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 IOP Publishing

Introduction to Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Volume 1

Basic techniques and concepts
Saurabh Bhatia

Chapter 1
History, scope and development of
biotechnology

1.1 Introduction
The utilization of biological processes, organisms or systems to produce products that
are anticipated to improve human lives is termed biotechnology. Broadly, this can be
defined as the engineering of organisms for the purpose of human usage. It can also be
defined as the skill set required for the utilization of living systems or the influencing of
natural processes so as to produce products, systems or environments to help human
development. Currently biotechnology places more emphasis on the establishment of
hybrid genes followed by their transfer into organisms in which some, or all, of the
gene is not usually present. In prehistoric times, a primitive form of biotechnology was
practised by agriculturalists who established better-quality species of plants and
animals by methods of cross-pollination or cross-breeding. Previous forms of
biotechnology include the training and selective breeding of animals, the cultivation
of crops and the utilization of micro-organisms to produce products such as cheese,
yogurt, bread, beer and wine. Early agriculture concentrated on producing food.
The most primitive type of biotechnology is the cultivation of plants and the
training (in particular the domestication) of animals. The domestication of animals
stretches back over 10 000 years, when our ancestors also started maintaining plants
as a reliable source of food. The earliest examples of such domesticated plants are
rice, barley and wheat. Wild animals were also controlled to produce milk or meat.
The ancient production of cheese, yogurt and bread from micro-organisms is also
reported. Various alcoholic drinks such as beer and wine were developed during this
period, when the process of fermentation was first discovered.
Later, it was discovered that micro-organisms, e.g. bacteria, yeast or molds,
hydrolyze sugars when they lack oxygen and are ultimately responsible for
fermentation. This process results in the formation of products (food and drink).
Consequently, fermentation was perhaps first explored by chance, since in earlier

doi:10.1088/978-0-7503-1299-8ch1 1-1 ª IOP Publishing Ltd 2018

 Introduction to Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Volume 1

times nobody knew how it worked. During the prehistoric era some civilizations
considered fermentation to be a gift from their gods. Scientific evidence for
fermentation was first described by Louis Pasteur in the late 1800s. He demon-
strated a theory known as germ theory, presenting the survival of micro-organisms
and their further effects on the process of fermentation. Pasteur’s efforts con-
tributed towards several branches of science. In earlier times several traditional
medicines were used as biotechnology products, such as honey, which could be
used to treat several respiratory ailments and as an ointment for wounds. Since
honey contains several antimicrobial compounds it is considered to be a natural
antibiotic and is effectively used in wound healing. Similarly, in China as far back
as 600 BC, soybean curds were used to treat boils. Ukrainian farmers once used
utilized moldy cheese to treat infected wounds. It was later observed that
antibiotics present in such molds killed bacteria and averted the spread of
infection. In 1928 Alexander Fleming extracted penicillin, the first antibiotic,
from mold [1]. This discovery revolutionized the available treatments, with
antibiotics having more potential and being more effective than earlier medicines.
The development of biotechnology in terms of crop rotation (including leguminous
crops), vaccinations and animal-drawn technology, was realized between the late
eighteenth century and the commencement of the nineteenth century [1]. The late
nineteenth century was known to be a milestone in biology. Some of the key
developments during this period are highlighted below:
• Structures for examining fermentation and other microbial developments
were identified by Robert Koch, Pasteur and Joseph Lister.
• Gregor Mendel’s work on genetics was carried out.
• Micro-organisms were discovered.

