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Where biology could take us
Where Biology Could Take Us Gary A. Sojka
60 Gary A. Sojka is Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Biology at Indiana University.
Biologists are left nearly breathless in the wake of advances in their discipline. Here is a guided tour of a science that may provide answers to some of the world's problems in the next decade. ecennial anniversaries have for many years inspired practitioners of various scientific fields to play the role of seer and foretell what the future holds for their discipline. Readers would be wise to keep two things in mind whenever perusing such predictions: the first is that soothsayers in the sciences generally have had a rather poor record for accurate prediction; the second is that any reasonable set of predictions for the near future must rest on events of the present and the recent past. The first of these caveats derives most often from the fact that any given science can take off in completely unexpected directions as the result of a seminal discovery or previously unpredictable, and consequently revolutionary, advance in understanding or insight. The second caveat, stating that the future depends on the present and the recent past, is particularly germane to any discussion of the horizons of the biological sciences in the 1980s. For in science, as in sports and politics, m o m e n t u m is a factor that must be reckoned with, and fight now biology has "the big m o . " Major conceptual and technical advances have been occurring at such a rate in the life sciences in
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recent years as to leave many practicing biologists literally breathless as they vainly attempt to keep abreast of the information explosion occurring just in their own narrowly-defined disciplines (not to mention life sciences in general). Advances in science tend to be autocatalytic, that is, one conceptual advance or new technique often leads to a whole variety of new approaches, all of which may provide even more information; the process then repeats itself, and the ensuing logarithmic progression results in the production of new information at a rate that would not have seemed possible only a few years before. That is the state of affairs today in biology. Any atempt to foretell what will actually transpire in biology in the 1980s is very likely to be off the mark. Importantly, the errors are likely to be on the overly conservative side, for the 1980s could prove to be the most exciting period in the several hundred year history of modern biology. Money + Intellect = Progress
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f course, any progress in l any area of science requires the appropriate intellectual
Where Biology Could Take Us
"It is certainly true that a number of the difficulties facing humanity are the result of the abuse or misuse of science and technology. Nonetheless, science and technology have not lost their capacity to ameliorate and possibly solve many of these problems."
61 atmosphere and continued financial support. Should world or national events occur that place serious restrictions on the activities of scientists or on their support base, mom e n t u m could be lost, progress slowed, and scientific advancement seriously curtailed. We do live in troubled times, and unforeseen events could disrupt the international scientific infrastructure. The human race is facing potential resource depletion and energy shortage, and the world popNation continues to grow at a rate alarming to many. Headlines predict widespread food shortages in the very near future. Despite almost miraculous advances in medical science and practice our species continues to suffer from a variety of recalcitrant physical disorders such as cancer, birth defects, autoimmune disorders, and heart disease. It is certainly true that a number of the difficulties facing humanity are the result of the abuse or misuse of science and technology. Nonetheless, science and technology have not lost their capacity to ameliorate and possibly solve many of these problems. It is m y firmly held belief, contrary to that of many others, that the proper course for the future is m o r e - n o t lesstechnology. While many cry out about the limits of growth and the need to return to a less technologically-dependent existence, I fear we have already gone too far to turn back. We already have billions of people on this planet who are largely, if not wholly, dependent upon our present level of technology for their basic survival. It is too late to
Molecular biology has been reseriously talk about reversing the trend toward greater technological sponsible for essentially solving the dependence which has been operat- problem of how the units of hereding for at least three hundred years. ity (genes) of plants, animals, and As necessity is the mother of microbes are expressed in the form invention, human needs will be the of observable heritable characterisdriving force behind the activities tics. This means that much of moof biologists in the 1980s. Biology lecular biology has dealt with the will very likely continue to make information containing macromoleadvances in the areas of medicine cules, DNA, RNA, and protein. The and agriculture, and new ap- apparently universal operation of proaches in the area of genetic the mechanisms of heredity was engineering are likely to make ma- quickly assimilated by the scientific jor impacts on problem areas such community, and today hardly a as energy shortages and resource literate eighteen-year-old in the depletion. The speed with which U.S.A. can be found who does not potentially useful new information know that genetic information is being generated in the biological flows in a series of steps from the sciences bodes well for those of us sequence of nucleotide bases in in the developed countries who DNA, through the corresponding should be the first beneficiaries of sequence of bases in RNA and finally to the sequence of amino the resultant new biotechnology. acid building blocks that make up the proteins which do the work of A Brief Look Backward the cell. In approximately twenty-five he last two decades span the period of development years our knowledge of the mechaand ultimate maturing of a nisms of the hereditary process has discipline called, rather imprecisely, grown from almost total ignorance molecular biology. This field, which to a point where understanding of attracted so much attention in the the events involved is so complete 1960s and 1970s, drew heavily that it is now possible to contemfrom the already established plate very precise manipulations of branches of science, genetics, bio- the hereditary machinery for the chemistry, and microbiology. Cer- purpose of human benefit. The tainly, molecular biology's origins distinct boundaries of the new disgo back to the early 1950s and cipline of molecular biology are possibly beyond, but it has been already becoming blurred as the primarily in the past two decades techniques and approaches of the that the territory between the bio- molecular biologist are applied to chemist's small molecules and the an ever-growing number of other cytologist's morphological land- biological disciplines from cell biolmarks became familiar ground to ogy to evolution. Great strides have also been thousands of biologists around the made in the last twenty years in world.
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62 biochemistry, microbial genetics, immunology, cell biology, neurobiology, and evolutionary biology. Biochemists have continued to refine their methods of isolation and purification of biologically interesting molecules. As a consequence, it is now possible to design industrial processes and reactions which are dependent upon purified enzyme molecules which act as catalysts. A g r e a t deal has been learned about t h e mechanism of enzyme catalysed reactions and about the regulation of enzyme catalysts by various small molecules. Microbial geneticists have become extremely facile in the manipulation of well-defined segments o f the bacterial genome. It is now possible to virtually construct to order bacterial strains with whole constellations of interesting or useful properties. The science of immunology has benefited greatly from progress in other fields. Advances in protein biochemistry have made possible great strides in understanding the molecular structure of antibody molecules or immunoglobulins. Through the techniques of cell biology much has been learned about the various cell types found in the immune system. A very new technique which involves the fusion of antibody-producing cells with tumor cells to form a " h y b r i d o m a " which produces a single molecular species of antibody may prove one of the very most useful approaches both for understanding the functions of the immune system and for application of immunology to the solution of other problems in cell biology.
