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Pre-1800 Developments
During this time, people were focused on developments in food. Agriculture became a thing and people started to farm and grow crops outside their houses. They domesticated wild animals and they then learned how to make cheese and the process of fermentation. People started to crossbreed and the mule was used to carry heavy loads and for farming. -
Mule
During the ancient time period, the crossbreeding of the mule was a huge development. This animal is a mix of a male donkey and female horse. They were very helpful in moving heavy loads and with farming. -
Vinegar
During the Ancient biotech period, the discovery that vinegar could be used to prevent the growth of certain microbes was very helpful in preserving food. The reason this happens is because of the low pH of vinegar. -
Cheese Making
During the Ancient Period of biotechnology, the people desicovered that an enzyme in a cow's stomach turns milk into cheese. This can be considered one of the first products of biotech. -
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Classical Biotechnology
This was the middle time period of biotechnology. During this time there were many scientific breakthroughs such as Mendel's Law's of inheritance and the creation of antibiotics. -
Nucleus Discovery
Robert Brown discovered a nucleus in the cell. A nucleus is the epicenter where DNA is found. This discovery happened around the same time as Mendel discovered genes. -
Nuclein Discovery
In 1868, a Swiss biologist named Fredrich Miescher reported nuclein which is a compound of nucleic acid that he extracted from white blood cells (WBC). This along with the nucleus discovery became the basis of modern molecular biology. -
Bacterial Colonies
During this year, a German physician named Robert Koch described the bacterial colonies that grow on potato slices. This was important because it wa the first ever solid medium. -
Agar Discovery
Walter Hesse, who worked in Robert Koch's lab, was talking to his wife about what makes jelly solid at a warm temperature and he discovered agar. This is now the medium that is used to obtain pure microbial cultures. -
Chromosome
A German scientist by the name of Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried Von Waldeyer-Hartz came up with the term chromosome. This represents an organized structure of DNA that is found in the coiled DNA segments. -
Small Pox & Rabies Vaccine
During the same time period as the Chromosome discovery, Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur developed vaccines to help protect against small pox and rabies. -
Genes are Confirmed
In 1900, the work of Gregor Mendel was confirmed by other scientists saying that Mendel's work about observational traits being passed down in units of information (later to be called genes) was a valid discovery. This was the basics for how information is passed along from generation to generation. -
"gene" coined
Wilhelm Johannsen coined the term Gene in 1909 and described it as the carrier of heredity. -
Term Biotechnology Used
The first time the term Biotechnology was used was in 1919 by a Hungarian Engineer by the name of Karl Erkey. This however was not the start of biotech, the word was simply used. Later on the official deffinition would be created. -
Eugenic Movement in USA
As genetics became a bigger deal, it started causing movements in the US. For example the US Immigration Act was partly put into place because people didn't want poorly educated people enetering the US because of genetics. -
Antibiotics
Alexander Fleming discovered antibiotics around the same time as the US Eugenic Movement. He made this discovery when he found that one microorganism could be used to kill another. -
The Theory of the Gene
T.H. Morgan showed the inheritance and role of chromosomes. He did this by using fruit flies. -
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Modern Biotechnology
This is the stage of biotech that we are still currently in. We have discovered the double helix structure of DNA and there are so many more advances in biotech that are allowing us to create life from a petri dish. -
DNA as a Genetic Material
During this year, JD Watson and FHC Crick discovered the structure of the DNA model. This was the new Double stranded helix model.This helped with DNA replicaton. The backbone of each polynucleotide strand consists of alternating deoxyribose and phosphate groups. The phosphate groups bond to the 5' and 3' carbon atoms of each other and the strands are antiparallel, so one lines up 5' to 3' and the other 3' to 5'. The bases from each strand form fydrogen bonds with each other and form base pairs. -
Operon
During this year, Jacob and Monad had given the concept of the operon in nuerons. -
Cytoplasmic Hybridization
During this year, Kohler and Milestein came up with the concept of cytoplasmic hybridization. and produced the first ever monoclonal antibodies. These discoveries revolutionized diagnostics. -
Human Genome Sequenced
In the year 2000, Craig Venter sequenced the human genome. This is the complete set of the nucleic sequences for humans. All of this is encoded as DNA within the 23 pairs of chromosomes. -
Genome replicates Auntonomosly
Craig Venter demonstrated that a synthetic genome could be replicated autonomosly. This could lead to creating new life in a test tube. Replicating autonomosly means that something occurs separtelly and independent of the chromosomes.
