Earth Science: Chemistry – Organic and Biochemistry – Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a rather young field of technological applications, yet some of its methods are much older.
As early as the fifth millennium B.C., the inhabitants of Mesopotamia utilized the capability of certain microorganisms to brew beer from cereal grains, and the ancient Egyptians also knew several types of wine as early as 3900 B.C
Earth Science: Chemistry – Organic and Biochemistry – Origin and Development
In 1992, the United Nations defined in its Convention on Biological Diversity that biotechnology uses biological systems in order to produce certain products, such as antibiotics or foodstuffs.
For a long time, microbiological processes have been used to purpose- fully manipulate the genetic material of plants and animals. However, this was done mainly intuitively, without a clear understanding of the scientific ideas behind it. Since the Neolithic period, humans have used artificial selection and crossbreeding to rear the plants most useful to them; they cultivated beer and wine for more than 5,000 years and soon thereafter began making sourdough bread.
Apart from alcoholic fermentation, it was also known during antiquity how to cultivate acetic and lactic acid bacteria for the purpose of preserving milk. In contrast to modern biotechnology, this “old” biotechnology took place outside the laboratory. In the course of the 20th century, modern f biotechnology achieved several profound break-throughs.
Significant steps include the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928 and the clarification of the molecular structure of DNA by Watson and Crick in 1953, the introduction of the methods of gene technology since 1973, and finally the decoding of human hereditary material a few years ago (2001). In the meantime, biotechnology has become one of the key technologies of the 21st century.
According to an estimate by a British consulting firm, there were more than 2,000 companies (with about 60,000 employees) existing in Europe in 2004, which were developing exclusively biotechnological products or procedures. Biotechnology principally uses methods of genetic engineering (gene technology) and of biochemistry.
In the process of this type of work, microorganisms are changed so that they take on desired characteristics, in order to produce certain products, such as insulin. Apart from microorganisms, modern biotechnology also modifies enzymes and even plants—for instance, to produce larger yields or to become more resistant to disease.