7 Biotechnology and anthropology

Diptendu Chatterjee

epgp books

 

 

 

Contents:

    Anthropology in biological aspect

Anthropology and biotechnology

Different aspects of Biotechnology

Application of Biotechnology in Anthropology

Molecular anthropology and DNA hybridization

Different methodologies of biotechnology used in Anthropology specially in man

Summary

 

Learning Objective:

  • To focus on the application of Biotechnology in Anthropology and specially in Human being.

    Introduction

 

Anthropology is the study of human in all aspect. Biological anthropology, is the specialized discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human. Biotechnology is the tool of any living systems to develop for modify products or processes for specific use by using technological application that uses biological systems (Arnold, 2005).

 

Hungarian engineer Karoly Ereky first coined the term Biotechnology in 1919 and later apart from agriculture and medicine it has expanded to genomics, recombinant gene techniques, applied immunology, and development of pharmaceutical therapies and food production (Leakey, 1970).

 

The different terms has been developed in specific fields such as –

a.   Blue biotechnology – is a term that has been used to describe the marine and aquatic applications.

b.   Green biotechnology – is biotechnology applied to agricultural processes.

c.   Red biotechnology – is applied to medical processes.

d.   White biotechnology – also known as industrial biotechnology, etc.

e.   apart from this a new field emerged i.ePharmacogenomics – is the technology that analyses how genetic makeup affects an individual’s response to drugs. Such technologydeveloped personalized medicine concept which is very important in population variation and ethnic specificity in anthropology.

 

Another important area is Molecular anthropology -in which molecular analysis is used to determine evolutionary links between ancient and modern human populations, as well as between contemporary species. Generally, comparisons are made between sequence, either DNA or protein sequence, however early studies used comparative serology (Kay Devis, 1992). By examining DNA sequences in different populations, scientists can determine the closeness of relationships between populations (or within populations). Certain similarities in genetic makeup let molecular anthropologists determine whether or not different groups of people belong to the same haplogroup, and thus if they share a common geographical origin.

 

This is significant because it allows anthropologists to trace patterns of migration and settlement, which gives helpful insight as to how contemporary populations have formed and progressed over time.

 

Molecular anthropology has been extremely useful in establishing the evolutionary tree of humans and other primates, including closely related species like chimps and gorillas.

 

While there are clearly many morphological similarities between humans and chimpanzees. Such information is useful in searching for common ancestors and coming to a better understanding of how humans evolved. Molecular anthropology has been extremely useful in establishing the evolutionary tree of humans and other primates, including closely related species like chimps and gorillas (King, 1975).

 

There are two continuous linkage groups in humans that are carried by a single sex. The first is the Y chromosome, which is passed from father to son. The other linkage group is the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). MtDNA can only be passed to the next generation by females but only under highly exceptional circumstances is mtDNA passed through males (Pinholster, 2012).

 

The non-recombinant portion of the Y chromosome and the mtDNA, under normal circumstances, do not undergo productive recombination. Part of the Y chromosome can undergo recombination with the X chromosome and within ape history the boundary has changed. Such recombinant changes in the non-recombinant region of Y are extremely rare.

 

Since KringsNeandertalmtDNA have been sequenced, and the sequence similarity indicates an equally recent origin from a small population on the Neanderthal branch of late hominids. MCR1 gene has also been sequenced but the results are controversial.

 

Ancient DNA sequencing had been conducted on a limited scale up to the late 1990s when the staff at the Max Planck Institute shocked the anthropology world by sequencing DNA from an estimated 40,000-year-old Neanderthal, which were derived from haplogroup H (CRS), Neandertals branched from humans more than 300,000 years before haplogroup H reached Europe. While the mtDNA and other studies continued to support a unique recent African origin, this new study basically answered critiques from the Neandertal side (Thieman, 2008).

 

Loci that have been used in molecular phylogenetics:

Cytochrome C

Serum albumin

Hemoglobin – Braunitizer, 1960s, Harding et al. 1997

Mitochondrial D-loop – Wilson group, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1991(posthumously) –TMRCA about 170 kya.

Y-chromosome

HLA-DR – Ayala 1995 – TMRCA for locus is 60 million years.

CD4 (Intron) – Tishkoff, 1996 – most of the diversity is in Africa.

PDHA1 (X-linked) Harris and Hey – TMRCA for locus greater than 1.5 million years.

Xlinked loci: PDHA1, Xq21.3, Xq13.3, Zfx, Fix, Il2rg, Plp, Gk, Ids,

Alas2, Rrm2p4, AmeIX, Tnfsf5, Licam, and Msn Autosomal:Numerous.

