Biotechnology: Concepts, Applications, and Evolution

**Biotechnology** -- Is the practical application of biological concepts, used to solve particular problems. It uses Microorganism, cells and cell organelles. **Microorganism** -- Used to create products such as a different kinds of food products and medicines. **Genetic fingerprinting** -- One wa...

**Biotechnology** -- Is the practical application of biological concepts, used to solve particular problems. It uses Microorganism, cells and cell organelles. **Microorganism** -- Used to create products such as a different kinds of food products and medicines. **Genetic fingerprinting** -- One way to solve crime **Alec Jeffreys(1984)** -- Geneticist identified that DNA fingerprints can be used for criminal investigations. **Gene therapy** -- Way of manipulating DNA for potential treatment of certain diseases. This is done by replacing the defective gene with normal gene. **DNA synthesizer** -- A laboratory machine used to assemble short DNA sequences. **Recombinant DNA** -- Combining the gene of one organism with the DNA of another organism, Also using enzymes. **DNA sequences** -- Present in the gene define many characteristics in the body. Leads to understanding "Blueprints" of a person. This project started 1990 by James Waston. **Evolution** -- Change in the characteristics of organism over time. **Fossil records** -- Fossil are the remains of organism. **Petrification** -- (From Greek word petra meaning stone), Happens when minerals in the groundwater are absorbed by the tissue of the dead organism, causing organism to harden as rock. **Homo Luzonensis** -- Lived 50,000 -- 67,000 years ago, found in Callao cave in Cagayan Valley. It based on the fossils similar to those of modern humans. Finding it allowed scientist and researchers to assign it to different species of the genus homo. **Paleontologist** -- Scientist who studies fossils. **Biogeography or Geographic distribution of organism** -- through fossil records, they identify organism that in different locations. **Anatomical Evidence** -- Comparing the body structures of different organism. **Homologous evidence** -- Shows similarities in the body structure of different organism. **Vestigial organs** -- Are parts of organism that have been reduce in size significantly over time. **Embryological evidence** -- Some closely related organism are similar, especially among those with backbones. **Pharyngeal slits** -- Found on the sides of the throat of some organism and are present during their embryonic stage. **Molucular evidence** -- MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, the study of molecular basis of gene expression, used an evidence for evolution. **Amino acid sequencing** -- Used to compare proteins. It determines the sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide. **Linus Pauling and Emile Zuckerlandl** -- In 1960's introduced the concept of molecular clock. **Thomas Malthus** -- He predicted that the population of human will grow faster than the amount of space and food that they need to survive. **Jean Baptiste Lamarck** -- He is known for "Theory of the inheritance of acquired traits. First to give explanation on how organism change, His theory is, giraffes originally had short neck, but because they needed to eat more to survive.He also propose 3 theory in 1809. 1. Organism have tendency to change for them to survive. 2. Organism can modify their existing body parts by using themselves. Called Use and Disuse. 3. Modified traits of organism can be passed on from one generations, called Inheritance of acquired traits. **Charles Darwin --** Because of his voyages, he wrote the On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection(1859). :\> Struggle fpr existence due to the need of organism to survive because of the increasing. population and shortage of food. :\> Stronger or fitter as compared to weak organism :\> He describe this as Survival of the fittest. His theory is there are giraffes with short, medium, and long necks. **Alfred Wallace** -- He proposed his own theory of common descent. **Geoges Cuvier** -- He proposed the theory of extinction based on fossils. He also came up with the theory of catastrophism, It provides an explanations on the mass extinction of organism in the past. **Richard Owen** -- He coined the Term Homology, defining it as "different animals having the same organs but with the different forms and function.