## Module 1 Defining Biotechnology

If you look up biotechnology, you’ll find a variety of definitions. Perhaps the simplest is the use of living things to make products. In this sense, biotechnology has been used by humans for at least 8000 years. Fermented beverages like wine and beer use yeast to convert sugars to alcohol, which acts as a preservative for the beverage’s valuable calories and nutrients. Bread, cheese, yogurt, vinegar, and chocolate also rely on microbes in their production and preservation.

Another common definition of biotechnology is that it refers to techniques used to modify the genetic material of a microorganism, plant, or animal in order to achieve a desired trait. This, again, makes biotechnology an ancient practice, because humans have long known that if you mate two individuals with a certain trait, you’re more likely to get that trait in the offspring. Over 8700 years ago, people in Mexico’s Central Balsas River Valley had selectively bred teosinte, a wild grass, until it became maize, a far more nutritious crop.

Modern corn has large cobs with large kernels, and is a rich source of nutrition. Modern corn is a result of selective breeding of teosinte, a wild grass. By choosing which seeds to plant, ancient people were able to increase the amount of nutrition yielded by each plant.

Dog breeds are another striking product of selective breeding. Current science suggests that dogs evolved from a population of wolves domesticated sometime between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. Selective breeding of dogs has continued to affect the ways various dog breeds look and behave.

A Chihuahua mix and a Great Dane more than 50 times its mass.