From Farming to Pharma: How Humans Manipulate Nature

 It is more integrated into our lives than you may think. 

Written by ARIYANA rayatt
23 January 2024

DNA is nature’s language. A language, which codes the instruction manual for every living thing. Just as each item in IKEA has its instruction manual, so does each organism. Even within a species, there are slight differences in the DNA, the only exception to this outside of a lab are genetically identical twins. 

Understanding these differences and knowing how to create an organism with specific characteristics was described by an Austrian monk in the 1800s, Gregor Mendel. Mendel would plant peas and systematically breed them to study the inherited traits like colour, height and shape. Mendel’s work laid the foundation of modern genetics and genetic manipulation.

How Farmers Have Been Manipulating DNA for Millennia

Engineered or manipulated DNA is more integrated into our lives than many may initially think. 

Let’s take apples. We have different varieties of apples, some sweeter, some more tart, some red and others green. These variations are due to each apple’s DNA-specific characteristics being slightly different. Your favourite variety of apples has been dutifully curated over the years by farmers carefully breeding their crops(, similar to Mendel’s work). This process of the intentional selection of parent organisms based on their traits, to curate an offspring with desired characteristics is called selective breeding.

At a molecular level, selective breeding is the fine-tuning of the trait-specific DNA over generations. It is a process which has been used by humans for thousands of years. We have seen it used across agriculture with plants and livestock, and outside of agriculture, with animal breeders aiming for ‘pure’ breeds or a specific selection of desired characteristics.

The Modern Manipulation of DNA

To achieve a desired trait through selective breeding it can take multiple generations. In the spirit of human impatience, we have tried to speed up this process. How? Molecular tools. 

A molecular tool is a method that allows you to manipulate biology at the DNA or protein level. There are many tools which have been developed over the years, with the most famous of these tools known as CRISPR. 

Forge Genetics, is the home of a new molecular tool, Forge Editing, which can speed up the process of altering DNA.  We spoke to Dr Craig Wood, the CEO of the biotechnology company. Dr Woods explained the benefit of using molecular tools over selective breeding as “instead of waiting tens or thousands of years, we can just go in and edit the DNA directly to get a desired trait”. Further illustrating the benefits of molecular tools he compared selective breeding to an old software that is “randomly changing ones and zeros and waiting a long time”, whereas molecular tools are “a whole new software”.

How Molecular Tools Work

Molecular tools are not new and are widely used across the medical and agricultural industries. They have been used to increase crop yield or fortify food as well as used to make vaccines and treatments to combat diseases. 

Many of these tools act like scissors and a glue stick. For example, type 1 diabetic individuals cannot produce their own insulin and so rely on regular injections of insulin. These injections contain insulin which has been made by bacteria. The bacteria have had their DNA altered by molecular tools, cutting the DNA where the changes need to be made and slotting in new DNA with the instructions for making insulin, and then sticking it all back together. This process creates a bacterial insulin factory. As the bacteria grows it produces insulin which is then purified and quality tested to make it into the insulin injection you see in the pharmacy.

Creating Safer Molecular Tools

There are plenty of tools in a biologist’s toolbox for manipulating DNA. But as Dr Woods pointed out the big problem “is that [some tools] cut where they’re not supposed to cut”. This can interrupt the instructions for a different characteristic and in some cases lead to diseases. For this reason, scientists are working tirelessly to make tools as safe as possible.

Forge Editing is a new molecular tool that can challenge clumsy editing. The technology has a “red flag system” which enables them to detect any changes made to DNA that are not intended. Initially developed in bacteria, the team are now developing Forge Editing technology for medical uses in human cells.

Similar technologies are being used to successfully treat blood cancers and blindness. Although concern around biosafety has caused public hesitation towards genetic editing, Dr Woods believes that as more people see the meaningful impact, such as bringing sound to the deaf, the technology will become more widely accepted, saying “You can make a huge difference to the world. It would be crazy not to use this whole new way of combating disease.” 

Redesigning With Biology

The impact of biotechnology developments can be seen primarily in the medical field but, the technology has captured the imaginations of those outside of healthcare. The possibility of nature as a medium combined with sustainability awareness has led many people to wonder how they can use biotechnology to redesign the world.

As a result, we are increasingly seeing these technologies and tools translated to fields like agriculture, materials and waste, as individuals are able to make once-impossible dreams, attainable realities. 

"You can make a huge difference to the world. It would be crazy not to use this whole new way of combating disease.”
Dr Craig Woods

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