Bi9540 Biotechnology and practical use
of algae and fungi
Lecture 1 – Introduction to biotechnology
Course organization
 Lectures every week
 Materials in English, lectures in Czech
 Attendance is not obliogatory, yet highly recommended
 Activity during lessons (discussions etc.)
 Oral exam
Lecturers
 Mgr. Petr Hrouda, PhD.
 Dept. of Botany and Zoology, Fac. Sci. MU
 Office A32/211
 Mgr. Lukáš Chrást
 Loschmidt Laboratories, Dept. of Experimental Biology
and RECETOX, Fac. Sci. MU
 Office A13/311
Topics covered by Bi9540
 Introduction to biotechnology
 Physiology and cultivation of cyanobacteria, algae and fungi
 Toxic metabolites of fungi, poisonous toadstools and toxins of microscopic fungi,
possibilities of risk elimination
 Cyanobacteria and algae as nutritional supplements, algae in traditional medicine
 Biofuel production using cyanobacteria and algae
 Gene and metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria and algae
 Yeasts and filamentous fungi in classic biotechnology
 Yeasts as expression system in molecular biotechnology
 Fungi in traditional medicine, antibiotics
 Exploitation of fungi for natural substances production, fungi as industrial chassis
 Fungi as biocontrol agents in agriculture, phytopathogenic fungi and their elimination
 Fungi as nutrition sources, cultivation of edible mushrooms
What is biotechnology?
 Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms
to develop or make products, or "any technological
application that uses biological systems, living organisms
or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or
processes for specific use" (UN Convention on Biological
Diversity, Art. 2)
 The term ‘biotechnology’ was coined
by Karl Ereky in 1919
6 colours of biotechnology
 Red – medical
 White – industrial
 Green – agriculture
 Blue – marie/aquatic
 Black – bioterorism
 Grey – environmental
+ bioinformatics
Classical vs Modern
 Classical biotechnology
 Traditional approach since archaic times
 Usage of natural strains or domestication of wild species
 Agriculture, beer, fermented products, cheese, etc.
 Modern (=molecular) biotechnology
 Since late 70s and early 80s
 Rapidly growing field, mostly important for medicine
 Uses genetically modified organisms
 Production of recombinant proteins, antibodies, molecular farming,
bioremediation; GM crops and livestocks
Biotechnology
 Interdisciplinary approach is essential
Levels of biotechnology
Cell to factory analogy
 Cells are pretty much working like a factory. Biotech
makes an advantage of this fact
 Most important principle of all times
 Valuable products from raw material
 Always keep this in mind when
designing a bioprocess, otherwise
you lose money
Upstream And Downstream Processes
host organism
strain improvement
medium engineering
cultivation upscale
industrial fermentation
culture separation
cell disruption
purification
product
finishing
Biotechnology is growing
Biotechnology is growing
History of biotechnology
Ancient times (Biotechnology in BC)
 10,000 BC – neolite – farming and domestication
 8,000 BC – Egypt – fermented bread
 8,000 BC – Middle East – cheese production
 6,000 BC – wine production
 5,000 BC – brewing in Egypt
 3,000 BC – all important crops of Old World domesticated
 1,000 BC – all important crops of New World domesticated
Ancient times (Biotechnology in BC)
 700 BC – Assyria – artificial pollination of date palm
 500 BC – The Chinese use moldy curds as antibiotic
treatment
 250 BC – Greece – crop rotation
 100 BC – China – powdered chrysanthemum as insecticide
Pre-20th century biotechnology
 1590 Janssen invents the microscope
 1663 Hooke discovers cells
 1675 A. van Leeuwenhoek – father of microbiology –
discovers bacteria and protozoa
 1797 Jenner – smallpox vaccine
Pre-20th century biotechnology
 1833 The cell nucleus is discovered
 1839 Schleiden, Schwann, Virchow – cell theory
 1855 Escherichia coli is discovered
 1855 Pasteur proves yeast are living organisms
 1859 Darwin proposes theory of evolution
 1865 Mendel publishes laws of inheritance
Pre-20th century biotechnology
 1869 Miescher discovers DNA
 1879 Flemming discovers chromatin
 1883 Rabies vaccine is developed
 1888 Waldeyer discovers the chromosome
 1900 Mendelism is rediscovered
Early 20th century
 1910 Morgan – genes are carried on chromosomes
 1915 Twort discovers bacteriophages
 1919 The term ‘biotechnology’ is coined
 1928 Fleming discovers penicillin
 1928 Griffith – bacterial transformation
20th century biotechnology
 1944 Avery – DNA is building blocks of genes
 1953 Watson, Crick, Wilkins, Franklin – structure of DNA
 1954 Development of cell culturing techniques
 1956 Fermentation process is perfected
 1961 Nucleotides carry the genetic code
Biotechnology in the 1970s
 Further development of process technology
 Biotechnology recognized as independent discipline
 1973 Cohen et al. – recombinant DNA technology
Biotechnology in the 1980s
 1981 First GM plant reported
 1981 First successfully cloned mice
 1982 Humulin approved by FDA
 1983 First artificial chromosome
 1983 Engineered Ti plasmid
 1985 Production of HBV vaccine
 1988 Mullis – PCR method
 1988 US Congress funds the Human Genome Project
 1989 Microorganisms used to clean up oil spill
Biotechnology since 1990s
 1994 First GM food approved by FDA
 1997 Dolly is born
 2000 Development of Golden rice
 2001 Human genetic code published
 Drugs produced in GM animals
 Molecular farming
GMO
 Genetically modified organisms
 Deliberate artificial changes in genome (insertions,
deletions of genes) achieved by recombinant DNA
technology
 Breeding, crossing, mutagenesis etc. products are not GMO
 Transgenic organism
 Essential for preserving the mankind
Concept of recombinant dna technology
http://fhs-bio-wiki.pbworks.com/f/1265935367/8363.nfg021.jpg
Techniques of DNA transfer
 Transformation/transfection
 Chemical transformation
 Electroporation (1.6-2.5 kV, 5 ms)
 Micro-injection
 Biolistic delivery
 Liposomal transfection
 T-DNA transfer
 Transduction
 Viral infection
Current molecular biotechnology
Monoclonal antibodies
Ecker et al. (2015) mAbs 7: 9-14.
Why fungi and algae??
 Eukaryotic orgamisms
 Post-translational modifications
 Easier for cultivation than mammalial cells or tissue cultures
 Several genomes sequenced
 Most important for classical biotechnology
 Components of traditional medicine
 Natural sources of useful compounds and enzymes
 Sustainability
Edible mushrooms
 Production of edible mushrooms in Taiwan 2009/10
Edible mushrooms
 Wholesale prices of mushrooms (EUR/kg) in 2008
Agaricus Pleurotus
 China
 USA
 Canada
 Netherlands
 Poland
 France
 Spain
 Italy
 CZE
Luxury food
 Truffles
 Black truffle – 2,500 USD/kg
 White truffles (T. magnatum) is the world’s priciest food
costing 6,000 – 10,000 USD/kg.
Pharmaceuticals in yeast
Yeast in biotechnology
Algae and cyanobacteria in biotechnology
 Food and dietary supplements, livestock feed
 Biofuels
 Bioplastics
 Bioremediation
Advantages of algal biotechnology
 Cost-effective, eco-friendly process
 Photosynthetic organisms, nonpathogenic
 High nutritional value
 Algae are able to fix CO2 -> wastewater treatment