A fundamental but consistently overlooked aspect of the revolutionary field of biotechnology is that we didn’t invent it - nature did! In fact, nature has been doing experiments in biotechnology and genetic engineering for several billion years. It is only within the last few hundred years that we have begun a partnership with nature to join in these experiments, and only in the last few decades have we begun to understand the molecular genetic basis of nature’s experiments in sufficient detail to use them as tools ourselves.

The diversity of life on Earth originates from natural processes of changing and exchanging genetic information - sequences of DNA- that provide the blueprint for every living organism. New species arise only when nature has assembled a new combination of DNA sequences by changing or recombining those from species that already exist. The result of these natural genetic experiments is the rich biodiversity that inhabits our planet and makes human life possible by providing food, medicine, and clean air, water, and soil. What we now call the field of biotechnology is simply our effort to utilize nature’s mechanisms of genetic exchange for the further benefit of humankind. The first of these efforts were begun centuries ago as people began to selectively breed plants and animals to create new crop varieties and livestock lines. Today, in modern laboratories all over the world, molecular biologists use nature’s toolbox to develop new genetic combinations that will provide life-saving pharmaceuticals, increase food availability, and help purify water and soil from pollutants.

In many ways, the concern over vanishing biodiversity and the emphasis on conservation of endangered habitats and species is due to a concern for the loss of genetic resources - the building blocks of both biodiversity and biotechnology. The National Museum of Natural History has a rich history of leadership in understanding biodiversity and in training world experts to study the Earth’s fauna and flora. Recently, the Museum established its Laboratory of Molecular Systematics (now the Laboratory of Analytical Biology, LAB) where scientists use molecular genetic techniques to answer questions in natural history, evolution, biodiversity and conservation biology. By comparing DNA sequences, researchers are able to solve evolutionary puzzles concerning the patterns of biodiversity and the processes which generate them. These evolutionary processes are the same ones which generate the raw materials of biotechnology. They are also the natural analog of genetic engineering. This makes biodiversity and biotechnology inseparable partners.

The potential impact of research at the LAB is far-reaching; projects include tracing the early stages of land plant evolution, and revealing speciation patterns in many different organisms - from brilliantly colored tropical birds to crop plants such as ginseng. Genetic methods also are being applied to the conservation of endangered species such as whooping cranes and alligators, and the recovery of ancient DNA from museum collections. In addition to the resolution of questions about the history and diversity of plant and animal life on Earth, researchers at the Museum are dedicated to training future leaders in biodiversity research, developing collections which record the Earth’s plant and animal diversity (including a national repository of genetic resources for molecular studies), and educating the public about the natural world and our place in it.

Michael J. Braun, Ph. D.
LAB & Curator of Birds