegradable plastics, 57 bioremediation, 56–61, 62 electricity production, 54–56 future research, 69–70 garbage, 56 oil spills, 57–60 phytoremediation, 61–63 genetic, 37 poplars, transgenic, 63 population growth and food production needs, 25 Populus, 66–67 potatoes, 32, 34 Potrykus, Ingo, 34, 36–37 promoters, 31, 32 pump and treat metal removal, 60 purines, molecular structure of, 14–15 pyrimidines, molecular structure of, 14–15 Queen of Agrobacterium (Chilton), 29 radiation, 27 radioactive cesium, removal from soil of, 62 Ramkumar, Seshadri, 60 recombinant DNA, 25, 27 red biotechnology, 11

See also medicine replacement organs, 46 replication, 15 Research Department Explosive (RDX), 63 restriction enzymes, 19–20 rice, 36–37, 68, 69 Rio Red grapefruit, 34 RNA (ribonucleic acid), 15, 72–73 Robinson, Tara, 15, 20, 21 Roundup, 34 Salk, Jonas, 41, 41–42 salmon, 37–38 Science Illustrated (magazine), 33 Serageldin, Ismail, 25 short tandem repeats (STRs), 20–21 shotgun sequencing technique, 59 single cell force spectroscopy, 50 Skloot, Rebecca, 40 Smith, Hamilton O., 19, 20 solar energy, production of biofuels with, 55 somatic stem cells, 72–73 soybeans, 68 spider silk production, 70–71, 72 spinal cord injuries, 44, 45 Stadler, Louis, 27 Star Ruby grapefruit, 34 steaks, laboratory-created, 33 steeping liquor, 54 stem cells, 49 deinition of, 10 gene therapy and, 44–48, 72 meat created from, 33 medical uses of, 83 skin cell conversion, 72–73 sugars, extraction for fuel, 65–67 supercomputers, role of, 75, 77 Syngas, 55 Syngenta Corporation, 29 Synthetic Genomics, 9, 52, 59 Synthia, 64 Taubes, Gary, 11 Taylor, Doris, 51 T cells, 50 termination sequence, 31

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thale cress, 63 hlaspi caerulescens, 61–62 thymine (T), 15, 16 tissue (human), replacement, 48–51 tobacco, transgenic, 8 Toenniessen, Gary, 36 transcription factors, 72–73 transformation, deinition of, 19 transgenic, deinition of, 63 transgenic animals, 70–71 traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), 47 trichloroethylene, 63 universal recipient cells, 64 University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), 67, 76–77 uracil (U), 15 uranium, removal from soil of, 62 vaccines alum to make, 50 polio, 41, 41–42 VDJ (variable, diverse, and joining) recombinations, 74 vectors, 42, 43, 47 Venter, J. Craig, 9, 52, 59, 64 viral DNA, destruction of, 19–20

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viruses genetically altering, 42, 44 as vectors, 43 Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, 46, 48–51 Walker, Bruce, 10 Walker, Sharon, 44, 47–48 water, converting to hydrogen, 55 Watson, James Dewey, 16–17, 17, 18, 22 white biotechnology, 11, 52 See also environment White Iceberg blackberries, 34 whole gene shotgun sequencing technique, 59 Wilkins, Maurice, 16, 18 Wilmut, Ian, 44 X-ray difraction, photographs of DNA molecule, 16 yellow endosperm, 36 zeolites, 66 zinc, removal from soil of, 61–62 zinc ingers, 10 zygotes, 47

Picture Credits Cover: iStockphoto.com Maury Aaseng: 43 iStockphoto.com: 8 Klaus Guldbransen/Science Photo Library: 21 A.Barrington Brown/Science Photo Library: 17 Pascal Goetgheluck/Science Photo Library: 69, 75 Gilbert S. Grant/Science Photo Library: 35 Peggy Greb/US Department of Agriculture/Science Photo Library: 26 Paul Gunning/Science Photo Library: 49 Jerry Mason/Science Photo Library: 62 Medical Images, Universal Images Group/Science Photo Library: 45 National Library of Medicine/Science Photo Library: 41 David Nunuck/Science Photo Library: 53 Science Photo Library: 57 SCIMAT/Science Photo Library: 30 Sinclair Stammers/Science Photo Library: 12 hinkstock/BananaStock: 9 (top) hinkstock/Photos.com: 9 (bottom)

CHAPTER ONE PICTURE CREDITS

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About the Authors

CHAPTER ONE ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Charles and Linda George have written more than 60 noniction books for children and young adults—on topics as wide-ranging as the Holocaust, world religions, the Civil Rights Movement, ancient civilizations, extreme sports, plate tectonics, and gene therapy. hey both retired from teaching in Texas public schools to write full time. hey live in a small town in West Texas.

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