Using a variety of biochemical, biophysical, and electron microscopic techniques cell biologists have carefully described the "landscape" to be found inside the cells of higher organisms. What was simply called protoplasm, or "cell sap," some twenty years ago is now known to be a complex and highly organized collection of membranes, vesicles, filaments, and microstructures. The functions of these subcellular components are now well described, and much of the uncertainty concerning the way cells carry out their assigned functions has been eliminated. A very active area of research in the past two decades has involved the biochemistry, cell biology, and biophysics of the nervous system. One of the most interesting recent developments in this field has been the discovery of diffusible peptide neurohormones. These are natural materials produced by normal nerve cells that affect the pain and pleasure centers and can have effects similar to opiates such as morphine. If there is a single unifying theme to modern biology it would have to be evolutionary theory. Thus, it should n o t be surprising that biologists have been applying the techniques of molecular biology to studies on the provenance of the life forms existing on earth today. Such approaches have done much to enrich our understanding of the origin of the species and have begun to supply the probable molecular mechanisms by which present-day plants, animals, and microbes arose from ancient and more primitive forebearers.
It would be inappropriate to conclude this brief description of advances in the life sciences without commenting on the development of the support industries that make rapid progress in research possible. In the U.S. and other developed countries, there has been a pronounced improvement over the past two decades in the kinds of equipment and supplies available to researchers in the life sciences. Instruments ranging from electron microscopes to analytical balances have been revolutionized by the incorporation of electronic innovations and computer miniaturization. Today a scientist can simply pick up a telephone and, within a matter of a day or so, receive a commercially-prepared complex biochemical that just fifteen years ago he might have had to spend a year or more synthesizing for himself. The partnership between the basic researchers and the chemical and scientific instrument industries that support them has been a fruitful one and has had much to do with the speed at which our new knowledge of biology has accumulated. The Glamour Technique of the 80s ankind has been manipulating the genetics of domesticated plants and animals for thousands of years. The remarkable results of this genetic tampering through the technique of selective breeding can be readily seen at any American Kennel Club dog show or in the produce department of your favorite supermarket.
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Where Biology Could Take Us
"I suspect that the future will find an increasing dependence on microorganisms (bacteria, algae, fungi) in the production of food for human beings and their domesticated animals."
63 Left to their own devices, dogs would still look much like coyotes or small wolves. The English Bulldog or the Russian Wolfhound are products of years of intense selective breeding. The breeders literally constructed these varieties by selecting offspring from matings that displayed the characteristics they were seeking and then using them in subsequent matings. At each generation only the offspring that most suited the breeder were allowed to reproduce. After many, many generations a creature as different from the '%asic, ancestral" dog as a bulldog could be produced in this fashion. The genetic alterations produced in domesticated plants may be even more dramatic than those found in domegticated
animals. One need only compare an ear of modern hybird field corn with an ear of Indian corn to appreciate this point. It should be kept in mind that much of what has already been accomplished through the technique of selective breeding was done centuries before man understood the mechanisms of heredity. If so much "progress" could have been made from a position of almost total ignorance about genetics, imagine what the future may hold, now that the genetic process is almost completely understood. The technique of selective breeding, though very powerful and capable of producing many useful varieties of plants, animals, and microorganisms, has severe limita-
tions. The breeder has to content himself with naturally-occurring genes found in the material he is dealing with. If he is a corn breeder he is limited to the use of only those genes found in corn; he cannot incorporate genes from alfalfa or soy beans. The new techniques of genetic engineering may well obviate that ultimate limitatiorL faced by the conventional plant or animal breeder. It may become possible to intermingle genetic information from widely different organisms to produce "man-made" life forms of a kind that could never be produced in nature without human intervention. This is a sobering thought-obviously it holds great promise, y e t also poses perils never before dreamed of.
64 The scientists most closely associated with the development of the techniques likely to usher in the age of genetic engineering (recombinant DNA methodologies), voluntarily called a halt to their work several years ago. The purpose of this hiatus was to allow the scientific c o m m u n i t y and the public time to come to grips with some of the hypothetical dangers posed by these new techniques. After much deliberation and numerous public meetings and forums, guidelines for this kind of experimentation were established. Though these procedural guidelines by no means satisfy everyone involved, work in this area has now been resumed and progress is being made at a remarkable rate. The basic technique involved in recombinant DNA research is deceptively simple. Using enzymes that cut and repair DNA, it is possible to chop up the DNA of one organism and insert parts of it into the DNA of another. In other words, it is now possible to transfer genes from one creature to another in a way that could never be done by conventional matings. For example, it is now possible to insert human genes into such unrelated creatures as bacteria which, as they grow and divide, actually replicate and express the inserted human genetic information. What uses can be found for this powerful new technique and other equally amazing tricks from molecular biology? In the last two years there has been scientific speculation, planning, and research aimed at bringing the potential of molecular biological manipulation to bear
on agricukural, medical, and industrial problems. One focus of interest in agriculture research is the possibility of moving nitrogen-fixing genes into crop plants. The world's crop plants are of two basic types; the cereal crops, such as wheat, corn, and rice, require large quantities of commercial nitrogen fertilizer, while the other class, including such plants a soybeans, peas, and peanuts, can form a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms which can fix the needed nitrogen from the atmosphere. It is the hope of researchers in this area that eventually cereal crops can be developed that contain genes derived from bacteria that will permit them to draw nitrogen directly from the atmosphere, thus obviating the need for commercial nitrogen fertilizer. Since the industrial production of such nitrogen fertilizers and their distribution to the fields are energy intensive operations, it is proposed that such plant engineering would result in huge energy savings to the farmer, and thus to the economy as a whole. Lest we become overly optimistic about the timetable for the delivery of such miracle plants, I must point out that development of nitrogen-fixing corn or wheat will not be a simple matter of inserting a few genes for nitrogen fixation into a suitable recipient. Nitrogen fixation requires tremendous amounts of metabolic energy; thus, the whole cereal plant will have to be "re-engineered" to optimally use the nitrogen-fixing genes that will be .incorporated into the "manmade plant."
Cloning is another m o d e m molecular technique already receiving considerable testing in plant research laboratories. David Rorick's sensational and fraudulent book, In
His Image: The Cloning of a Man, pubfished in 1978, created a major public stir, but there is not likely to be as much controversy surrounding the cloning of potatoes and other food crops. The concept allows the production of whole plants from single, carefully selected cells of plants known to have desirable characteristics. The immediate benefit of this approach is that it will soon be possible to accomplish in one plant generation what conventional breeding programs presently take twenty or more years to accomplish. Ultimately, when the cell cloning technology is combined with the gene splicing technology described earlier, it should be possible to produce made-to-order plants. Cloning Could create a vegetable crop that produces high yields of high quality fruit, is drought resistant, resistant to all known plant diseases, needs no fertilizer, has all of its fruit mature at a specified time, and produces the fruit in a position on the plant that would make it easily harvested by mechanical picking machines. Though such plants are still "on the drawing board," significant progress toward their appearance could occur before 1990. Medical practice is likely to benefit from the applications of molecular biology even before agriculture. The commercial production of human insulin is apparently almost at hand at the time this
"We will have to pay more, rather than less, attention to basic ecological and environmental principles as the new biotechnology begins to have a greater impact on h u m a n survival."
