Animal Biotechnology Study Notes PDF

What is animal biotechnology? - The use of genetic engineering tools & techniques to alter genetic makeup in animals - To either enhance agriculture practices and medical treatments What are the applications of animal biotechnology? Areas...

What is animal biotechnology? - The use of genetic engineering tools & techniques to alter genetic makeup in animals - To either enhance agriculture practices and medical treatments What are the applications of animal biotechnology? Areas Aspects Description Agriculture Reproduction & Breeding - Assisted Reproductive technologies (ART): Embryo Transfer, Microinjection, Sperm & Ovum Selection Technologies - Preserving the genetics of endangered species: can also result in increased genetic diversity which can result in healthier populations of species Environmental & Conservation Benefits Rearing animals in open fields produce CO2 and methane - Optimal//Precision Feeding Technologies: Uses probiotics (enhancers), reduce chemical while improve digestibility, reduced environmental pollution (eutrophication) - Uses microbes: to process//metabolized the nutrient content, to reduce methane production by animals; lovastatin, enteric bacteria modification - Usage of oil palm frond (OPF) biomass: conversion into biochar//compost can improve soil health, reducing chemical fertilizers, promoting sustainable agriculture practices Enhancement of Animal Products Accessibility to animal protein and food security - Designer meat: lab-grown meat; scalable solution to meet the protein demands of the growing population - Transgenic cows: increased muscle growth (double-muscle phenotype) in cows - Hypoallergenic milk (A2 beta casein milk caseins): reduce allergic reaction towards certain foods Animal Wellbeing & Welfare - Disease prevention & treatment: New vaccines, diagnostics kits and practices can help farmers treat animal diseases, while reducing food borne pathogens at the farm level - Animal transportation Studies: Detection using EEG,  Stress markers & HSPs - Pain & humane slaughter studies: The Five Freedoms for animal welfare or specific guidelines on humane slaughter. Areas Aspects Description Human Health Disease Models - Understanding disease pathogenesis & therapeutics testing: pre-clinical trials testing for safety and efficacy for medicines; To assess the safety and efficacy of drugs and vaccines before progressing to human clinical trials. Production of Biopharmaceutical products Tissues, Organs, Vaccines, Antibodies, etc: (Bioreactor) - China, transplanted insulin-producing pancreatic islet cells from gene-edited pigs into people with diabetes - South Korea says it’s ready to try transplanting pig corneas into people - Massachusetts General Hospital researchers announced in OCtober that they had used gene-edited pig skin as temporary wound covering for severe burn patients. How to perform genetic manipulation in animals? What are the tools and techniques? - Tissue Culture - Synthetic biology - Genome Editing - Cloning - Bioinformatics What are the regulations governing the use of animals in research? - Animal Welfare Act 772 (AWA) 2015 - Seek to provide a framework for the responsible care, treatment, and the use of the animals. It also seeks to prevent cruelty, neglect, mistreatment while promoting their welfare in various settings, including farms, houses, and research facilities. - Five Freedom - Freedom of hunger, thirst and malnutrition  - Freedom of physical or thermal discomfort - Freedom of pain, injury, or disease - Freedom to express normal behaviour patterns - Freedom from fears and distress - Three Pillars of Animal Welfare 1. Physical State: Ability of physiological system to cope with stressor. Ensuring they are free from pain, injury, disease, hunger, and thirst. Example, adequate nutrients, clean water, shelter & protection, health checks & medical treatment 2. Psychological state: It emphasizes the importance of an environment that meets their mental and emotional needs, ensuring they are free from fear, stress, and distress. Reducing stress-inducing situations like overcrowding or isolation. 3. Naturalness: This pillar emphasizes the importance of the animals to live in conditions that are as close to their natural environment as possible. Providing sufficient space to move, forage, or roam. - Three R’s 1. Replacement: the use of alternative methods utilizing cells, tissues, or organs of animals (relative replacement) 2. Reduction: The use of methods that enables researchers to obtain comparable levels of information from fewer animals or to obtain more informations from the same number of animals 3. Refinement: The use of methods that prevent, alleviate, or minimize pain, suffering, distress, or lasting harm, and, or enhance welfare for the animals used Are there any ethical concerns? Animal Rights Animal Welfare Overwhelmed by emotion Guided by compassion, driven by emotion Extreme view - animal must be totally Compassion - important impetus to liberated from human use improve animal wellbeing Using animals is not morally right Using animals is morally justified if their welfare is taken care of We should not use animals for our benefits We should be allowed to use animals for  our interest and benefits., e.g drug discovery & food We should not inflict pain, suffering, and We should avoid unnecessary pain, death on animals under all circumstances suffering & death on animals