Making Evolution Make Microbes Make Products

Jeffrey Huang
Author: Cynthia Graber
Published: January 8th, 2015.
URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/making-evolution-make-microbes-make-products/

Summary:
In the status quo, scientists have developed specific procedures for inserting certain genes into a bacterial plasmid to turn it a recombinant DNA plasmid so that the bacteria will be able to express the gene that was inserted. Once the bacteria undergoes mitosis, the plasmid ends up getting copied and so the end result is an entire collection of bacteria.This process has its advantages and disadvantages, a major one being that medicine, such as insulin, can be mass produced with the genetically modified foods. By using method, it both requires a cleaner setup and the produces fewer byproducts that harm the environment. Yet this method has been limited due to inefficiencies. To solve this problem, a research team from Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering claim to have developed a way to increase efficiency in microbes by using Darwinian principles of evolution. The way did this was by using natural selection to select the bacteria that were most efficient. They did this by altering the bacteria so that they were only antibiotic resistant after producing the desired product. By doing this, only those that make the product will survive because those that don't make the product won't be able to survive in the antibiotic.

Connection:
This podcast connects to the material taught in class in 2 different ways; one is through bioengineering and genetics, and the other is through evolution. In the podcast, the author talks about genetically engineered bacteria and their biomedical contribution as ways to mass produce products that are of interest to humans, such as insulin. As we have learned in class, scientists insert specific genes into bacteria in order for them to make the product desired by the producer. Also, the Cynthia Graber also talks about how the research group used Darwinian principles to strongly improve the efficiency of the production of the bacteria. One specific principle they used was Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection. Darwin's theory of natural selection states that those that have the traits that are better suited to the environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. The scientists used this theory in order to "naturally select"  the bacteria that are more efficient, and thus the experiment is a demonstration of Darwin's theory of natural selection.