譯/陳曉璐 審訂/文軍

The term biotechnology represents a fusion or an alliance between biology and technology. Frankly speaking,biotechnology is as old as human civilization, and is an integral part of human life. Thus, biotechnology is a newly discovered discipline for age-old practices.

2 There are records that wine and beer was prepared in as early as 6000 B.C.,bread and curd in 4000 B.C. Today, we know that all these are the processes based on the natural capabilities of microorganisms.

1. Old and new biotechnology

3 Many authors prefer to use the term old or traditional biotechnology to refer to the natural processes that have been in use for many centuries to produce beer, wine, curd, cheese and many other foods. The new or modern biotechnology embraces all the genetic manipulations, cell fusion techniques and the improvements made in the old biotechnological processes.

“生物技術”一詞體現(xiàn)了生物學和技術之間的融合或聯(lián)合。坦率講，生物技術與人類文明一樣古老，它是人類生活不可分割的一部分。因此，生物技術雖然是一門新興學科，但其實踐由來已久。

2 據(jù)記載，早在公元前6000年，葡萄酒和啤酒就出現(xiàn)了，而面包和凝乳也在公元前4000年就有了。如今，我們知道這些工藝都是基于微生物的自然能力。

1. 新老生物技術

3 許多人更喜歡用“老的”或“傳統(tǒng)”生物技術來稱呼幾個世紀以來生產啤酒、葡萄酒、凝乳、奶酪和許多其他食物的自然過程?！靶碌摹被颉艾F(xiàn)代”生物技術包括所有的基因編輯、細胞融合技術和對老的生物技術過程所做的改進。

4 We have to accept that the present day biotechnology is not something new, but it represents a series of technologies, some of them dating back to thousands of years e.g. production of foods, beverages, modification of plants and animals with desired traits.It is only in recent years that these traditional practices are being subjected to scientific scrutiny, understood and improved, at least in some instances.

2. Definition(s) of biotechnology

5 The term biotechnology was introduced in 1917 by a Hungarian engineer,Károly Ereky. He used the term for large-scale production of pigs by using sugar beets as the source of food. Ereky defined biotechnology as “all lines of work by which products are produced from raw materials with the aid of living things”.

6 This definition was almost ignored for many years. For most people, biotechnology represented two aspects of engineering—industrial fermentation and study of the efficiency at work place. The fact that biotechnology is interdisciplinary in nature, with a wide range of applications has created some confusion with regard to its definition.This is mainly because scientists from each discipline have described the term from their own perspective.4 我們必須承認：如今的生物技術不算什么新鮮事物，但它代表了一系列技術手段，其中一些可以追溯到幾千年前：例如食物生產、飲料釀制、改良植物和動物特性。只是在近些年，這些傳統(tǒng)做法才經過科學研究并為人所了解，至少在某些情況下得到了改進。

2. 生物技術的定義

5 “生物技術”這個詞由匈牙利工程師卡羅伊·埃賴基于1917年提出，最初指以甜菜作飼料大規(guī)模養(yǎng)豬。埃賴基將生物技術定義為“利用生物體將原材料加工成產品的各種工藝”。

6 多年來，這個定義幾乎被人們忽略了。對大多數(shù)人來說，生物技術代表了兩個方面的工程——工業(yè)發(fā)酵和對工作場所效率的研究。生物技術跨學科的本質及廣泛應用，使其定義不是很清楚。這主要是因為各個學科的專家都從各自角度解釋這個術語。

7 歐洲生物技術聯(lián)合會將生物技術泛泛地定義為“將自然科學與生物體（細胞、其組成部分和分子類似物）融合以提供產品和服務”。無論生物技術一詞是如何定義的，它本質上都意味著利用微生物、動物、植物細胞或酶來合成、分解或轉化材料。

7 The European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) broadly considers biotechnology as “the integration of natural sciences and organisms, cells,parts thereof, and molecular analogues for products and services”. In whichever way the term biotechnology has been defined, it essentially represents the use of microbial, animal or plant cells or enzymes to synthesize, breakdown or transform materials.

3. History of biotechnology

8 From the historical perspective, the biotechnology dates back to the time(around 6000 BC) when the yeast was first used to produce beer and wine, and bacteria were first used to prepare yogurt. Some researchers consider Louis Pasteur, who identified the role of microorganisms in fermentation, (between 1857—1876) as the father of biotechnology.

9 The development of biotechnology,in the first half of twentieth century is associated with the fields of applied microbiology and industrial fermentations(production of penicillin, organic solvents etc.). The development of modern biotechnology is closely linked with the advances made in molecular biology.