65 article is being written. At present many diabetics rely on bovine insulin to treat their disorder. The bovine molecule is relatively expensive, can have some side effects in some people, may not be quite as effective in man as the human form of the molecule, and has its supply tied to the availability of cattle going to the slaughterhouse. Pharmaceutical companies are now investigating techniques in which the human genes for insulin are spliced into the DNA of bacteria. The bacteria are then grown in huge vats with carefully controlled conditions under which they actually produce human insulin which can then be isolated and purified from the bacterial culture medium. This technique may (after recovery of research and development costs) actually lower the price of insulin, guarantee an essentially inexhaustible supply, and produce a superior product. In recent months there has been great interest in an agent which may be useful in treating a number of viral diseases and some forms of cancer. This substance, interferon, has been known for about twentyfive years, but work on its mode of action and tests on its potential therapeutic value have suffered because the material is produced in only minute quantities by the body, and thus is very precious. It would cost an estimated 10 to 20 million dollars to produce one pound of pure interferon from human blood using conventional biochemical techniques. Interferon is produced by the cells of the human body in response to virus infection,
and the minute quantities of interferon then act as antiviral agents to suppress additional virus infections. Interferon is not specific with regard to the viruses it will protect against, but unfortunately it is completely host species specific. That is, horse, cow, or m o n k e y interferon won't protect human beings; only human interferon works in the human b o d y as a defense against viral attack. The same kind of host specificity may also apply to interferon's anti-cancer properties, if in fact it has any. Genetic engineering may well play a role in this story with its potential for inexpensively producing large quantities of interferon, which will, of course, greatly help in testing and screening operations. Should interferon prove a clinically useful antiviral or anticancer agent, vast quantities could then be produced at affordable prices. The b o d y produces many medically significant small peptide s and proteins. Mention was made earlier of the peptide neurohormones, and many other such substances are being discovered every year. These materials are often of limited therapeutic or clinical value because they axe produced in small quantities and are thus very difficult to obtain in amounts great enough to permit testing. Genetic engineering techniques should permit production of greater quantities for study and, perhaps, for later clinical use. The techniques and procedures of the new biology may soon begin to have an impact on the production of consumer goods. The synthesis of ethylene glycol is a
multimillion-dollar-a-year business just in the United States alone. Researchers, employing gene splicing technology, are attempting to construct microorganisms that will efficiently convert less expensive raw materials to ethylene glycol at a considerable cost saving compared to present-day methods. Recent price increases in petroleum and uncertainty concerning its longrange availability are making petroleum a less attractive starting material for many industrial processes. Research is presently being done on a variety of plants that produce chemicals which may prove to be acceptable, and also renewable, starting materials for the production of numerous industrial chemicals which are presently derived from petroleum. There has even been discussion and some research on potential plant sources of gasoline, petroleum or petroleum-like materials.
Biotechnology ood is one of the basic human needs, and it is conceivable, in fact likely, that even molecular-biology-assisted, conventional agriculture may not be able to keep pace with the predicted increase in human population. I suspect that the future will find an increasing dependence on microorganisms (bacteria, algae, and fungi) in the production of food for human beings and their domesticated animals. Certainly there is nothing new about the use of microorganisms in food production and preservation.
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66 Long before anyone even knew that microorganisms were responsible for the process, people were making yogurt, which not only resisted spoilage much more effectively than the milk from which it was derived, but also was higher in nutritive value. The practical use of microorganisms in the formation of fermented beverages precedes recorded history. The brewing of local beer from low quality, starchy grains has long been an important practice in improving the diet and nutrition of low-income people in many parts of the world. Mushrooms and yeast cakes are important sources of nutrients for many people. However, in the next few years I suspect we will see biotechnology play a significant role in increasing the contributions of microorganisms to human nutrition. As it becomes more difficult to supply traditional foods to a growing world population, food technologists will be able to convert microorganisms and the products of their growth into palatable, nutritious, high quality food. There will also be an increased tendency to use microorganisms to convert agricultural waste to animal feed. Microbes will be the first agents in a multi-step process to convert agricultural waste to milk, eggs, butter, and meat. When considering nutrition, quality of food is as important as quantity. Microorganisms can be used to supply added vitamins, minerals and proteins. Microorganisms can be grown in relatively limited space, and do not require agricul-
turally rich soil in order to be grown, so the increased use of microorganisms in the feeding of the human population may prove to be most valuable in those impoverished countries which have large populations and severely limited agricultural capacity. Pilot studies are already being conducted in Japan for the microbiological conversion of municipal and chemical industry wastes into animal feed and fertilizer. It is reasonable to predict that the widespread use of microorganisms as a source of animal feed will precede intense efforts to develop the necessary technology for the generation of significant quantities of h u m a n food from microorganisms. The advantages of utilizing microorganisms as food sources are that no prime agricultural land or conditions are required for microbial growth, microorganisms tend to grow rapidly and thus have the potential for producing large quantities of food in a short period of time, and they can convert low food quality, starchy waste materials into potentially nutritious food. Some microorganisms that are now being looked at as possible food sources are photosynthetic and can actually generate food from the carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the atmosphere, using sunlight as a source of energy. Theoretically it would even be possible to use microorganisms to convert the carbon monoxide from combustion engine exhausts into food. The present drawbacks to the use of microorganisms as food sources, however, are serious. Cul-
tural resistance by many to the use of microorganisms, or products derived directly from microorganisms, as food staples is likely. Consumer acceptance will be low if taste, texture, aromas, or appearance of microbial food differs greatly from conventional dietary items. Finally, the production of high quality human foods from microorganisms will undoubtedly require energyand labor-intensive processing. Though microbial protein is generally of good nutritive value, microorganisms often contain toxic substances, and almost always have very high nucleic acid contents that cause problems for human beings in digesting large quantities of microbial material. In order to overcome several of these problems, food technologists will probably concentrate their efforts on the isolation of microbial proteins. These materials can be spun into fiber or compressed into nuggets that can approximate the textures and appearance of conventional foods. Much progress has already been made in converting soy proteins into meat and dairy substitutes that are gaining wide consumer acceptance, and which have some nutritional advantages over "natural" products, such as low cholesterol content. Adaptation of this same basic technology should enable us to convert microbial protein into palatable and nutritious food. As the price of conventional foods increases it will become more economically feasible to develop microbial food sources. Also, it may be possible to eliminate several
Where Biology Could Take Us
"The ability to utilize biotechnology to produce renewable and economical sources of energy is an idea whose time may be at hand."