 

In vitro fertilisation or IVF is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm outside the body, The fertilised egg (zygote) is cultured for 2–6 days in a growth medium, an embryo culture, and is then transferred to the same or another woman’s uterus, with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy. It may solve the problem of decaying population. IVF is a type of assisted reproductive technology used for infertility treatment and gestational surrogacy, it give birth the concept of controversial fertility tourism and surrogacy.

 

Haploid loci in molecular anthropology – There are two continuous linkage groups in humans that are carried by a single sex. The first is the Y chromosome, which is passed from father to son. The other linkage group is the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). MtDNA can only be passed to the next generation by females but only under highly exceptional circumstances is mtDNA passed through males. More recently, the mtDNA genome has been used to estimate branching patterns in peoples around the world, such as when the new world was settled and how. The researchers have discovered that as humans moved from Africa’s south-eastern regions, that more mutations accumulated in the coding region than expected, and in passage to the new world some groups are believed[to have passed from the Asian tropics to Siberia to an ancient land region called Beringia and quickly migrated to South America. Many of the mtDNA have far more mutations and at rarely mutated coding sites relative to expectations of neutral mutations (Wang, 2010).

 

DNA hybridization – A year later Brown and Wilson were looking at RFLP fragments and determined the human population expanded more recently than other ape populations.[9] In 1984 the first DNA sequence from an extinct animal was done. Sibley and Ahlquist apply DNA-DNA hybridization technology to anthropoid phylogeny, and see pan/human split closer than gorilla/pan or gorilla/human split, a highly controversial claim.The technique they used was restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), which was more affordable at the time compared to sequencing. In 1980, W.M. Brown, looking at the relative variation between human and other species, recognized there was a recent constriction (180,000 years ago) in the human population.In 1987, PCR-amplification of mtDNA was first used to determine sequences.In 1991 Vigilante et al. published the work on mtDNA phylogeny implicating sub-saharan Africa as the place of humans most recent common ancestors for all mtDNAs.The war between out-of-Africa and multiregionalism, already simmering with the critiques of Allan Templeton, soon escalated with the paleoanthropologist, like Milford Wolpoff, getting involved. In 1995, F. Ayala published his critical Science article “The Myth about Eve”, which relied on HLA-DR sequence. In 1996, Parham and Ohta published their finds on the rapid evolution of HLA by short-distance recombination.

 

Genetic engineering is a kind of genetic modification, is the direct manipulation of an organism’s genome using biotechnology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including the transfer of genes within and across species boundaries to produce improved or novel organisms. New DNA is obtained by either isolating or copying the genetic material of interest using molecular cloning methods or by artificially synthesizing the DNA. An organism that is generated through genetic engineering is considered to be genetically modified (GM) and the resulting entity is a genetically modified organism (GMO). Insulin-producing bacteria were commercialized in 1982 and genetically modified food has been sold since 1994. Genetic engineering techniques have been applied in numerous fields including research, agriculture, industrial biotechnology, and medicine. Enzymes used in laundry detergent and medicines such as insulin and human growth hormone are now manufactured in GM cells.

 

Gene isolation and cloning – The next step is to isolate the candidate gene. The cell containing the gene is opened and the DNA is purified (Wilson, 1969). The gene is separated by using restriction enzymes to cut the DNA into fragmentsor Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify up the gene segment.[48] These segments can then be extracted through gel electrophoresis. If the chosen gene or the donor organism’s genome has been well studied it may already be accessible from a genetic library. If the DNA sequence is known, but no copies of the gene are available, it can also be artificially synthesized.[49] Once isolated the gene is ligated into a plasmid that is then inserted into a bacteria. The plasmid is replicated when the bacteria divide, ensuring unlimited copies of the gene are available (GHerstein, 2007).

 

Inserting DNA into the host genome – There are a number of techniques available for inserting the gene into the host genome. This ability can be induced in other bacteria via stress (e.g. thermal or electric shock), which increases the cell membrane’s permeability to DNA; up-taken DNA can either integrate with the genome or exist as extrachromosomal DNA. DNA is generally inserted into animal cells using microinjection, where it can be injected through the cell’s nuclear envelope directly into the nucleus, or through the use of viral vectors.

 

Genetic engineering has applications in medicine, research, industry and agriculture and can be used on a wide range of plants, animals and micro organisms. Genetic engineering has many applications to medicine that include the manufacturing of drugs, creation of model animals that mimic human conditions and gene therapy. One of the earliest uses of genetic engineering was to mass-produce human insulin in bacteria. This application has now been applied to, human growth hormones, follistim (for treating infertility), human albumin, monoclonal antibodies, antihemophilic factors, vaccines and many other drugs.[73][74] Mouse hybridomas, cells fused together to create monoclonal antibodies, have been humanised through genetic engineering to create human monoclonal antibodies (Cole et al, 2003).

