Timeline of biotechnology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Notable events in the history of biotechnology:

  • 1919 AD – Karl Ereky, a Hungarian agricultural engineer, first used the word biotechnology.
  • 1972 AD – The DNA composition of chimpanzees and gorillas is discovered to be 99% similar to that of humans.
  • 1980 AD –
    • Modern biotech is characterized by recombinant DNA technology. The prokaryote model, E. coli, is used to produce synthetic insulin and other medicine, in human form. (It is estimated that only 5% of diabetics were allergic to animal insulins available before, while new evidence suggests that type 1 diabetes mellitus is caused by an allergy to human insulin).
    • A viable brewing yeast strain, Saccharomyces cerevisiae 1026, acts as a modifier of the microflora in the rumen of cows and digestive tract of horses).
    • The United States Supreme Court, in 447 U.S. 303 (1980), rules in favor of microbiologist Ananda Chakrabarty in the case of a USPTO request for a first patent granted to a genetically modified living organism (GMO) in history.
  • 1984 AD – Nutrigenomics as applied science in animal nutrition.
  • 1994 AD – U.S. FDA approves of the first GM food: the "Flavr Savr" tomato.
  • 2002 AD – Researchers sequence the DNA of rice, the main food source for two-thirds of the world's population. Rice is the first crop to have its genome decoded.
  • 2003 AD – GloFish, the first biotech pet, hits the North American market. Specially bred to detect water pollutants, the fish glows red under black light thanks to the addition of a natural bioluminescence gene.