67 of the inherent drawbacks to the use of microorganisms as food sources b y judicious application of genetic engineering to the microbes involved in an attempt to produce "ideal" microorganisms designed specifically for human consumption. It appears that energy will remain in short supply for the foreseeable future. The ability to utilize biotechnology to produce renewable and economical sources of energy is an idea whose time may be at hand. As petroleum and natural gas b e c o m e more scarce there will u n d o u b t e d l y be increased pressure to develop technologies to utilize biomass as an energy source. Brazil already has a flourishing ethanol production industry. Gasohol mixtures have been used in Brazil for some time, and the Brazilians hope to convert completely to petroleum-free automobile fuels in the near future. Sugar cane is the renewable resource employed for the production of ethanol in Brazil. In the U.S. corn has been the predominant source for our infant gasohol industry. Despite many detractors and predictions of failure, it n o w appears that gasohol and, perhaps later, petroleum-free ethanol, may b e c o m e very important fuel sources for automobiles in the U . S . Most of the present predictions and calculations concerning ethanol as a fuel are based on present technology. Most commercial ethanol installations depend on yeast fermentation of natural mashes of cane or corn. Presently, research is underway to develop more efficient biological conversion
of plant starch to ethanol. Genetic engineering techniques could prove useful in construction of microbial strains better suited to industrial ethanol production than the materials in current use. Of course, such improvements would drastically alter the calculations presently being cited to argue against ethanol as a preferred automotive fuel source for the future. In China an estimated thirty million peasants are presently using biologically-generated methane as a heat source. The starting material for this biogas generation is human and animal waste. This technology, which should be suitable for any developing country, could have a very positive sparing effect on forests in countries which are presently heavily dependent on firewood as a source of heat. The fundamental biological process b y which microbes generate methane is not fully understood. This is presently a very active area of research, and new understanding of the basic process could have marked effects on the emerging technology in this field. The use of biogas technology, like ethanol production, has the advantage that it can be highly decentralized, thus minimizing problems of storage and transportation. Though some countries are on the verge of losing their native forests, others seem to have an abundance of w o o d and the capacity to produce still more. Sweden, which has abundant forest lands, has no natural deposits of coal, oil or natural gas. As a consequence, Sweden is a leader in the develop-
ment of technology based on converting w o o d into useful energy sources. New technologies which permit fast rotation of trees that can be harvested every five years are being explored. The concept is based on the use of trees which can be periodically m o w e d down and converted to w o o d chips without damage to the root system. Thus, about five years after a harvest, new growth has developed from the original root system to an extent that an economically feasible second harvest can be carried out. This process can be repeated until the root system senesces. For the past decade researchers around the world have been actively attempting to use biological systems driven b y sunlight to produce hydrogen gas. Hydrogen, to a first approximation, appears to be an excellent fuel. When combusted in air, the primary waste product would be water. Hydrogen could be either combusted or used in fuel cells to supply energy to many processes and a wide range of machinery. Unfortunately, though the systems tried seem tantalizingly attractive, no one has succeeded in making industrially significant quantities of hydrogen b y a biosolar process. This does not mean, however, that hope for this interesting technology needs to be completely abandoned. At the least, it may be possible to use biosolar technology to produce sufficient hydrogen for chemical, if not fuel, use, thus saving other energy sources presently being employed to produce this valuable material. Ecologists and environmental-
"The tradition in science has been for free exchange of ideas and approaches across laboratories, and often across national borders. This may change dramatically in a rapidly advancing and apparently lucrative field such as molecular biology."
68 ists have clearly shown the danger of monoculture and overuse of marginally suitable land. In the foregoing I have suggested that the world may become ever more dependent upon biological systems to generate the goods that our civilization requires. Certainly, we must not be seduced into a dependence on these techniques if they require heavy reliance on monoculture or the utilization of lands that cannot support such activities for extended periods of time without becoming destroyed. In other words, we will have to pay more, rather than less, attention to basic ecological and environmental principles as the new biotechnology begins to have a greater impact on human survival.
Sociological Change in Biology
gene splicing technology and other aspects of molecular biology begin ot many years ago a young to pay off as expected, a very person entering one of the significant portion of the basic rebranches of biology expect- searchers in the field will be ined to make only a modest income, volved to some extent either directlive a relatively quiet life, and pub- ly or indirectly as consultants with lish his or her work in scholarly private industry. Such an occurjournals read only b y other experts rence would u n d o u b t e d l y have an and practitioners. All of that seems unsettling effect on the pursuit of to have changed in the late 1970s. academic science. It has become increasingly c o m m o n Certainly there is nothing wrong for scientists to call press confer- with scientists sharing in the profits ences to announce anything from of their discoveries. The problem, the discovery of the oldest known as the prominent science writer form of life to a new cancer cure. Nicholas Wade has pointed out, lies The fact that the public is inter- in the fact that the business ethic ested in such news in borne out b y and the scientific ethic are not the recent minor explosion in "pop- coincident at all points. The tradiular science" publications and tele- tion in science has been for free vision shows. Many scientists sud- exchange of ideas and approaches denly discover that they have be- across laboratories, and often across come "media personalities." As if national borders. This may change this weren't enough to cause distur- dramatically in a rapidly advancing bances in the once tranquil halls of and apparently lucrative field such academia where much of the basic as molecular biology. The recent work on molecular biology was Supreme Court decison to permit done, new companies based on the the patenting of a life form may biotechnology almost certain to (unlike early comments to the congrow from molecular biology and trary) actually alleviate some of this microbial genetics are springing up difficulty, for if a c o m p a n y is proaround the world. Corporate inves- tected b y a patent it may be more tors have found these companies willing to share ideas and materials very appealing, and as a result there than it would be if its discoveries are millions of dollars available to could simply be "picked up and those who can demonstrate that used" b y someone else without they have harnessed this new tech- permission or remuneration. Wade nology and are able to produce also points out that "Presentation valuable consumer goods. Some of the truth is another area in academic molecular biologists have which business and scientific mores formed their own companies, while differ. The commercial ethic bids many others are now acting as the dissemination of news b y press consultants for privately-owned conference, the playing up of poscorporations. It is possible that if sible advantages and the playing
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Where Biology Could Take Us
69 down of probable obstacles . . . . What is confusing is to have a scientist speaking as a businessman but still presenting himself as a scientist." In an atmosphere where investors are willing to put up large sums of m o n e y for theoretically appealing, but as yet unproven, technology the scientist finds himself in an unfamiliar and difficult position. It must be appreciated that the kind of science being done depends
a great deal on the "sociology of science." That is, the kind of atmosphere in which the investigator works can have a profound effect on the kind of work produced. For example, one need only look at the Lysenko period in Russia to see the disastrous effect that an oppressive political climate can have on an entire field of study. The problems facing academic science in the westem world today may not on the surface seem as severe as those
faced by Soviet geneticists four decades ago, yet change in the structure of the biological research establishment is underway, and serious problems seem to lie just over the horizon. If we are unable to solve those problems, and the scientific establishment is exposed to unexpected turbulence, the results could prove catastrophic for a world which needs the benefits of well-directed and wisely used scientific research. [52]