 

A genetic screen or mutagenesis screen is an experimental technique used to identify and select for individuals who possess a phenotype of interest in a mutagenized population.[1] Hence a genetic screen is a type of phenotypic screen. Genetic screens can provide important information on gene function as well as the molecular events that underlie a biological process or pathway. While genome projects have identified an extensive inventory of genes in many different organisms, genetic screens can provide valuable insight as to how those genes function.

 

somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)

 

technique in which the nucleus of a somatic (body) cell is transferred to the cytoplasm of an enucleated egg (an egg that has had its own nucleus removed). Once inside the egg, the somatic nucleus is reprogrammed by egg cytoplasmic factors to become a zygote (fertilized egg) nucleus (Bernard, 1968). A primer is a short strand of RNA or DNA (generally about 18-22 bases) that serves as a starting point for DNA synthesis. It is required for DNA replication because the enzymes that catalyze this process, DNA polymerases, can only add new nucleotides to an existing strand of DNA. The polymerase starts replication at the 3′-end of the primer, and copies the opposite strand (Ermak, 2013). In vivo DNA replication utilizes short strands of RNA called RNA primers to initiate DNA synthesis on both the leading and lagging strands — DNA primers are not seen in vivo in humans.

 

A single-nucleotide polymorphism, often abbreviated to SNP is a variation in a single nucleotide that occurs at a specific position in the genome, where each variation is present to some appreciable degree within a population. Association studies can determine whether a genetic variant is associated with a disease or trait. Tag SNPs are useful in whole-genome SNP association studies in which hundreds of thousands of SNPs across the entire genome are genotyped.Haplotype mapping: sets of alleles or DNA sequences can be clustered so that a single SNP can identify many linked SNPs.Linkage Disequilibrium (LD), a term used in population genetics, indicates non-random association of alleles at two or more loci, not necessarily on the same chromosome. It refers to the phenomenon that SNP allele or DNA sequence which are close together in the genome tend to be inherited together. A Short Tandem Repeat (STR) analysis is one of the most useful methods in molecular biology which is used to compare specific loci on DNA from two or more samples. A short tandem repeat is a microsatellite, consisting of a unit of two to thirteen nucleotides repeated hundreds of times in a row on the DNA strand. STR analysis measures the exact number of repeating units. This method differs from restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (RFLP) since STR analysis does not cut the DNA with restriction enzymes. Instead, probes are attached to desired regions on the DNA, and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is employed to discover the lengths of the short tandem repeats (Gerstein, 2007).

 

Application in forensic science and forensic anthropology – STR analysis is a tool in forensic analysis that evaluates specific STR regions found on nuclear DNA. The variable (polymorphic) nature of the STR regions that are analyzed for forensic testing intensifies the discrimination between one DNA profile and another.[1] Forensic science takes advantage of the population’s variability in STR lengths, enabling scientists to distinguish one DNA sample from another. The system of DNA profiling used today is based on PCR and uses simple sequences[2] or short tandem repeats (STR). This method uses highly polymorphic regions that have short repeated sequences of DNA (the most common is 4 bases repeated, but there are other lengths in use, including 3 and 5 bases). Because unrelated people almost certainly have different numbers of repeat units, STRs can be used to discriminate between unrelated individuals. These STR loci (locations on a chromosome) are targeted with sequence-specific primers and amplified using PCR. The DNA fragments that result are then separated and detected using electrophoresis. There are two common methods of separation and detection, capillary electrophoresis (CE) and gel electrophoresis.

 

A variable number tandem repeat (or VNTR) is a location in a genome where a short nucleotide sequence is organized as a tandem repeat. These can be found on many chromosomes, and often show variations in length (number of repeats) among individuals. Each variant acts as an inherited allele, allowing them to be used for personal or parental identification. Their analysis is useful in genetics and biology research, forensics, and DNA fingerprinting.

 

Application in forensic science and forensic anthropology – STR analysis is a tool in forensic analysis that evaluates specific STR regions found on nuclear DNA. The variable (polymorphic) nature of the STR regions that are analyzed for forensic testing intensifies the discrimination between one DNA profile and another. Forensic science takes advantage of the population’s variability in STR lengths, enabling scientists to distinguish one DNA sample from another. The system of DNA profiling used today is based on PCR and uses simple sequences or short tandem repeats (STR). This method uses highly polymorphic regions that have short repeated sequences of DNA (the most common is 4 bases repeated, but there are other lengths in use, including 3 and 5 bases). Because unrelated people almost certainly have different numbers of repeat units, STRs can be used to discriminate between unrelated individuals. These STR loci (locations on a chromosome) are targeted with sequence-specific primers and amplified using PCR. The DNA fragments that result are then separated and detected using electrophoresis. There are two common methods of separation and detection, capillary electrophoresis (CE) and gel electrophoresis.

