Using Genetics and Biotechnology to Benefit Humans and Animals

Based on Dr. Dechows talk

Danling Ye

Biotechnology has already been used to further agricultural and medical fields.
Genetic engineering, a form of biotechnology, is a powerful tool because it allows
scientists to actively manipulate genes the building blocks of proteins that determine
much of an organisms characteristics by either adding or removing DNA to the
organisms genome. In the future, scientists will continue to use biotechnology and
genetic engineering to improve animals. Soon, it may be possible to have pain-free
animals, obtain human milk from cows, and banish menopause through
biotechnology.
1,2,3

Using biotechnology to produce animals that do not feel pain could make raising
livestock more humane and mitigate some of the opposition to eating meat. Scientists
have already learned much about the brains response to pain and have done
experiments with mice in which they were able to eliminate pains unpleasantness, but
not its sensation.
1
They have discovered that the brain has two separate pathways
necessary for pain perception: a sensory pathway, and an affective pathway that
determines the pains unpleasantness.
1
The anterior cingulate cortex is important in the
bodys perception of pains unpleasantness, and by genetically engineering mice so that
they lack certain proteins involved in the operation of the anterior cingulate cortex,
scientists have developed mice that do not become hypersensitive to painful stimulus,
but will still react to a painful stimulus.
1
For example, Zhuo and colleagues have
identified cellular mechanisms of pain-related activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and
some key features that are needed so that long-term potentiation a process resulting
in the enhancement of connections of two neurons through simultaneous stimulation
can occur.
4
The presence of extracellular-regulated kinases, the presence of mGluR1
subreceptor, and the presence of adenyl cyclases AC1 and AC8 that respond to Ca
2+

and lead to the production of cAMP, a second messenger, are all involved in long-term
potentiation.
4
Blocking the processes involved in long-term potentiation leaves acute
pain intact, but reduces persistent and chronic pain.
4
In another experiment done by
Feng Wei et al., the scientists were able to create knock-out mice that lacked the
enzymes AC1 and AC8.
4
The mice had normal responses to tests of acute pain, but
had reduced responses to persistent pain as compared to mice in a control group.
4
If
the pain-reducing technology used in mice can be applied to agriculture animals, meat
products can be produced more humanely.
In addition to producing pain-free animals, biotechnology can be used to
develop cows that produce milk similar to human milk. Scientists have genetically
engineered cows to produce milk with lysozyme, an antimicrobial human protein found
in human milk, lactoferrin, which boosts the number of immune cells in babies, and
alpha-lactalbumin, another milk protein.
2
Professor Li and colleagues have done
research showing that it is possible to humanize cow milk, which could be extremely
beneficial to babies in the future.
2
The currently available baby milk formula is often
criticized for not being an adequate substitute for human breast milk, but humanized
cow milk could be a healthy substitute to breast milk. In addition, transgenic cows could
produce milk with biopharmaceutical properties on a large-scale.
5
Currently some
individuals have ethical objections to introducing humanized cow milk and oppose
genetically engineering organisms in general. In addition, problems with the technique
used to genetically engineer the cows resulted in the death of some of the transgenic
cows in Professor Lis study.
2
However, as biotechnology advances, humanized cow
milk or biopharmaceutical cow milk might become widely available to the public.
Biotechnology also could be used to help older women. A team of researchers at
Edinburgh University, working in conjunction with a team from Harvard Medical School,
were the first to be able to grow egg cells from laboratory stem cells.
3
Previously,
scientists have used embryonic stem cells, which are derived from the early embryo and
can grow indefinitely and remain pluripotent if placed under the right conditions, to
produce different types of somatic cells.
6
However, producing egg cells was a
breakthrough because it had never been done before; gametic cells are harder to
produce from stem cells than somatic cells. Producing egg cells from stem cells could
potentially have tremendous benefits; stem cell based rejuvenation of oocyte reserves
in ovaries could help older women decrease their risk of developing many age-related
health diseases, such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive
dysfunction.
7


As scientists further study animal genetics and improve biotechnology, they will
find more ways to use their knowledge to produce animals with desirable
characteristics, enhance human medicine, and improve agriculture. Through advances
in biotechnology, farm animals could live healthy, pain free lives, babies could drink
healthier milk from cows, and women could live longer. Only time will tell how the
discoveries of today will be used in the future.
























Bibliography
1) Shriver, Adam. "Not Grass-Fed, but at Least Pain-Free." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 18 Feb. 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
2) "Genetically Modified Cows Produce 'human' Milk." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media
Group, 02 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
3) Connor, Steven. "Scientists Rewrite Rules of Human Reproduction." The
Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 07 Apr. 2012. Web. 27 Apr.
2014.
4) Shriver, Adam. "Knocking Out Pain in Livestock: Can Technology Succeed Where
Morality Has Stalled?" Neuroethics 2.3 (2009): 115-24. Print.
5) Berkel, Patrick H.c. Van, Mick M. Welling, Marlieke Geerts, Harry A. Van Veen, Bep
Ravensbergen, Mourad Salaheddine, Ernest K. J. Pauwels, Frank Pieper, Jan H.
Nuijens, and Peter H. Nibbering. "Large Scale Production of Recombinant
Human Lactoferrin in the Milk of Transgenic Cows." Nature Biotechnology 20.5
(2002): 484-87. Print.
6) Pera, M. F., B. Reubinoff, and A. Trounson. "Human Embryonic Stem Cells." Journal
of Cell Science (2000): 5-10. Print.
7) Tilly, J. L., and E. E. Telfer. "Purification of Germline Stem Cells from Adult
Mammalian Ovaries: A Step Closer towards Control of the Female Biological
Clock?" Molecular Human Reproduction 15.7 (2009): 393-98. Print.