60 Gary A. Sojka is Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Biology at Indiana University.
Biologists are left nearly breathless in the wake of advances in their discipline. Here is a guided tour of a science that may provide answers to some of the world's problems in the next decade. ecennial anniversaries have for many years inspired practitioners of various scientific fields to play the role of seer and foretell what the future holds for their discipline. Readers would be wise to keep two things in mind whenever perusing such predictions: the first is that soothsayers in the sciences generally have had a rather poor record for accurate prediction; the second is that any reasonable set of predictions for the near future must rest on events of the present and the recent past. The first of these caveats derives most often from the fact that any given science can take off in completely unexpected directions as the result of a seminal discovery or previously unpredictable, and consequently revolutionary, advance in understanding or insight. The second caveat, stating that the future depends on the present and the recent past, is particularly germane to any discussion of the horizons of the biological sciences in the 1980s. For in science, as in sports and politics, m o m e n t u m is a factor that must be reckoned with, and fight now biology has "the big m o . " Major conceptual and technical advances have been occurring at such a rate in the life sciences in
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recent years as to leave many practicing biologists literally breathless as they vainly attempt to keep abreast of the information explosion occurring just in their own narrowly-defined disciplines (not to mention life sciences in general). Advances in science tend to be autocatalytic, that is, one conceptual advance or new technique often leads to a whole variety of new approaches, all of which may provide even more information; the process then repeats itself, and the ensuing logarithmic progression results in the production of new information at a rate that would not have seemed possible only a few years before. That is the state of affairs today in biology. Any atempt to foretell what will actually transpire in biology in the 1980s is very likely to be off the mark. Importantly, the errors are likely to be on the overly conservative side, for the 1980s could prove to be the most exciting period in the several hundred year history of modern biology. Money + Intellect = Progress
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f course, any progress in l any area of science requires the appropriate intellectual
Where Biology Could Take Us
"It is certainly true that a number of the difficulties facing humanity are the result of the abuse or misuse of science and technology. Nonetheless, science and technology have not lost their capacity to ameliorate and possibly solve many of these problems."
61 atmosphere and continued financial support. Should world or national events occur that place serious restrictions on the activities of scientists or on their support base, mom e n t u m could be lost, progress slowed, and scientific advancement seriously curtailed. We do live in troubled times, and unforeseen events could disrupt the international scientific infrastructure. The human race is facing potential resource depletion and energy shortage, and the world popNation continues to grow at a rate alarming to many. Headlines predict widespread food shortages in the very near future. Despite almost miraculous advances in medical science and practice our species continues to suffer from a variety of recalcitrant physical disorders such as cancer, birth defects, autoimmune disorders, and heart disease. It is certainly true that a number of the difficulties facing humanity are the result of the abuse or misuse of science and technology. Nonetheless, science and technology have not lost their capacity to ameliorate and possibly solve many of these problems. It is m y firmly held belief, contrary to that of many others, that the proper course for the future is m o r e - n o t lesstechnology. While many cry out about the limits of growth and the need to return to a less technologically-dependent existence, I fear we have already gone too far to turn back. We already have billions of people on this planet who are largely, if not wholly, dependent upon our present level of technology for their basic survival. It is too late to
Molecular biology has been reseriously talk about reversing the trend toward greater technological sponsible for essentially solving the dependence which has been operat- problem of how the units of hereding for at least three hundred years. ity (genes) of plants, animals, and As necessity is the mother of microbes are expressed in the form invention, human needs will be the of observable heritable characterisdriving force behind the activities tics. This means that much of moof biologists in the 1980s. Biology lecular biology has dealt with the will very likely continue to make information containing macromoleadvances in the areas of medicine cules, DNA, RNA, and protein. The and agriculture, and new ap- apparently universal operation of proaches in the area of genetic the mechanisms of heredity was engineering are likely to make ma- quickly assimilated by the scientific jor impacts on problem areas such community, and today hardly a as energy shortages and resource literate eighteen-year-old in the depletion. The speed with which U.S.A. can be found who does not potentially useful new information know that genetic information is being generated in the biological flows in a series of steps from the sciences bodes well for those of us sequence of nucleotide bases in in the developed countries who DNA, through the corresponding should be the first beneficiaries of sequence of bases in RNA and finally to the sequence of amino the resultant new biotechnology. acid building blocks that make up the proteins which do the work of A Brief Look Backward the cell. In approximately twenty-five he last two decades span the period of development years our knowledge of the mechaand ultimate maturing of a nisms of the hereditary process has discipline called, rather imprecisely, grown from almost total ignorance molecular biology. This field, which to a point where understanding of attracted so much attention in the the events involved is so complete 1960s and 1970s, drew heavily that it is now possible to contemfrom the already established plate very precise manipulations of branches of science, genetics, bio- the hereditary machinery for the chemistry, and microbiology. Cer- purpose of human benefit. The tainly, molecular biology's origins distinct boundaries of the new disgo back to the early 1950s and cipline of molecular biology are possibly beyond, but it has been already becoming blurred as the primarily in the past two decades techniques and approaches of the that the territory between the bio- molecular biologist are applied to chemist's small molecules and the an ever-growing number of other cytologist's morphological land- biological disciplines from cell biolmarks became familiar ground to ogy to evolution. Great strides have also been thousands of biologists around the made in the last twenty years in world.
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62 biochemistry, microbial genetics, immunology, cell biology, neurobiology, and evolutionary biology. Biochemists have continued to refine their methods of isolation and purification of biologically interesting molecules. As a consequence, it is now possible to design industrial processes and reactions which are dependent upon purified enzyme molecules which act as catalysts. A g r e a t deal has been learned about t h e mechanism of enzyme catalysed reactions and about the regulation of enzyme catalysts by various small molecules. Microbial geneticists have become extremely facile in the manipulation of well-defined segments o f the bacterial genome. It is now possible to virtually construct to order bacterial strains with whole constellations of interesting or useful properties. The science of immunology has benefited greatly from progress in other fields. Advances in protein biochemistry have made possible great strides in understanding the molecular structure of antibody molecules or immunoglobulins. Through the techniques of cell biology much has been learned about the various cell types found in the immune system. A very new technique which involves the fusion of antibody-producing cells with tumor cells to form a " h y b r i d o m a " which produces a single molecular species of antibody may prove one of the very most useful approaches both for understanding the functions of the immune system and for application of immunology to the solution of other problems in cell biology.
