BIOTECHNOLOGY & YOU a magazine of biotechnology application in healthcare, agriculture, the environment, and industry Volume 7, Issue No. 2 Diving Into Marine Biotechnology ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ BIOTECHNOLOGY & YOU TABLE OF Volume 7, Issue No. 2 Your World/Our World describes the application of T biotechnology to problems facing our world. We C O N N S hope that you find it an interesting way to learn E T about science and engineering. Development by: The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association, The PBA Education Committee, and Snavely Associates, Ltd. Marine Biotechnology Writing & Editing by: The Writing Company, Cathryn M. Delude and Kenneth W. Mirvis, Ed.D. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Design by: Exploring the Diversity Snavely Associates, Ltd. Illustrations by: 3in the Sea Patrick W. Britten Science Advisor: Judy Brown, University of Maryland Center for Marine Biotechnolgy Science Reviewers: The Biotechnology Porthole Dr. Rita Colwell, Dr. Shaojun Du, Dr. William Jones, 4 Dr. Dennis Maeder, Dr. Allen Place, Dr. Frank Robb, Dr. William Straube, Dr. John Stubblefield, Dr. Yonathon Zohar (University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute’s Center of Marine Biotechnology) Special Thanks: The Ocean Superstore The PBA is grateful to the members of the 6 Education Committee for their contributions: John C. Campbell, SmithKline Beecham Kathy Cattell, SmithKline Beecham Ceil M. Ciociola, PRIME, Inc. Jeff Davidson, Pennsylvania Biotechnology Zippy Zebras Association 8 Alan Gardner, SmithKline Beecham Anthony Green, Puresyn, Inc. Mary Ann Mihaly Hegedus, Bioprocessing Resource Center Fertile Turtles Linda C. Hendricks, SmithKline Beecham 10 Daniel M. Keller, Keller Broadcasting Richard Kral Colleen McAndrew, SmithKline Beecham Barbara McHale, Gwynedd Mercy College June Rae Merwin, The West Company Life at the Extremes M. Kay Oluwole 12 Lois H. Peck, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science Jean L. Scholz, University of Pennsylvania P R O F I L E John Tedesco, Brandywine Consultants, Inc. Adam Yorke, SmithKline Beecham 14 Sunny Jiang: Predicting Laurence A. Weinberger, Esquire, Committee Chair Cholera Outbreaks A C T I V I T Y 15 Taking it to Extremes! If you would like to make suggestions or comments about Your World/Our World, please contact us at: Internet: [email protected] or write to: Resources Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association 16 1524 W. College Avenue, Suite 206 State College, PA 16801 On the Cover: Deep-sea submersible vessels like the Alvin help us explore the diverse life forms beneath the sea. This and other modern technologies help us study our marine world, combining Copyright 1998, PBA. All rights reserved. research, conservation, and education to understand and protect our earth’s precious natural resource, the ocean. Credits: Cover image, JASON Foundation for Education Page 10, Copyright © 1930 by Ogden Nash Reviewed, reprinted, by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd Page 13, Reprinted from Journal of Molecular Biology, Vol 270, Figure 10, Lim J-H, Yu Y, Han Y, Cho S, Ahn B, Kim S, Cho Y, “The crystal structure of an Fe-superoxide dismutase from the hyperthermophile Aquifex pyrophilus at 1.9 Å resolution: structural basis for thermostability” pp259-274 (1997), by permission of the publisher Academic Press Limited. 2 Marine Biotechnology INNTTHHEESE E ITYY I SEA EX RSSIT A X P IVVEER P LLOORIN G T H EEDDI Question: RIN G T H What has the oldest, most numerous, most diverse, and least studied life forms on earth? What covers almost three- fourths of our planet but is our greatest untapped resource? Where do creatures thrive in temperatures of 121°C (250°F)? What could provide food to the starving people of the world but is having its supplies endangered by over- harvesting and pollution? Plankton Answer: The sea, the sea, the beautiful, Photos Courtesy of JASON Foundation for Education mysterious sea. Diatom The sea remains mysterious because it is so hard to Biotechnology helps us study the explore. It is wide, deep, and dark, with dangerous diverse and beautiful creatures of waves and icebergs on the surface and incredibly the sea. high pressures below. The ocean floor has mountains, canyons, and volcanoes, where Why is this study so valuable temperatures range from below freezing to above to us? Scientists have always boiling. Exploring these areas was impossible until found useful products we developed technologies such as deep-sea produced by living plants and animals. The ocean environ- submersibles, scuba, sonar, lasers, videos, and Blue Slug satellites. Still, studying marine biology remains a ments are completely challenge because so many creatures live in strange, different from our own, and marine creatures probably inaccessible places, and we can’t keep them alive produce a whole different set of useful products – a treasure and thriving in the artificial conditions of a surface chest full! Now researchers are looking to the sea for laboratory. Because of these