Historical Review

In general, people think that biotechnology is very modern, but by its strict definition - the manipulation of living organisms - biotechnology is in fact one of the most ancient of scientific processes manipulated by humans (although only very recently known by the term). Following are the main steps of the development of biotechnology.

Ancient biotechnology

Some ten thousand years ago, early agrarian societies were starting to put aside the seeds of the plants with the most desirable traits for planting the next year, and were similarly breeding only the most prized livestock for reproduction instead of just consuming the animals on an indiscriminate basis. Through this practice of artificial selection that has taken place over thousands of years, farmers gradually produced new varieties of plants and animals that retained the desirable traits found in the wild species but were modified in other ways beneficial to human use: higher yields, drought resistance and so on.

Wine, beer, bread and cheese were also produced a long time ago and were all manufactured through different fermentation processes (fermentation is a biotechnological process whereby enzymes such as yeast are utilized to convert sugar or starch into other products, such as alcohol or the carbon dioxide that causes bread to rise.) Sumarians and Babylonians were drinking beer by 6,000 BC, Egyptians were baking leavened bread by 4,000 BC and wine was known in the Near East by the time the Book of Genesis was written.

Classical biotechnology

The term "classical biotechnology" can be used to describe the course of development that fermentation has taken since the ancient biotechnology period. From the mid-nineteenth century to the present classical biotechnology has exploited our knowledge of cell processes to refine fermentation technology. Ethanol, acetic acid, butane and acetone were produced by the end of the nineteenth century by open microbial fermentation processes; waste-water treatment and municipal composting of solid wastes are the largest capacity fermentation processes carried out. In the 1940s complicated engineering techniques were introduced to the mass cultivation of microorganisms to exclude contaminating microorganisms. Examples include antibiotics, amino acids, organic acids, enzymes, steroids, polysaccharides, vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. Knowledge of fermentation has increased to such a level that a large number of important industrial compounds can be readily produced.

Modern biotechnology

The latest biotechnology revolution began in the 1970s with the arrival of applied genetics and recombinant DNA technology. The ability to manipulate living organisms with today's precision requires intricate knowledge of cell structure, of the biochemical reactions that take place within the cell, and of the genetic makeup of cells. This 'genetic engineering' has had a profound impact on almost all areas of traditional biotechnology and further permitted breakthroughs in medicine and agriculture, in particular those that would be impossible by traditional breeding approaches. Some of the most exciting advances will be in new pharmaceutical drugs and gene therapies to treat previously incurable diseases, to produce healthier foods, safer pesticides, innovative environmental technologies and new energy sources. Modern biotechnology is the result of scientific discoveries and technological developments that span the more than three hundred years from the first microscopes to the first molecular cloning experiments.