4. Scientific foundations of biotechnology

3. 生物技術史

8 從歷史的角度來看，生物技術可以追溯到第一次用酵母生產啤酒和葡萄酒、第一次用菌類制備酸奶的時代（大約公元前6000年）。一些研究人員認為路易·巴斯德是生物技術之父，因為是他（在1857—1876年間）發(fā)現(xiàn)了微生物在發(fā)酵過程中的作用。

920世紀上半葉，生物技術的發(fā)展主要與應用微生物學和工業(yè)發(fā)酵領域（例如青霉素和有機溶劑的生產等）相關。而現(xiàn)代生物技術的發(fā)展與分子生物學的進步密切相關。

4. 生物技術的科學基礎

10 在科學領域，幾乎所有學科都直接或間接地為生物技術的發(fā)展做出過貢獻。其中大約有十幾個專門的科學分支是生物技術發(fā)展的主力。

10 There is almost no discipline among the science subjects that has not contributed either directly or indirectly for the growth of biotechnology. About a dozen specialized branches of science have predominantly provided the inputs for biotechnology.

11 These may be appropriately regarded as the roots of biotechnology, and include biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, chemical engineering and bioinformatics.

5. Biotechnological tools

12 Several methods, techniques or procedures which may be collectively called as biotechnological tools have been developed for transforming the scientific foundations into biotechnological applications. These tools include protein engineering, bioprocess/fermentation technology, cell and tissue culture technology, trans-genesis and antisense technology.

6. Applications of biotechnology

11 在一定程度上，這些可以視為生物技術的根源，包括生物化學、遺傳學、分子生物學、化學工程和生物信息學。

5. 生物技術工具

12 為了將科學基礎轉化為生物技術應用，現(xiàn)已開發(fā)了幾種可統(tǒng)稱為生物技術工具的方法、技術或程序。這些工具包括蛋白質工程、生物過程/發(fā)酵技術、細胞和組織培養(yǎng)技術、轉基因和反義技術。

6. 生物技術應用

13 生物技術研究成果具有廣泛的應用前景。事實上，沒有任何一個科學分支像生物技術那樣，應用如此廣泛。生物技術助力醫(yī)學和健康科學（診斷、疫苗、治療和食品）、農業(yè)科學（提高作物產量、保證食品質量和改善動物健康）和環(huán)境科學（污染控制、環(huán)境監(jiān)測和生物修復）。

13 The fruits of biotechnological research have wide range of applications.In fact, there is no other branch of science which has as many applications as biotechnology. Biotechnology has benefited medical and health sciences(diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, and foods), agricultural sciences (improved crop yield, food quality, and improved animal health) and environmental sciences (pollution control, environmental monitoring, and bioremediation).

14 It is desirable to describe at least one example of biotechnological achievement that has helped the mankind. Prior to 1982, insulin required for the treatment of diabetics was obtained from pig and cow pancreases. The procedure was tedious, and the use of animal insulin was frequently associated with complications.

15 Then the human gene for insulin was isolated, cloned and expressed in microorganisms for the large scale production of insulin. Insulin was the first pharmaceutical product of recombinant DNA technology approved for human use. Millions of diabetics world-over are benefited by the biotechnology of insulin production.

7. Commercialization of biotechnology

16 The progress of biotechnology, to a great extent, is driven by economics,since the ultimate objective of biotechnology is the development of commercial products. Due to high stakes in biotechnology, the business and research are closely associated. It is a fact that many biotechnology companies (besides the government-run institutions) have significantly contributed to the development of present day biotechnology. ■

14 最好用至少一個實例來說明生物技術成果是如何幫助人類的。1982年以前，治療糖尿病所需的胰島素是從豬和牛的胰腺中提取的。這個過程很煩瑣，而且動物胰島素的使用經常會引起并發(fā)癥。

15 后來，人類胰島素基因得以在微生物中分離、克隆和表達，用于胰島素的大規(guī)模生產。胰島素是第一個被批準用于人類的重組DNA技術藥物產品。全世界數(shù)百萬糖尿病患者受益于胰島素生產的生物技術。

7. 生物技術商業(yè)化

16 在很大程度上，經濟驅動了生物技術的進步，因為生物技術的最終目的是開發(fā)商業(yè)產品。由于生物技術風險極高，商業(yè)和研究是密切相關的。事實是，除了政府運營的機構，許多生物技術公司對當今生物技術的發(fā)展做出了巨大的貢獻。 □