ISSN 2303-4521
PERIODICALS OF ENGINEERING AND NATURAL SCIENCES
Vol. 3 No. 1 (2015)
Available online at: http://pen.ius.edu.ba
The Biological Revolution
Ayla Arslan
International University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Department of Genetics and
Bioengineering, Hrasnicka Cesta 15, Ilida 71210 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract
Since the 1950s biological sciences are on the rise. Today the rise of biological sciences have become so drammatic
that its role has evolved from a single discipline to completely new sets of disciplines which we call today as life
sciences. Due to the advancements in genomic technologies the fields of life sciences like molecular biology,
biotechnology, molecular medicine, nanobiotechnology and neuroscience have evolved rapidly. The positive impact
of these developments are not only evident in science and technology but also in economic growth and development.
Keywords: genomics, biology, molecular biology, genetic engineering, biotechnology
species. Today the genomic sequence of many species
including Homo sapiens is publicly available already.
This means that genomic sequence of human for
example, is decoded, numbered, catalogued and stored
in the publicly available databases thanks to the power
of Human Genome Project (Lander ES, Linton LM,
Birren, et al., International Human Genome Sequencing
Consortium, 2001). However, now, in this postgenomic era, we still do not know the exact meaning of
this code which is composed of billions of nucleotides
arranged in the form of forty six chromosomes in each
somatic cells of our body. Even the number of genes in
the human genome is not known precisely. So, the
current challenge of the post-genomic era is to identify
all of the genes found in the human genome and to
determine their functions and their interactions with
each other and with the environment.
The nineteenth century was the age of engineering which
served as a fuel for industrial revolution in Europe and
North America (Wengenroth, 2000). The twentieth
century was the age of chemistry and physics, despite
the fact that key discoveries in biological sciences begin
to emerge during this period, too (Agar, 2012). New
discoveries and foundations in chemistry and physics
like radioactivity, theories of atom, quantum and
relativity, has revolutionized the science and technology.
The twenty first century is definitely the age of biology.
Many discoveries and inventions like DNA sequencing,
restriction enzymes and PCR, caused biology to become
dramatically differentiated and this boosted the
development of new disciplines collectively called life
sciences. Especially young fields like molecular biology,
modern
biotechnology,
molecular
medicine,
nanobiotechnology and neuroscience have developed
rapidly. This trend can be easily tracked by a snapshot of
Noble prizes given in the last decade. Interestingly, the
majority of Noble Prizes in Chemistry have been
awarded for the subjects of biology since the beginning
of 2000s. Table 1 lists the topics of biology (highlighted
by blue color) awarded by Noble prize in the field of
chemistry. Between the years of 2002 to 2015, nine
Nobel prizes of chemistry out of fifteen went to subjects
of biology or subjects related to biology. Thus, the life
sciences are on the rise.
Despite the need of further work to fully benefit from
the post-genomic era, it is already visible that genomic
technologies are becoming very significant for
economic growth and development. For example,
according to a report published by Battelle Technology
Partnership Practice (Tripp and Grueber, 2011), the
economic impact of genomic research is estimated as
$796 billion between the years 1988 and 2010. In fact
the return of investment has been calculated as 141:1
which implies that for every $1 invested by the U.S.
government a $141 economic activity is generated. In
addition, according to the same study, genomics
generated at least 51,000 jobs, and indirectly supported
at least 310,000 jobs leading to an increase of $20
billion in personal income and $67 billion contribution
to the U.S. economy. These figures clearly indicate that
developments in life sciences are not only crucial for
The rise of the life sciences is very much dependent on
the genomic research and associated technologies. The
genome is defined as the total genetic information of a
Reviewed by Prof. Dr. Kemal Yelekci (Kadir Has University),
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tun atal (Uskudar University) and Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Osman Kola (Adana Science and Technology University)
36
further analysis of natural phenomena but also
important for economic growth and development.
The strong economic impact of life sciences is not
limited to recent impact of genomic research as
explained above. The biotechnology companies like
Genentech (acquired by Roche now) in the Silicon
Valley has already been seeded in the 1970s when, for
example, insulin is cloned in bacteria and produced as
recombinant drug by the techniques of genetic
engineering. Genetic engineering allows scientists to
manipulate DNA for a specific purpose. Thus, it is
possible to inactivate, exchange or mutate a gene or
genes of a given species. For example, when a gene is
Table 1. Topics of Noble prizes in the field of chemistry since
2002. Rows highlighted by blue color show subjects of
biology or subjects related to biology (source:
nobelprize.org)
Year
Topic
2002
Biological
macromolecules
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Channels in cell
membranes
Protein degradation
Metathesis method in
organic synthesis
Eukaryotic transcription
Chemical processes on
solid surfaces
Green fluorescent
protein (GFP)
Structure and function
of the ribosome
Palladium-catalyzed
cross couplings in
organic synthesis
Quasicrystals
G-protein-coupled
receptors
Multiscale models for
complex chemical
systems
Super-resolved
fluorescence
microscopy
DNA repair
Nominee
John B. Fenn,
Koichi Tanaka,
Kurt Wthrich
Peter Agre,
Roderick
MacKinnon
Aaron Ciechanover,
Avram Hershko
Irwin Rose
Yves Chauvin,
Robert H. Grubbs,
Richard R. Schrock
Roger D. Kornberg
inactivated in the genome of a species it is called a
knock-out (KO) organism (Tsien et al., 1996) and KO
animals have provided the basis of many studies
directed to understand the function of a selected gene
during health and disease. Genetic techniques like
cre/loxP systems help scientists manipulate genes in
specific neuron types or tissues of brain (Tsien et al.,
1996) Thus, ranging from knocking out genes to spatiotemporal control of gene activity, there are a wide
variety of genetic engineering approaches to manipulate
genomes. These methods and approaches are likely to
increase in the future and thus more development in
medicine,
biotechnology,
neuroscience,
bionanotechnology and pharmacogenetics is expected in
the future.
While the developments briefly described so far are
revolutionary, there exists many associated problems.
Among these problems is the lack of equal opportunity.
The impact of the biological revolution is not equally
felt across the globe. There is no enough stimulation in
the developing countries and people in these countries
continue to suffer from the diseases for which science
will have found cures (WHO Repor t, 2006). Thus, we
need to develop awareness to address the requirement
for the equality of opportunity for the knowledge and
benefits of biological revolution.
References
Agar, John (2012) Science in the 20th Century and Beyond,
Wiley ISBN: 978-0-7456-3469-2
Lander ES, Linton LM, Birren, et al., International Human
Genome Sequencing Consortium (2001) Initial sequencing
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Suzuki
Tang et al., (1999) Genetic enhancement of learning and
memory in mice Nature, 401: 63-9.
Tripp, S & Grueber, M (2011) Economic Impact of the
Human Genome Project. Battelle Memorial Institute,
Technology Partnership Practice
Tsien et al., (1996) Subregion- and cell type-restricted gene
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countries
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