 

A variable number tandem repeat (or VNTR) is a location in a genome where a short nucleotide sequence is organized as a tandem repeat. These can be found on many chromosomes, and often show variations in length (number of repeats) among individuals. Each variant acts as an inherited allele, allowing them to be used for personal or parental identification. Their analysis is useful in genetics and biology research, forensics, and DNA fingerprinting. Different applications may be mentioned –

 

Recombinant human insulin – Almost completely replaced insulin obtained from animal sources (e.g. pigs and cattle) for the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes. A variety of different recombinant insulin preparations are in widespread use.Recombinant insulin is synthesized by inserting the human insulin gene into E. coli, or yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)which then produces insulin for human use.

 

Recombinant human growth hormone (HGH, somatotropin) – Administered to patients whose pituitary glands generate insufficient quantities to support normal growth and development. Before recombinant HGH became available, HGH for therapeutic use was obtained from pituitary glands of cadavers.

 

Recombinant blood clotting factor VIII – A blood-clotting protein that is administered to patients with forms of the bleeding disorder hemophilia, who are unable to produce factor VIII in quantities sufficient to support normal blood coagulation. Before the development of recombinant factor VIII, the protein was obtained by processing large quantities of human blood from multiple donors.

 

Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine – Hepatitis B infection is controlled through the use of a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine, which contains a form of the hepatitis B virus surface antigen that is produced in yeast cells. The development of the recombinant subunit vaccine was an important and necessary development because hepatitis B virus, unlike other common viruses such as polio virus, cannot be grown in vitro.

 

Diagnosis of infection with HIV – Each of the three widely used methods for diagnosing HIV infection has been developed using recombinant DNA. The antibody test (ELISA or western blot) uses a recombinant HIV protein to test for the presence of antibodies that the body has produced in response to an HIV infection. The DNA test looks for the presence of HIV genetic material using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Development of the RT-PCR test was made possible by the molecular cloning and sequence analysis of HIV genomes.

 

Different methodologies –

 

southern blot is a method used in molecular biology for detection of a specific DNA sequence in DNA samples.

 

The western blot is a widely used analytical technique used in molecular biology, immunogenetics and  other molecular biology disciplines to detect specific proteins in a sample of tissue homogenate or extract.

 

Far-Eastern blotting is a technique used for analysis of lipids separated by high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC). The lipids are transferred from the HPTLC plate to a PVDF membrane for further analysis, for example by enzymatic or ligand binding assays or mass spectrometry.

 

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), describes a technique widely used in biochemistry, forensics, genetics, molecular biology and biotechnology to separate biological macromolecules, usually proteins or nucleic acids, according to their electrophoretic mobility. Mobility is a function of the length, conformation and charge of the molecule.

 

Fast parallel proteolysis (FASTpp) is a method to determine the thermostability of proteins that does not need previous purification and labeling.

 

Quantitative dot blot analysis is a method for quantifying specific DNA, RNA, or protein molecules using a dot blot apparatus.

 

Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field which addresses biological problems using computational techniques, and makes the rapid organization as well as analysis of biological data possible. The field may also be referred to as computational biology, and can be defined as, “conceptualizing biology in terms of molecules and then applying informatics techniques to understand and organize the information associated with these molecules, on a large scale. Bioinformatics plays a key role in various areas, such as functional genomics, structural genomics, and proteomics, and forms a key component in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector. Now Bioinformatics plays a great role in anthropology also (Becquemout, 2009).

 

Molecular was is a great threat to us, this might be the black side of this technology. A number of militants are thinking about molecular war, but we should stop this to save and good survival of mankind.

 

Summary

 

Anthropology is the study of holistic aspect of man, and biological anthropology deals with the biological aspects of man as a whole. Biotechnology is the concept of development and modification of individual in genomic level for further development. Now Biotechnology are using largely in Anthropology, specially in Biological Anthropology. Different biotechnology are there blue, green, red white etc. Development of molecular anthropology give a new dimension of application of biotechnology in anthropology. DNA hybridization is one of the major way to modify the target genomic area or locus. Recombinant DNA technology plays a great role in implementation of the modification for the wellness as a important methodology. Different techniques are now using for this work i.e different blot techniques, western blot, southern blot etc, and quantitative dot blot technique. Only the great threat threat to us for using this very important technology in molecular war, this should be stopped for better mankind in survival.

you can view video on Biotechnology and anthropology

    References