In the 1920s a start was made on the production of useful chemicals through biological
processes, when Chaim Weizmann used Clostridium acetobutylicum for the conversion
of starch into butanol and acetone (the acetone thus produced was used as an essential
component of explosives during World War I) [2]. At the beginning of the eighteenth
century, developments in biotechnology tended to bring industry and agriculture
together. Later, one some basic processes of biotechnology such as fermentation were
refined to develop paint solvents for the emerging automobile industry and acetone
from starch. These processes were promoted during World War I. In the 1930s the
processes of biotechnology moved more into utilizing surplus agricultural goods to
supply industry as a replacement for imports or petrochemicals.
The advent of World War II brought the manufacture of penicillin. The
production of antibiotics from micro-organisms became possible when Fleming
discovered penicillin, which was later produced at a large scale from cultures of
Penicillium notatum (this proved useful for the treatment of wounded soldiers during
World War II) [1]. The focus of biotechnology shifted to pharmaceuticals. The Cold
War years were ruled by work on micro-organisms for the preparation for biological
products along with antibiotics and fermentation processes [3].
Biotechnology is now being used in numerous disciplines including bioremedia-
tion, energy production and food processing agriculture. DNA fingerprinting is

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 Introduction to Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Volume 1

often practiced in forensics. Insulin production and other biotech-based medicines

(biopharmaceuticals) are produced through cloning of vectors with genes of interest
(GOIs). Immunoassays are frequently utilized in medicine for drug efficiency and
pregnancy testing. In addition, immunoassays are also utilized by farmers to find
hazardous levels of pesticides, herbicides and toxins in crops and animal-based
products. These tests also offer rapid field tests for the determination of industrial
chemicals, in particular, in ground water, sediment and soil. Biotechnology also has
vast scope in agriculture for the production of plants that are resistant to insects,
weeds and plant diseases. This can be achieved by the introduction of GOIs using
genetic engineering.
Selective breeding of plants and animals was practiced in the past without
awareness of the basic concepts of biotechnology. In this procedure organisms with
desirable traits were allowed to mate to further enhance these traits in their offspring.
Consequently, it was revealed that selective breeding could improve yields as well as
productivity. During this time farmers were not aware that selective breeding
innovators were modifying the genetic make-up of organisms. An outstanding
example is the corn plant, which has been enriched by selective breeding to develop
an improved source of food and has given a platform for plant breeders to develop
more hybrid varieties. Regarding animals, dogs are another example of selective
breeding. Breeding between different dogs was promoted to improve traits e.g. size,
agility, shape and color, resulting in breeds from the tiny Chihuahua to the Great
Dane. Another revolutionary development in biotechnology that initiated the era of
genetics was started in 1865 by a monk, Gregor Mendel, who recognized genes as the
unit of inheritance. It took almost another 90 years of research to determine that genes
are made up of DNA. This breakthrough was the beginning of modern biotechnology.
Recent developments in biotechnology have led to an expansion in its sophistication,
scope and applicability. As mentioned above, the simplest way to define biotechnol-
ogy is to split this word into its two constituent parts (biotechnology = biology +
technology). By considering these two key words we can define biotechnology as a set
of techniques that are employed to manipulate living organisms, or utilize biological
agents or their components, to produce useful products/services. The vast nature of
biotechnology has frequently made a detailed definition of the subject rather difficult.
Some definitions of biotechnology are as follows:
• ‘Biotechnology means any scientific application that uses biological systems,
living organisms or derivatives thereof, to produce or alter products or
processes for particular use’ [4].
• ‘The utilization of living organisms, systems or processes constitutes bio-
technology’ [5].
• Based on the Collins English Dictionary definition [6], biotechnology is the
employment of living organisms, their parts or processes, to develop active
and useful products and to provide services e.g. waste treatment. The term
signifies a broad range of processes, from the use of earthworms as a source of
protein to the genetic modification of bacteria to offer human gene products,
e.g. growth hormones.

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 Introduction to Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Volume 1

• According to the Golden Treasury of Science and Technology [7], biotechnol-

ogy is a discipline based on the harnessing of life processes which are
controlled for the bulk production of valuable substances.

