Which is the oldest form of biotechnology?

Selective breeding of crops and animals

treat a genetic disease by adding or fixing a gene

Biotechnology Past, Present and Future

In short: Biotechnology has grown from breeding and fermentation to gene editing and mRNA vaccines, and it is used in medicine, farming, conservation and forensics. Each use brings benefits, risks and ethical questions, such as editing embryos and the privacy of DNA data.

Starting point: what you already know

Recombinant DNA, PCR, CRISPR and cloning (see Biotechnology and Genetic Technologies).
Mutations can cause genetic disease (see Mutations).
Genetic diversity helps populations survive change (see Genetic Variation in Populations).

A timeline of biotechnology

When	Development
About 10 000 years ago	Farming begins. Selective breeding of wheat, rice, dogs and cattle
About 6000 years ago	Yeast used for bread and brewing
1928	Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin from a mould. Howard Florey, an Australian, and Ernst Chain later mass-produce it
1953	Structure of DNA described
1973	First recombinant DNA organism (a bacterium)
1982	First GM medicine: human insulin from bacteria
1983	PCR invented by Kary Mullis
1996	Dolly the sheep cloned
2003	Human Genome Project completed
2012	CRISPR-Cas9 used to edit genes
2020s	Gene therapies approved. mRNA vaccines used worldwide. Base editing in patients

Uses today

Medicine.

Gene therapy: adding a working gene to cells to treat a genetic disease. Treatments now exist for some inherited blindness and spinal muscular atrophy.
mRNA vaccines: give cells instructions to make a harmless virus protein, training the immune system (used against COVID-19).
Genetic screening: testing embryos, newborns or adults for disease alleles.
Personalised medicine: choosing the drug that suits a person's genes.

Agriculture. GM crops that resist pests, drought, salt or disease. Animals bred with the help of DNA testing.

Environment and conservation. Bacteria that clean up oil spills (bioremediation). DNA tests to catch illegal wildlife trade. Frozen "zoos" that store cells and sperm of endangered species.

Forensics and industry. DNA profiling. Enzymes in washing powder. Biofuels.

Thinking about ethics

Ethics is about what is right and wrong. Biotechnology raises big questions, and different people answer them differently.

Question	Points to weigh up
Should we edit human embryos?	Could prevent serious disease, but changes pass to future generations, and the risks are not fully known. In 2018 a scientist in China edited twin babies and was jailed. It is illegal in Australia
Should companies patent genes or seeds?	Rewards research, but can make medicines and seeds expensive for poorer people
Who controls genetic data?	Helps research, but raises privacy and discrimination risks
Should we bring back extinct species?	Exciting science, but money might do more good protecting living species

Biotechnology over time

Past

Breeding, bread, brewing
Penicillin

Present

Gene therapy
mRNA vaccines
GM crops
Bioremediation

Future

Base editing
Gene drives
De-extinction

Ethics

Embryo editing
Patents and access
Privacy of DNA data

Biodiversity

Can lower diversity
Can help conservation

Year 12Biotechnology and biodiversity, both ways

Reducing biodiversity: monocultures of one GM or cloned crop, and selective breeding, narrow the gene pool. The 19th century Irish potato famine shows the danger: almost all the potatoes were one variety, and one disease destroyed them.

Supporting biodiversity: seed banks store crop diversity. Biotechnology is used to restore genetic diversity in small populations, test for disease in threatened species, and develop corals that tolerate heat. Engaging with Traditional Owners respects their rights over native species and knowledge (ICIP), for example in research on bush foods like Kakadu plum.

An HSC answer should show that the same technology can help or harm biodiversity depending on how it is used.

Resistance. Growing Bt crops everywhere can select for pests that resist the Bt toxin, and the toxin may harm insects that are not pests. Spraying glyphosate on Roundup Ready crops year after year selects for glyphosate-resistant weeds.

Correlation is not cause. A graph showing that countries using more GM crops have higher yields does not prove GM caused it; those countries may also use more fertiliser, water and machinery. Yield alone also ignores cost, access, food waste and fair distribution.

Cloning does not add diversity. Clones are genetically identical, so cloning an endangered animal does not add new alleles to its small gene pool.

Keeping GM animals contained. AquAdvantage salmon are farmed as sterile females so they cannot breed with wild salmon if they escape.

Increasing biodiversity. Biotechnology can raise diversity by using stored sperm and eggs to bring back lost alleles, or by making new crop varieties that farmers grow alongside old ones.

Quick summary

Biotechnology began with breeding and fermentation and now includes gene editing and mRNA vaccines.
Uses include medicine (gene therapy, insulin, vaccines), farming (GM crops), conservation and forensics.
Ethical issues include editing embryos, patents, access and privacy of DNA data.
Biotechnology can lower biodiversity (monocultures) or help conserve it (seed banks, DNA testing).
Evaluate by giving benefits, risks, ethical issues and a supported judgement.

Quiz

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Try 3 questions now

Which is the oldest form of biotechnology?
1. A Selective breeding of crops and animals
2. B CRISPR
3. C PCR
4. D Gene therapy
Show answer
A: Selective breeding of crops and animals
Farming and breeding began about 10 000 years ago.
Which Australian helped turn penicillin into a mass-produced medicine?
1. A Charles Darwin
2. B Howard Florey
3. C Gregor Mendel
4. D Robert Hooke
Show answer
B: Howard Florey
Florey and Chain developed penicillin as a medicine.
Gene therapy aims to
1. A remove all genes
2. B treat a genetic disease by adding or fixing a gene
3. C clone a person
4. D make vaccines from plants
Show answer
B: treat a genetic disease by adding or fixing a gene
A working gene is supplied to affected cells.