7 Things to Know About Biotechnology通過七個方面了解生物技術(shù)

譯/陳曉璐 審訂/文軍

The term biotechnology represents a fusion or an alliance between biology and technology. Frankly speaking,biotechnology is as old as human civilization, and is an integral part of human life. Thus, biotechnology is a newly discovered discipline for age-old practices.

2 There are records that wine and beer was prepared in as early as 6000 B.C.,bread and curd in 4000 B.C. Today, we know that all these are the processes based on the natural capabilities of microorganisms.

1. Old and new biotechnology

3 Many authors prefer to use the term old or traditional biotechnology to refer to the natural processes that have been in use for many centuries to produce beer, wine, curd, cheese and many other foods. The new or modern biotechnology embraces all the genetic manipulations, cell fusion techniques and the improvements made in the old biotechnological processes.

“生物技術(shù)”一詞體現(xiàn)了生物學(xué)和技術(shù)之間的融合或聯(lián)合。坦率講，生物技術(shù)與人類文明一樣古老，它是人類生活不可分割的一部分。因此，生物技術(shù)雖然是一門新興學(xué)科，但其實(shí)踐由來已久。

2 據(jù)記載，早在公元前6000年，葡萄酒和啤酒就出現(xiàn)了，而面包和凝乳也在公元前4000年就有了。如今，我們知道這些工藝都是基于微生物的自然能力。

1. 新老生物技術(shù)

3 許多人更喜歡用“老的”或“傳統(tǒng)”生物技術(shù)來稱呼幾個世紀(jì)以來生產(chǎn)啤酒、葡萄酒、凝乳、奶酪和許多其他食物的自然過程。“新的”或“現(xiàn)代”生物技術(shù)包括所有的基因編輯、細(xì)胞融合技術(shù)和對老的生物技術(shù)過程所做的改進(jìn)。

4 We have to accept that the present day biotechnology is not something new, but it represents a series of technologies, some of them dating back to thousands of years e.g. production of foods, beverages, modification of plants and animals with desired traits.It is only in recent years that these traditional practices are being subjected to scientific scrutiny, understood and improved, at least in some instances.

2. Definition(s) of biotechnology

5 The term biotechnology was introduced in 1917 by a Hungarian engineer,Károly Ereky. He used the term for large-scale production of pigs by using sugar beets as the source of food. Ereky defined biotechnology as “all lines of work by which products are produced from raw materials with the aid of living things”.

6 This definition was almost ignored for many years. For most people, biotechnology represented two aspects of engineering—industrial fermentation and study of the efficiency at work place. The fact that biotechnology is interdisciplinary in nature, with a wide range of applications has created some confusion with regard to its definition.This is mainly because scientists from each discipline have described the term from their own perspective.4 我們必須承認(rèn)：如今的生物技術(shù)不算什么新鮮事物，但它代表了一系列技術(shù)手段，其中一些可以追溯到幾千年前：例如食物生產(chǎn)、飲料釀制、改良植物和動物特性。只是在近些年，這些傳統(tǒng)做法才經(jīng)過科學(xué)研究并為人所了解，至少在某些情況下得到了改進(jìn)。

2. 生物技術(shù)的定義

5 “生物技術(shù)”這個詞由匈牙利工程師卡羅伊·埃賴基于1917年提出，最初指以甜菜作飼料大規(guī)模養(yǎng)豬。埃賴基將生物技術(shù)定義為“利用生物體將原材料加工成產(chǎn)品的各種工藝”。

6 多年來，這個定義幾乎被人們忽略了。對大多數(shù)人來說，生物技術(shù)代表了兩個方面的工程——工業(yè)發(fā)酵和對工作場所效率的研究。生物技術(shù)跨學(xué)科的本質(zhì)及廣泛應(yīng)用，使其定義不是很清楚。這主要是因?yàn)楦鱾€學(xué)科的專家都從各自角度解釋這個術(shù)語。

7 歐洲生物技術(shù)聯(lián)合會將生物技術(shù)泛泛地定義為“將自然科學(xué)與生物體（細(xì)胞、其組成部分和分子類似物）融合以提供產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)”。無論生物技術(shù)一詞是如何定義的，它本質(zhì)上都意味著利用微生物、動物、植物細(xì)胞或酶來合成、分解或轉(zhuǎn)化材料。

7 The European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) broadly considers biotechnology as “the integration of natural sciences and organisms, cells,parts thereof, and molecular analogues for products and services”. In whichever way the term biotechnology has been defined, it essentially represents the use of microbial, animal or plant cells or enzymes to synthesize, breakdown or transform materials.

3. History of biotechnology

8 From the historical perspective, the biotechnology dates back to the time(around 6000 BC) when the yeast was first used to produce beer and wine, and bacteria were first used to prepare yogurt. Some researchers consider Louis Pasteur, who identified the role of microorganisms in fermentation, (between 1857—1876) as the father of biotechnology.

9 The development of biotechnology,in the first half of twentieth century is associated with the fields of applied microbiology and industrial fermentations(production of penicillin, organic solvents etc.). The development of modern biotechnology is closely linked with the advances made in molecular biology.