Using a variety of biochemical, biophysical, and electron microscopic techniques cell biologists have carefully described the "landscape" to be found inside the cells of higher organisms. What was simply called protoplasm, or "cell sap," some twenty years ago is now known to be a complex and highly organized collection of membranes, vesicles, filaments, and microstructures. The functions of these subcellular components are now well described, and much of the uncertainty concerning the way cells carry out their assigned functions has been eliminated. A very active area of research in the past two decades has involved the biochemistry, cell biology, and biophysics of the nervous system. One of the most interesting recent developments in this field has been the discovery of diffusible peptide neurohormones. These are natural materials produced by normal nerve cells that affect the pain and pleasure centers and can have effects similar to opiates such as morphine. If there is a single unifying theme to modern biology it would have to be evolutionary theory. Thus, it should n o t be surprising that biologists have been applying the techniques of molecular biology to studies on the provenance of the life forms existing on earth today. Such approaches have done much to enrich our understanding of the origin of the species and have begun to supply the probable molecular mechanisms by which present-day plants, animals, and microbes arose from ancient and more primitive forebearers.
It would be inappropriate to conclude this brief description of advances in the life sciences without commenting on the development of the support industries that make rapid progress in research possible. In the U.S. and other developed countries, there has been a pronounced improvement over the past two decades in the kinds of equipment and supplies available to researchers in the life sciences. Instruments ranging from electron microscopes to analytical balances have been revolutionized by the incorporation of electronic innovations and computer miniaturization. Today a scientist can simply pick up a telephone and, within a matter of a day or so, receive a commercially-prepared complex biochemical that just fifteen years ago he might have had to spend a year or more synthesizing for himself. The partnership between the basic researchers and the chemical and scientific instrument industries that support them has been a fruitful one and has had much to do with the speed at which our new knowledge of biology has accumulated. The Glamour Technique of the 80s ankind has been manipulating the genetics of domesticated plants and animals for thousands of years. The remarkable results of this genetic tampering through the technique of selective breeding can be readily seen at any American Kennel Club dog show or in the produce department of your favorite supermarket.
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Where Biology Could Take Us
"I suspect that the future will find an increasing dependence on microorganisms (bacteria, algae, fungi) in the production of food for human beings and their domesticated animals."
63 Left to their own devices, dogs would still look much like coyotes or small wolves. The English Bulldog or the Russian Wolfhound are products of years of intense selective breeding. The breeders literally constructed these varieties by selecting offspring from matings that displayed the characteristics they were seeking and then using them in subsequent matings. At each generation only the offspring that most suited the breeder were allowed to reproduce. After many, many generations a creature as different from the '%asic, ancestral" dog as a bulldog could be produced in this fashion. The genetic alterations produced in domesticated plants may be even more dramatic than those found in domegticated
animals. One need only compare an ear of modern hybird field corn with an ear of Indian corn to appreciate this point. It should be kept in mind that much of what has already been accomplished through the technique of selective breeding was done centuries before man understood the mechanisms of heredity. If so much "progress" could have been made from a position of almost total ignorance about genetics, imagine what the future may hold, now that the genetic process is almost completely understood. The technique of selective breeding, though very powerful and capable of producing many useful varieties of plants, animals, and microorganisms, has severe limita-
tions. The breeder has to content himself with naturally-occurring genes found in the material he is dealing with. If he is a corn breeder he is limited to the use of only those genes found in corn; he cannot incorporate genes from alfalfa or soy beans. The new techniques of genetic engineering may well obviate that ultimate limitatiorL faced by the conventional plant or animal breeder. It may become possible to intermingle genetic information from widely different organisms to produce "man-made" life forms of a kind that could never be produced in nature without human intervention. This is a sobering thought-obviously it holds great promise, y e t also poses perils never before dreamed of.
64 The scientists most closely associated with the development of the techniques likely to usher in the age of genetic engineering (recombinant DNA methodologies), voluntarily called a halt to their work several years ago. The purpose of this hiatus was to allow the scientific c o m m u n i t y and the public time to come to grips with some of the hypothetical dangers posed by these new techniques. After much deliberation and numerous public meetings and forums, guidelines for this kind of experimentation were established. Though these procedural guidelines by no means satisfy everyone involved, work in this area has now been resumed and progress is being made at a remarkable rate. The basic technique involved in recombinant DNA research is deceptively simple. Using enzymes that cut and repair DNA, it is possible to chop up the DNA of one organism and insert parts of it into the DNA of another. In other words, it is now possible to transfer genes from one creature to another in a way that could never be done by conventional matings. For example, it is now possible to insert human genes into such unrelated creatures as bacteria which, as they grow and divide, actually replicate and express the inserted human genetic information. What uses can be found for this powerful new technique and other equally amazing tricks from molecular biology? In the last two years there has been scientific speculation, planning, and research aimed at bringing the potential of molecular biological manipulation to bear
on agricukural, medical, and industrial problems. One focus of interest in agriculture research is the possibility of moving nitrogen-fixing genes into crop plants. The world's crop plants are of two basic types; the cereal crops, such as wheat, corn, and rice, require large quantities of commercial nitrogen fertilizer, while the other class, including such plants a soybeans, peas, and peanuts, can form a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms which can fix the needed nitrogen from the atmosphere. It is the hope of researchers in this area that eventually cereal crops can be developed that contain genes derived from bacteria that will permit them to draw nitrogen directly from the atmosphere, thus obviating the need for commercial nitrogen fertilizer. Since the industrial production of such nitrogen fertilizers and their distribution to the fields are energy intensive operations, it is proposed that such plant engineering would result in huge energy savings to the farmer, and thus to the economy as a whole. Lest we become overly optimistic about the timetable for the delivery of such miracle plants, I must point out that development of nitrogen-fixing corn or wheat will not be a simple matter of inserting a few genes for nitrogen fixation into a suitable recipient. Nitrogen fixation requires tremendous amounts of metabolic energy; thus, the whole cereal plant will have to be "re-engineered" to optimally use the nitrogen-fixing genes that will be .incorporated into the "manmade plant."
Cloning is another m o d e m molecular technique already receiving considerable testing in plant research laboratories. David Rorick's sensational and fraudulent book, In
His Image: The Cloning of a Man, pubfished in 1978, created a major public stir, but there is not likely to be as much controversy surrounding the cloning of potatoes and other food crops. The concept allows the production of whole plants from single, carefully selected cells of plants known to have desirable characteristics. The immediate benefit of this approach is that it will soon be possible to accomplish in one plant generation what conventional breeding programs presently take twenty or more years to accomplish. Ultimately, when the cell cloning technology is combined with the gene splicing technology described earlier, it should be possible to produce made-to-order plants. Cloning Could create a vegetable crop that produces high yields of high quality fruit, is drought resistant, resistant to all known plant diseases, needs no fertilizer, has all of its fruit mature at a specified time, and produces the fruit in a position on the plant that would make it easily harvested by mechanical picking machines. Though such plants are still "on the drawing board," significant progress toward their appearance could occur before 1990. Medical practice is likely to benefit from the applications of molecular biology even before agriculture. The commercial production of human insulin is apparently almost at hand at the time this
"We will have to pay more, rather than less, attention to basic ecological and environmental principles as the new biotechnology begins to have a greater impact on h u m a n survival."