It is obvious from the above definitions that biotechnology includes different

technologies that rely on information gained by modern discoveries in biochemistry,
cell biology and molecular biology. These technologies are already having a huge
impact on diverse areas of life, including agriculture, food processing, medical
technology and waste treatment.
• Biotechnology consists of ‘the controlled employment of biological agents,
e.g. micro-organisms or cellular components, for favorable use’ [8].
• Biotechnology has been defined as ‘Janus-faced’ [9]. This means that there are
two sides to it. On one side, we know that the technology allows DNA to be
modified so that genes can be moved from one organism to another. On the
other, it also entails comparatively new techniques whose results are untested
and should be met with care.
• Biotechnology is ‘the integrated use of microbiology, biochemistry and
engineering sciences in production or as service operation’ [10].
• Biotechnology is the commercial employment of micro-organisms and living
plant and animal cells to create substances or effects beneficial to people. It
includes the production of antibiotics, vitamins, vaccines, plastics, etc [11].
• ‘Bio’ refers to life and ‘technology’ refers to the application of information for
practical use, i.e. the application of living organisms to create or improve a
product [11].
• It involves the industrial application of living organisms or their products,
which entails the intentional manipulation of their DNA molecules. It may
mean making a living cell execute a particular task in a predictable and
controllable way [11].
• The term biotechnology is occasionally also applied to processes in which
micro-organisms such as yeasts and bacteria are cultured under strictly
controlled environmental conditions. For this reason, fermentation is occa-
sionally called the oldest form of biotechnology. Genetic engineering techni-
ques are frequently, but not always, used in biotechnology [11].
• The Universities Press Dictionary of Biology defines biotechnology as ‘the
application of technology to biological processes for industrial, agricultural
and medical purposes’ [12].
• The Oxford Dictionary of Biology [13] defines biotechnology as ‘the develop-
ment of techniques for the application of biological processes to the
production of materials of use in medicine and industry.’
• The employment of cells and biological molecules to explain problems or
make valuable products. These biological molecules include DNA, RNA and
proteins.

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 Introduction to Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Volume 1

• Biotechnology may be defined as ‘the utilization of living organisms in

systems or processes for the production of valuable products; it may involve
algae, bacteria, fungi, yeast, cells of higher plants and animals or subsystems
of any of these or isolated components from living matter’ [14].

It may be seen that the diverse definitions of biotechnology above differ in their
approach, content and emphasis. But there are two main characteristics common to
them all are. First, biotechnology involves the exploitation of biological entities (i.e.
micro-organisms, cells of higher organisms—either living or dead), their compo-
nents or constituents (e.g. enzymes), in such a way that some functional product or
service is generated. Second, this product or service should aim to improve human
welfare.
In summary, biotechnology is the ‘[a]pplication of the theory of engineering and
biological science to generate new products from raw materials of biological origin,
e.g. vaccines or food’, or, in other words, it can also be defined as ‘the exploitation of
living organism/s or their product/s to change or improve human health and human
surroundings’ [15].
Hungarian engineer Karl Ereky first coined the term ‘biotechnology’ in 1919,
meaning the production of products from raw materials with the aid of living
organisms [16, 17]. As mentioned above, biotechnology is not new, since human
civilization has been exploiting living organisms to solve problems and improve our
way of life for millennia. The production technologies and processes involved in
animal husbandry, agriculture, horticulture, etc, utilize plants and animals to produce
useful products. However, such technologies are not regarded as biotechnology since
they are long recognized and well-established disciplines in their own right. Today, the
exploitation of animal and plant cells cultured in vitro as well as their constituents for
generating products/services is an integral part of biotechnology.

1.2 Branches of biotechnology

The definition of biotechnology can be further divided into different areas known as
red, green blue and white.
• Red biotechnology: This area includes medical procedures such as utilizing
organisms for the production of novel drugs or employing stem cells to
replace/regenerate injured tissues and possibly regenerate whole organs. It
could simply be called medical biotechnology.
• Green biotechnology: Green biotechnology applies to agriculture and involves
such processes as the development of pest-resistant grains and the accelerated
evolution of disease-resistant animals.
• Blue biotechnology: Blue biotechnology, rarely mentioned, encompasses
processes in the marine and aquatic environments, such as controlling the
proliferation of noxious water-borne organisms.
• White biotechnology: White (also called gray) biotechnology involves indus-
trial processes such as the production of new chemicals or the development of
new fuels for vehicles.

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