4. Scientific foundations of biotechnology

3. 生物技術(shù)史

8 從歷史的角度來看，生物技術(shù)可以追溯到第一次用酵母生產(chǎn)啤酒和葡萄酒、第一次用菌類制備酸奶的時代（大約公元前6000年）。一些研究人員認(rèn)為路易·巴斯德是生物技術(shù)之父，因?yàn)槭撬ㄔ?857—1876年間）發(fā)現(xiàn)了微生物在發(fā)酵過程中的作用。

920世紀(jì)上半葉，生物技術(shù)的發(fā)展主要與應(yīng)用微生物學(xué)和工業(yè)發(fā)酵領(lǐng)域（例如青霉素和有機(jī)溶劑的生產(chǎn)等）相關(guān)。而現(xiàn)代生物技術(shù)的發(fā)展與分子生物學(xué)的進(jìn)步密切相關(guān)。

4. 生物技術(shù)的科學(xué)基礎(chǔ)

10 在科學(xué)領(lǐng)域，幾乎所有學(xué)科都直接或間接地為生物技術(shù)的發(fā)展做出過貢獻(xiàn)。其中大約有十幾個專門的科學(xué)分支是生物技術(shù)發(fā)展的主力。

10 There is almost no discipline among the science subjects that has not contributed either directly or indirectly for the growth of biotechnology. About a dozen specialized branches of science have predominantly provided the inputs for biotechnology.

11 These may be appropriately regarded as the roots of biotechnology, and include biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, chemical engineering and bioinformatics.

5. Biotechnological tools

12 Several methods, techniques or procedures which may be collectively called as biotechnological tools have been developed for transforming the scientific foundations into biotechnological applications. These tools include protein engineering, bioprocess/fermentation technology, cell and tissue culture technology, trans-genesis and antisense technology.

6. Applications of biotechnology

11 在一定程度上，這些可以視為生物技術(shù)的根源，包括生物化學(xué)、遺傳學(xué)、分子生物學(xué)、化學(xué)工程和生物信息學(xué)。

5. 生物技術(shù)工具

12 為了將科學(xué)基礎(chǔ)轉(zhuǎn)化為生物技術(shù)應(yīng)用，現(xiàn)已開發(fā)了幾種可統(tǒng)稱為生物技術(shù)工具的方法、技術(shù)或程序。這些工具包括蛋白質(zhì)工程、生物過程/發(fā)酵技術(shù)、細(xì)胞和組織培養(yǎng)技術(shù)、轉(zhuǎn)基因和反義技術(shù)。

6. 生物技術(shù)應(yīng)用

13 生物技術(shù)研究成果具有廣泛的應(yīng)用前景。事實(shí)上，沒有任何一個科學(xué)分支像生物技術(shù)那樣，應(yīng)用如此廣泛。生物技術(shù)助力醫(yī)學(xué)和健康科學(xué)（診斷、疫苗、治療和食品）、農(nóng)業(yè)科學(xué)（提高作物產(chǎn)量、保證食品質(zhì)量和改善動物健康）和環(huán)境科學(xué)（污染控制、環(huán)境監(jiān)測和生物修復(fù)）。

13 The fruits of biotechnological research have wide range of applications.In fact, there is no other branch of science which has as many applications as biotechnology. Biotechnology has benefited medical and health sciences(diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, and foods), agricultural sciences (improved crop yield, food quality, and improved animal health) and environmental sciences (pollution control, environmental monitoring, and bioremediation).

14 It is desirable to describe at least one example of biotechnological achievement that has helped the mankind. Prior to 1982, insulin required for the treatment of diabetics was obtained from pig and cow pancreases. The procedure was tedious, and the use of animal insulin was frequently associated with complications.

15 Then the human gene for insulin was isolated, cloned and expressed in microorganisms for the large scale production of insulin. Insulin was the first pharmaceutical product of recombinant DNA technology approved for human use. Millions of diabetics world-over are benefited by the biotechnology of insulin production.

7. Commercialization of biotechnology

16 The progress of biotechnology, to a great extent, is driven by economics,since the ultimate objective of biotechnology is the development of commercial products. Due to high stakes in biotechnology, the business and research are closely associated. It is a fact that many biotechnology companies (besides the government-run institutions) have significantly contributed to the development of present day biotechnology. ■

14 最好用至少一個實(shí)例來說明生物技術(shù)成果是如何幫助人類的。1982年以前，治療糖尿病所需的胰島素是從豬和牛的胰腺中提取的。這個過程很煩瑣，而且動物胰島素的使用經(jīng)常會引起并發(fā)癥。

15 后來，人類胰島素基因得以在微生物中分離、克隆和表達(dá)，用于胰島素的大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)。胰島素是第一個被批準(zhǔn)用于人類的重組DNA技術(shù)藥物產(chǎn)品。全世界數(shù)百萬糖尿病患者受益于胰島素生產(chǎn)的生物技術(shù)。

7. 生物技術(shù)商業(yè)化

16 在很大程度上，經(jīng)濟(jì)驅(qū)動了生物技術(shù)的進(jìn)步，因?yàn)樯锛夹g(shù)的最終目的是開發(fā)商業(yè)產(chǎn)品。由于生物技術(shù)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)極高，商業(yè)和研究是密切相關(guān)的。事實(shí)是，除了政府運(yùn)營的機(jī)構(gòu)，許多生物技術(shù)公司對當(dāng)今生物技術(shù)的發(fā)展做出了巨大的貢獻(xiàn)。 □