difficulties, we have everything from a cure for cancer and AIDS to less-polluting probably catalogued fewer than 5% of marine industrial chemicals, and much, much more. organisms, much less studied them in depth. We are alsoimproving our knowledge of the world at Fortunately, biotechnology opens a another large by studying marine creatures. The window on marine life. It allows us to inspect microscopic life in the sea holds clues to the organisms at a molecular and genetic level origin of life on earth – and to global cycles of – and to do so quickly, before oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. Furthermore, human activity reduces the we share many genes with marine organ- incredible biodiversity isms, so we can learn about ourselves by of life in the sea. studying them. What helps them stay healthy may also help us. Likewise, what hurts them may harm us. This issue of Your World/Our World shows how biotechnology is making the mysteri- ous sea more understandable and useful to us, while also allowing us to protect its precious resources. So put on your snorkel and mask, and dive into our underwater biotechnology laboratory to explore this last earthly frontier. Your World Our World 3 iotechnology and molecular biology can shed light on the Binnermost life processes of the organisms that live in the sea’s deep, dark, inhospitable places. Here are a few techniques that give us a peek through that porthole. Proteins and Enzymes All organisms produce proteins to build cells and perform the functions of life. Certain proteins, called enzymes, carry out biochemical processes within cells. Scientists are studying these and other organisms for their scientific and medical value. Top to bottom, left to right Coral Reefs are to the sea what tropical rain forests are to the land: teeming with species that may have medicinal value, yet vulnerable to destruction by human activity. Puffer Fish secrete a deadly poison that scientists use to study neuromuscular transmission in people. Striped Bass could help feed a hungry world. But they are declining in the wild, and they are hard to breed in fish farms. Genetic Sea Turtles are exposured to research may overcome these difficulties. chemicals that may interfere with (Pages 8 –9.) their egg development. These chemicals may harm mammals as well. The Sea Sponge has defense mechanisms (Pages 10 – 11.) that could someday help you reduce inflammations, fight bacterial and fungal The Squid’s nerve axons serve as a model infections, and perhaps cure cancer. system in neuroscience. (Pages 6 – 7.) Submersible Vessels help us explore the Sharks live in a microbe–infested world,so deep and collect samples for further study. they secrete a steroid disinfectant that kills We can also learn about past climates germs on contact. Some sharks contain a and geological events on earth. substance “squalamine” that cuts off the Thermophiles thrive near the blood supply to tumors and is being tested volcanic heat of these deep-sea vents, for treating cancer. and we might be able to use these Crabs and Shrimp have molecules with unusual organisms for medicine and many uses in every day life and science. industry. (Page 7.) (Pages 12 – 13.) 4 Marine Biotechnology We use the proteins and enzymes as assembling proteins. Variations in Antibodies ingredients in everything from that gene provide a yardstick for When a bacterium or medicines to soap. Analyzing their how closely organisms are related. virus invades your body, chemistry teaches us about their This yardstick gives us a new your immune system roles in the organism’s biology – and panoramic view of the world’s produces an antibody that their potential benefits to us. “family tree.” It also gives us a latches onto that microbe to DNA and Genes shortcut to identifying unstudied destroy it. Scientists use antibod- marine organisms and screening DNA is the informa- ies to “see” a hard-to-detect them for useful products. tion molecule that tells marine microbe: They tag the each organism how to PCR (polymerase antibodies with special labels that develop, giving each cell its chain reaction) identify the microbes when the antibodies lock onto their target. special characteristics. DNA Single fragments of DNA forms genes, which are sequences of are too tiny to manipu- codes that “spell out” the recipes for late in the laboratory. They proteins. We can learn about a need to be amplified just as protein by analyzing its DNA a stereo needs an amplifier to sequence. In addition, we can study make a sound signal loud enough to which genes become active in hear. PCR is a way of making many response to a threat from a predator, exact copies or clones of a tiny Swim through this or a change in temperature and section porthole to see nutrients, or pollution. By tracking of DNA, which can be used for the molecular activity of marine further research. how scientists use organisms, scientists can study their these techniques interaction with the environment Fermentation to stock the Scientists can insert a gene and gain insights into changes in shelves of the global climate and pollution.