I.

BIOTECHNOLOGY

- is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products, or "any technological
application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or
processes for specific use".

A. Brief History of Biotechnology

Before Common Era

 7000 BCE – Chinese discover fermentation through beer making.

 6000 BCE – Yogurt and cheese made with lactic acid-producing bacteria by various cultures.

Pre-20th Century

 1663 – First recorded description of living cells recorded by Robert Hooke

 1798 – Edward Jenner uses first viral vaccine to inoculate a child from smallpox.
 1877 – Robert Koch develops a technique for staining bacteria for identification.
 1881 – Louis Pasteur develops vaccines against bacteria that cause cholera and anthrax in chickens.
 1885 – Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux developed the first rabies vaccine

20th Century

 1919 – Károly Ereky, a Hungarian agricultural engineer, first uses the word biotechnology
 1928 – Alexander Fleming notices that a certain mould could stop the duplication of bacteria, leading to
the first antibiotic: penicillin..
 1953 – James D. Watson and Francis Crick describe the structure of DNA.
 1972 – The DNA composition of chimpanzees and gorillas is discovered to be 99% similar to that of
humans.
 1973 – Stanley Norman Cohen and Herbert Boyer perform the first successful recombinant
DNA experiment, using bacterial genes.

21st Century

 2002 – Rice becomes the first crop to have its genome decoded.
 2009 – Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute uses modified SAN heart genes to create the first viral pacemaker in
guinea pigs, now known as iSAN's.
 2012 – 31 year-old Zac Vawter successfully uses a nervous system controlled bionic leg to climb
the Chicago Willis Tower.

II. Cell Theory Timeline

1665 Cell first observed

Robert Hooke, an English scientist, discovered a

honeycomb-like structure in a cork slice using a primitive
compound microscope. He only saw cell walls as this was
dead tissue. He coined the term "cell" for these individual
compartments he saw.

1670 First living cells seen

Anton van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch biologist, looks at pond

water with a microscope he made lenses for.

1683 Miniature animals

Anton van Leeuwenhoek discovered the first protozoa and

bacteria discovered.
1833 The center of the cell seen

Robert Brown, an English botanist, discovered the nucleus

in plant cells.

1838 Basic building blocks

Matthias Jakob Schleiden, a German botanist, proposes

that all plant tissues are composed of cells, and that cells
are the basic building blocks of all plants.

1839 Cell theory

Theodor Schwann, a German botanist reached the

conclusion that not only plants, but animal tissue as well is
composed of cells. He pulled together and organized
previous statement on cells into one theory, which states: 1
- Cells are organisms and all organisms consist of one or
more cells 2 - The cell is the basic unit of structure for all
organisms

1840 Where does life come from

Albrecht von Roelliker discoveres that sperm and eggs are

also cells.

1845 Basic unit of life

Carl Heinrich Braun reworks the cell theory, calling cells the
basic unit of life.

1855 3rd part to the cell theory added

Rudolf Virchow, a German

physiologist/physician/pathologist added the 3rd part to
the cell theory which states that all cells develop only from
existing cells. Virchow was also the first to propose that
diseased cells come from healthy cells.

INTRODUCTION TO LABORATORY SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

1: No eating or drinking in the lab.

2: Handle everything as if it's pathogenic.

3: Keep flame and flammable solutions far apart.

4: Keep electrical equipment far from water.

5: Clean spills from the outside IN.

6: Use proper safety protection.

7: Always clean glassware before you use it

8: Be careful weighing out chemicals and reagents. Do NOT return excess materials to the stock
container.

9: Check all water baths with a thermometer before putting your hand into the water.

10: All sharps (needles, razors, pins, toothpicks) should be discarded in a sturdy container.

11: Science and writing go hand-in-hand

12: Wash your hands before AND after lab work.

III. THE PROKARYOTIC AND EUKARYOTIC CELL

A. Prokaryotes - are organisms without a cell nucleus.

- most are unicellular, but some are multicellular.
- divides through binary fission.
Examples: Bacteria and Archae

B. Eukaryotes – organisms whose cells are organized into complex structure by internal
membranes and a cytoskeleton.
- most characteristic membrane bound structure is the nucleus.
- most are multicellular.
- divides through mitosis and meiosis.
Examples: Animals, Plants, Fungi, Protists
 Parts of the Cell Function

* Cellular > gate keeper; barrier

Membrane/Plasma > protect and organize cells.
Membrane > maintains balance in the cell’s environment through
selective permeability- allows some molecules to pass
through while keeping others out.
> composed of phospholipids which is divided into phosphate
head, glycerol and two fatty acids.

* Nucleus > control center of the cell.

>provide housing for the process of deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA).

* Cytoplasm > clear gelatinous fluid in the cell.

> It helps to fill out the cell and keeps organelles in their
place.

* Mitochondria > the energy system of the cell.

> known as the powerhouse of the cell because they produce
adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which serves as the fuel in the
body.
> contain their own DNA thus they can multiply by
themselves.
Organelles which
controls Cell
Chemistry:
* Ribosomes > site for protein synthesis.
* Endoplasmic
Reticulum
a. Rough ER > Manufactures secreted proteins.
b. Smooth ER > breakdown of glycogen in the liver.
> synthesis of steroid hormones in the testes.
> stores and release calcium in skeletal and heart muscle.
c. Golgi body/golgi > packaging of manufactured proteins.
apparatus

* Vacuoles > temporary storage for food, enzymes and other materials
needed by the cells.

* Lysosome > engulf bacteria and viruses.

> digest excess materials and worn out organelles.
* Centrosome > mitotic spindle needed for mitosis.

* Nucleolus > manufactures ribonucleic acid (RNA)

> site of ribosome production.
Prokaryotic Cell Division

Binary Fission- meaning "division in half", refers to a method of asexual reproduction.

* Asexual reproduction- a type of reproduction where one parent produce one or

more identical offspring without fusion of gametes.

Eukaryotic Cell Division

A. Challenges of Cell Division:

1. When once cell divides into two, the daughter cells must be IDENTICAL
to the parent cell.
2. DNA management is the key.
3. Each human cell holds DNA containing six billion base pairs.
4. DNA, if stretched out, would be six feet in length.

B.Unlocking Difficulties:

* Chromatin- uncoil, loose formation of DNA and protein during interphase.

* Chromosome- an organized, very long DNA molecule and associated proteins that
carries portions of the hereditary information of an organism.
* Chromatid- one copy of a duplicated chromosome, which generally is joined to the
other copy by a centromere.

* Centromere- is a region of DNA typically found near the middle of a chromosome

where two identical sister chromatids come closest in contact.

The Life of A Cell:

Interphase
- the period of the cell cycle during which the nucleus is not undergoing division.
- the period of active growth and metabolism of the cell.

Mitotic Phase - a relatively short period of the cell cycle.

- a type of asexual reproduction by which cell duplicates itself.
- not dividing all the time.

Phases of Mitosis:

1. Prophase
a. Chromatin condenses into chromosomes.
b. nucleolus disappears
c. microtubules assembly begins (centrosome)
2. Prometaphase
a. Nuclear membrane breaks down.
b. Microtubules form and push centrosome apart.

3. Metaphase
a. Chromosomes line up on the metaphase plate.

4. Anaphase
a. Chromosomes break at the centromere into sister chromatids.
b. Sister chromatids move toward opposite poles.

5. Telophase
a. Chromatids begin to decondense into chromatin.
b. Nuclear membrane begin to form around each set of daughter
chromosomes.
c. Cleavage furrow forms.
Cytokinesis
- is the process in which the cytoplasm of a single eukaryotic cell is divided to form
two daughter cells.