History of Biotechnology

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Biotechnology is the merging of the knowledge obtained in biology with scientific methods and practices in technology. With the knowledge of cellular and molecular processes, biotechnology deals with modifying products and crops to suit specific applications and engineering them to make them more useful (Organization 2016). Here is the history of biotechnology and its timeline summary.

The probability and possibilities behind this kind of interest in biotechnology lie behind its boundless potential and promising approaches to serve and benefit every aspect of man’s life. Inventions and innovations in this field include food, health, and animal life (Ashish Swarup Verma 2011). Refer to the detailed history of biochemistry and history of genetics here.

Biotechnology History - A Timeline

DURING THE PRE-18TH CENTURY

Most of the inventions and developments in these periods are termed “discoveries” or “developments”. Such inventions were based on common observations about nature, which could be put to the test for the betterment of human life then (Berkeley 2012).

During ancient times, man, to meet the basic need for food, explored the possibilities of making food available and accessible by growing them near their shelters.

Domestication of Wild Animals — Source: Wikimedia

Around 7000 B.C.E The domestication of wild animals began the observation and applications of animal breeding in the daily life of man. Certainly, this endeavor was the initial period of the evolution of farming (Coley 2016).

This paved the way for other needs like developing food preservation methods and storage.

Man made new observations and invented food products like cheese and curd. In history, the invention of cheese can be considered one of the first direct products of biotechnology.

The exploitation of yeast in various products like making bread, producing vinegar, and fermenting products was done largely for human benefit. The discovery of yeast also paved the way for producing alcoholic beverages like wine, whiskey, and beer.

DURING THE 18TH CENTURY

This period in history is referred to as the phase of “Classical Biotechnology“. During this period, various observations and scientific evidence started coming in. This phase in history extended up to the mid-20^th century (Ashish Swarup Verma 2011).

DURING THE 19TH CENTURY

1859 A monk named Gregor Mendel performed experiments on the inheritance among pea plants. Because of his contributions, Gregor Mendel became the “Father of Genetics” (Bagley 2013).

1865 The results of Mendel’s experiments in 1865 showed that parents must pass unique physical factors which serve as the code of information to their offspring at conception. The offspring then gets one unit for each trait from their parents.

1866 After a year, Mendel proposed the Theory of Inheritance with three different principles: dominant expression, recessive expression, and independent assortment of traits. He also discovered that traits appear in twos; separate independently in the sex cells; combine again in pairs in the offspring (kenyon.edu 2016). However, sometime after their release, Mendel’s works were lost.

1869 Friedrich Miescher first recognized the “nuclein” inside the nuclei of human leukocytes (white blood cells) (Coley 2016).

1871 Ernst Haeckel suggested that the genetic material can be found in the nucleus. Later, his experiments proved this claim to be true.

Chromosomes as units that carry genetic information were discovered.

In the same year, Joseph Lister experimented with Penicillium glaucium and its antibacterial action on human tissue (Ashish Swarup Verma 2011). Refer to the book on Penicillium glaucium here.

DURING THE 20TH CENTURY TILL CURRENT

Early 20^th Century During this time, Mendel’s principles were found again after being lost for a long time.

Mendel’s work was ignored for such a long time because at the same time, Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was so consuming that it out-shined the significance of Mendel’s work (Berkeley 2012).

1919 Scientist Karl Ereky have foreseen a time when biology could be used for turning raw materials into useful products. He later coined the term biotechnology to describe the integration of biology with technology.

1921 Alexander Fleming defined new horizons for modern antibiotics with his discoveries of enzyme lysozyme (Coley 2016).

1928 Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, an antibiotic substance.
1940s The Second World War became a major hindrance to the emergence of scientific discoveries. After the end of the war, some very crucial discoveries were reported. Such paved the path for modern biotechnology and to its current status.
1953 Utilizing all discoveries before the James Watson and Francis Crick were able to obtain the double helical and 3D model of the DNA (Pray 2009). DNA replication process was also discovered.
1977 The process of sequencing was first done by scientist Frederick Sanger and the first ever organism to have its genome sequenced is a bacteriophage.
1983 Kary Mullis invented the Polymerase Chain Reaction. This technique is used to amplify a single copy of a segment of a DNA hence making millions of copies in just a short time (Utah.edu 2016).
1996 A sheep named Dolly was successfully cloned.An international research effort called the Human Genome Project was started. The goal of this project is to sequence and map the genome of man. It was completed in 2003; interestingly, the results showed the complete genetic blueprint for building a human being (USA.gov 2015).
At present, the endeavor of continuing genetic research is fueled by the desire of man to develop medical practices that can alleviate the suffering associated with human diseases. Many questions on different biological phenomena remain unanswered, so quests continue.

Top 10 Biotechnology News In 2017

Biotechnology is the branch of biology that harnesses cellular and biomolecular processes to develop technologies and products that help enrich our lives and the well-being of our planet. This article explored the top 10 biotechnology news in 2017.

15 Wonderful Biotechnology Inventions In 2018

Biotechnology is the new magic of the 21st century. Some of the biotech techniques include nanotechnology and tissue engineering which provide new cancer treatments, assist in water security and are slowly becoming crucial in sustainable industrial development. Here are the top 15 biotechnology news for 2018.

Top 10 Biotechnology Discoveries in 2019

Here are the top 10 best biotechnology discoveries in 2019 - this includes the production of enzymes outside of the cell and manipulate bacteria to consume CO2.

Top 10 Biotechnology News of 2020

Despite the difficulties the global lockdown created for science, the specialists in biotechnology managed to emerge from this situation with honor. Here are top 10 biotechnology news of 2020.

Top Biotechnology News of 2021

These 2021 biotechnological events provide us with a thorough understanding of our most recent developments in the fields of Synthetic Biology, Stem cell and Tissue engineering research, Genome editing and decoding the entire human transcriptomics, Construction of cell-free vaccine, and various other wonders.

Top 15 Biotechnology News of 2022

The 2022 biotechnological innovations paved the way for stem cell therapies, cannabinoid trichomes' roles in plant defense mechanisms, inventory methods to utilize human waste, the role of quick mRNA vaccines and more.

References

Ashish Swarup Verma, Shishir Agrahari, Shruti Rastogi, and Anchal Singh. “Biotechnology in the Realm of History.” Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences, 2011: 321–323.
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Berkeley. Genetic Variation. 2012. http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_17 (accessed July 22, 2016).
Coley, N. “History of Biochemistry.” History of Biochemistry, 2016: 9.
kenyon.edu. History of Genetics. 2016. http://biology.kenyon.edu/courses/biol114/Chap01/history_genetics.html (accessed July 22, 2016).
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Organization, Biotechnology Innovation. History of Biotechnology. 2016. https://www.bio.org/articles/history-biotechnology (accessed July 23, 2016).
Pray, L. “Discovery of DNA Structure and Function: Watson and Crick.” Nature Education, 2009: 100-101.
Smith, D. Uniformitarianism: Charles Lyell. 2016. http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_12 (accessed July 22, 2016).
USA.gov. All About The Human Genome Project (HGP). 2015. https://www.genome.gov/10001772/all-about-the–human-genome-project-hgp/ (accessed July 22, 2016).
Utah.edu. PCR. 2016. http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/pcr/ (accessed July 22, 2016).