65 article is being written. At present many diabetics rely on bovine insulin to treat their disorder. The bovine molecule is relatively expensive, can have some side effects in some people, may not be quite as effective in man as the human form of the molecule, and has its supply tied to the availability of cattle going to the slaughterhouse. Pharmaceutical companies are now investigating techniques in which the human genes for insulin are spliced into the DNA of bacteria. The bacteria are then grown in huge vats with carefully controlled conditions under which they actually produce human insulin which can then be isolated and purified from the bacterial culture medium. This technique may (after recovery of research and development costs) actually lower the price of insulin, guarantee an essentially inexhaustible supply, and produce a superior product. In recent months there has been great interest in an agent which may be useful in treating a number of viral diseases and some forms of cancer. This substance, interferon, has been known for about twentyfive years, but work on its mode of action and tests on its potential therapeutic value have suffered because the material is produced in only minute quantities by the body, and thus is very precious. It would cost an estimated 10 to 20 million dollars to produce one pound of pure interferon from human blood using conventional biochemical techniques. Interferon is produced by the cells of the human body in response to virus infection,
and the minute quantities of interferon then act as antiviral agents to suppress additional virus infections. Interferon is not specific with regard to the viruses it will protect against, but unfortunately it is completely host species specific. That is, horse, cow, or m o n k e y interferon won't protect human beings; only human interferon works in the human b o d y as a defense against viral attack. The same kind of host specificity may also apply to interferon's anti-cancer properties, if in fact it has any. Genetic engineering may well play a role in this story with its potential for inexpensively producing large quantities of interferon, which will, of course, greatly help in testing and screening operations. Should interferon prove a clinically useful antiviral or anticancer agent, vast quantities could then be produced at affordable prices. The b o d y produces many medically significant small peptide s and proteins. Mention was made earlier of the peptide neurohormones, and many other such substances are being discovered every year. These materials are often of limited therapeutic or clinical value because they axe produced in small quantities and are thus very difficult to obtain in amounts great enough to permit testing. Genetic engineering techniques should permit production of greater quantities for study and, perhaps, for later clinical use. The techniques and procedures of the new biology may soon begin to have an impact on the production of consumer goods. The synthesis of ethylene glycol is a
multimillion-dollar-a-year business just in the United States alone. Researchers, employing gene splicing technology, are attempting to construct microorganisms that will efficiently convert less expensive raw materials to ethylene glycol at a considerable cost saving compared to present-day methods. Recent price increases in petroleum and uncertainty concerning its longrange availability are making petroleum a less attractive starting material for many industrial processes. Research is presently being done on a variety of plants that produce chemicals which may prove to be acceptable, and also renewable, starting materials for the production of numerous industrial chemicals which are presently derived from petroleum. There has even been discussion and some research on potential plant sources of gasoline, petroleum or petroleum-like materials.
Biotechnology ood is one of the basic human needs, and it is conceivable, in fact likely, that even molecular-biology-assisted, conventional agriculture may not be able to keep pace with the predicted increase in human population. I suspect that the future will find an increasing dependence on microorganisms (bacteria, algae, and fungi) in the production of food for human beings and their domesticated animals. Certainly there is nothing new about the use of microorganisms in food production and preservation.
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66 Long before anyone even knew that microorganisms were responsible for the process, people were making yogurt, which not only resisted spoilage much more effectively than the milk from which it was derived, but also was higher in nutritive value. The practical use of microorganisms in the formation of fermented beverages precedes recorded history. The brewing of local beer from low quality, starchy grains has long been an important practice in improving the diet and nutrition of low-income people in many parts of the world. Mushrooms and yeast cakes are important sources of nutrients for many people. However, in the next few years I suspect we will see biotechnology play a significant role in increasing the contributions of microorganisms to human nutrition. As it becomes more difficult to supply traditional foods to a growing world population, food technologists will be able to convert microorganisms and the products of their growth into palatable, nutritious, high quality food. There will also be an increased tendency to use microorganisms to convert agricultural waste to animal feed. Microbes will be the first agents in a multi-step process to convert agricultural waste to milk, eggs, butter, and meat. When considering nutrition, quality of food is as important as quantity. Microorganisms can be used to supply added vitamins, minerals and proteins. Microorganisms can be grown in relatively limited space, and do not require agricul-
turally rich soil in order to be grown, so the increased use of microorganisms in the feeding of the human population may prove to be most valuable in those impoverished countries which have large populations and severely limited agricultural capacity. Pilot studies are already being conducted in Japan for the microbiological conversion of municipal and chemical industry wastes into animal feed and fertilizer. It is reasonable to predict that the widespread use of microorganisms as a source of animal feed will precede intense efforts to develop the necessary technology for the generation of significant quantities of h u m a n food from microorganisms. The advantages of utilizing microorganisms as food sources are that no prime agricultural land or conditions are required for microbial growth, microorganisms tend to grow rapidly and thus have the potential for producing large quantities of food in a short period of time, and they can convert low food quality, starchy waste materials into potentially nutritious food. Some microorganisms that are now being looked at as possible food sources are photosynthetic and can actually generate food from the carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the atmosphere, using sunlight as a source of energy. Theoretically it would even be possible to use microorganisms to convert the carbon monoxide from combustion engine exhausts into food. The present drawbacks to the use of microorganisms as food sources, however, are serious. Cul-
tural resistance by many to the use of microorganisms, or products derived directly from microorganisms, as food staples is likely. Consumer acceptance will be low if taste, texture, aromas, or appearance of microbial food differs greatly from conventional dietary items. Finally, the production of high quality human foods from microorganisms will undoubtedly require energyand labor-intensive processing. Though microbial protein is generally of good nutritive value, microorganisms often contain toxic substances, and almost always have very high nucleic acid contents that cause problems for human beings in digesting large quantities of microbial material. In order to overcome several of these problems, food technologists will probably concentrate their efforts on the isolation of microbial proteins. These materials can be spun into fiber or compressed into nuggets that can approximate the textures and appearance of conventional foods. Much progress has already been made in converting soy proteins into meat and dairy substitutes that are gaining wide consumer acceptance, and which have some nutritional advantages over "natural" products, such as low cholesterol content. Adaptation of this same basic technology should enable us to convert microbial protein into palatable and nutritious food. As the price of conventional foods increases it will become more economically feasible to develop microbial food sources. Also, it may be possible to eliminate several
Where Biology Could Take Us
"The ability to utilize biotechnology to produce renewable and economical sources of energy is an idea whose time may be at hand."
67 of the inherent drawbacks to the use of microorganisms as food sources b y judicious application of genetic engineering to the microbes involved in an attempt to produce "ideal" microorganisms designed specifically for human consumption. It appears that energy will remain in short supply for the foreseeable future. The ability to utilize biotechnology to produce renewable and economical sources of energy is an idea whose time may be at hand. As petroleum and natural gas b e c o m e more scarce there will u n d o u b t e d l y be increased pressure to develop technologies to utilize biomass as an energy source. Brazil already has a flourishing ethanol production industry. Gasohol mixtures have been used in Brazil for some time, and the Brazilians hope to convert completely to petroleum-free automobile fuels in the near future. Sugar cane is the renewable resource employed for the production of ethanol in Brazil. In the U.S. corn has been the predominant source for our infant gasohol industry. Despite many detractors and predictions of failure, it n o w appears that gasohol and, perhaps later, petroleum-free ethanol, may b e c o m e very important fuel sources for automobiles in the U . S . Most of the present predictions and calculations concerning ethanol as a fuel are based on present technology. Most commercial ethanol installations depend on yeast fermentation of natural mashes of cane or corn. Presently, research is underway to develop more efficient biological conversion
of plant starch to ethanol. Genetic engineering techniques could prove useful in construction of microbial strains better suited to industrial ethanol production than the materials in current use. Of course, such improvements would drastically alter the calculations presently being cited to argue against ethanol as a preferred automotive fuel source for the future. In China an estimated thirty million peasants are presently using biologically-generated methane as a heat source. The starting material for this biogas generation is human and animal waste. This technology, which should be suitable for any developing country, could have a very positive sparing effect on forests in countries which are presently heavily dependent on firewood as a source of heat. The fundamental biological process b y which microbes generate methane is not fully understood. This is presently a very active area of research, and new understanding of the basic process could have marked effects on the emerging technology in this field. The use of biogas technology, like ethanol production, has the advantage that it can be highly decentralized, thus minimizing problems of storage and transportation. Though some countries are on the verge of losing their native forests, others seem to have an abundance of w o o d and the capacity to produce still more. Sweden, which has abundant forest lands, has no natural deposits of coal, oil or natural gas. As a consequence, Sweden is a leader in the develop-
ment of technology based on converting w o o d into useful energy sources. New technologies which permit fast rotation of trees that can be harvested every five years are being explored. The concept is based on the use of trees which can be periodically m o w e d down and converted to w o o d chips without damage to the root system. Thus, about five years after a harvest, new growth has developed from the original root system to an extent that an economically feasible second harvest can be carried out. This process can be repeated until the root system senesces. For the past decade researchers around the world have been actively attempting to use biological systems driven b y sunlight to produce hydrogen gas. Hydrogen, to a first approximation, appears to be an excellent fuel. When combusted in air, the primary waste product would be water. Hydrogen could be either combusted or used in fuel cells to supply energy to many processes and a wide range of machinery. Unfortunately, though the systems tried seem tantalizingly attractive, no one has succeeded in making industrially significant quantities of hydrogen b y a biosolar process. This does not mean, however, that hope for this interesting technology needs to be completely abandoned. At the least, it may be possible to use biosolar technology to produce sufficient hydrogen for chemical, if not fuel, use, thus saving other energy sources presently being employed to produce this valuable material. Ecologists and environmental-
"The tradition in science has been for free exchange of ideas and approaches across laboratories, and often across national borders. This may change dramatically in a rapidly advancing and apparently lucrative field such as molecular biology."
68 ists have clearly shown the danger of monoculture and overuse of marginally suitable land. In the foregoing I have suggested that the world may become ever more dependent upon biological systems to generate the goods that our civilization requires. Certainly, we must not be seduced into a dependence on these techniques if they require heavy reliance on monoculture or the utilization of lands that cannot support such activities for extended periods of time without becoming destroyed. In other words, we will have to pay more, rather than less, attention to basic ecological and environmental principles as the new biotechnology begins to have a greater impact on human survival.
Sociological Change in Biology
gene splicing technology and other aspects of molecular biology begin ot many years ago a young to pay off as expected, a very person entering one of the significant portion of the basic rebranches of biology expect- searchers in the field will be ined to make only a modest income, volved to some extent either directlive a relatively quiet life, and pub- ly or indirectly as consultants with lish his or her work in scholarly private industry. Such an occurjournals read only b y other experts rence would u n d o u b t e d l y have an and practitioners. All of that seems unsettling effect on the pursuit of to have changed in the late 1970s. academic science. It has become increasingly c o m m o n Certainly there is nothing wrong for scientists to call press confer- with scientists sharing in the profits ences to announce anything from of their discoveries. The problem, the discovery of the oldest known as the prominent science writer form of life to a new cancer cure. Nicholas Wade has pointed out, lies The fact that the public is inter- in the fact that the business ethic ested in such news in borne out b y and the scientific ethic are not the recent minor explosion in "pop- coincident at all points. The tradiular science" publications and tele- tion in science has been for free vision shows. Many scientists sud- exchange of ideas and approaches denly discover that they have be- across laboratories, and often across come "media personalities." As if national borders. This may change this weren't enough to cause distur- dramatically in a rapidly advancing bances in the once tranquil halls of and apparently lucrative field such academia where much of the basic as molecular biology. The recent work on molecular biology was Supreme Court decison to permit done, new companies based on the the patenting of a life form may biotechnology almost certain to (unlike early comments to the congrow from molecular biology and trary) actually alleviate some of this microbial genetics are springing up difficulty, for if a c o m p a n y is proaround the world. Corporate inves- tected b y a patent it may be more tors have found these companies willing to share ideas and materials very appealing, and as a result there than it would be if its discoveries are millions of dollars available to could simply be "picked up and those who can demonstrate that used" b y someone else without they have harnessed this new tech- permission or remuneration. Wade nology and are able to produce also points out that "Presentation valuable consumer goods. Some of the truth is another area in academic molecular biologists have which business and scientific mores formed their own companies, while differ. The commercial ethic bids many others are now acting as the dissemination of news b y press consultants for privately-owned conference, the playing up of poscorporations. It is possible that if sible advantages and the playing
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Where Biology Could Take Us
69 down of probable obstacles . . . . What is confusing is to have a scientist speaking as a businessman but still presenting himself as a scientist." In an atmosphere where investors are willing to put up large sums of m o n e y for theoretically appealing, but as yet unproven, technology the scientist finds himself in an unfamiliar and difficult position. It must be appreciated that the kind of science being done depends
a great deal on the "sociology of science." That is, the kind of atmosphere in which the investigator works can have a profound effect on the kind of work produced. For example, one need only look at the Lysenko period in Russia to see the disastrous effect that an oppressive political climate can have on an entire field of study. The problems facing academic science in the westem world today may not on the surface seem as severe as those
faced by Soviet geneticists four decades ago, yet change in the structure of the biological research establishment is underway, and serious problems seem to lie just over the horizon. If we are unable to solve those problems, and the scientific establishment is exposed to unexpected turbulence, the results could prove catastrophic for a world which needs the benefits of well-directed and wisely used scientific research. [52]