60 • Impacts of Applied Genetics— Micro-Organisms, Plants, and Animals 
Figure 20.— The Development of a High Penicillin- 
Producing Strain via Genetic Manipulation 
E-15.1 — ► Final strain 
An illustration of the extensive use of genetics to increase 
the yield of a commercially valuable substance. A variety 
of laboratories and methods were responsible for the suc- 
cessful outcome. 
SOURCE: Adapted by Office of Technology Assessment from R. P. Blander in 
Genetics of Industrial Microorganisms, O. K. Sebek and A. I. Laskin 
(eds.) (Washington, D.C.: American Society for Microbiology, 1979), 
p.23. 
cin, so that Schering-Plough, its producer, 
did not have to build a scheduled manufac- 
turing plant, thereby saving $50 million. 
Most industry analysts agree that, overall, 
genetic manipulation has been highly significant 
in increasing the availability of many pharma- 
ceuticals or in reducing their production costs. 
The second major goal of genetic manipula- 
tion, the production of new compounds, has 
been achieved to a lesser degree. A recent new 
antibiotic, deoxygentamicin, was obtained by 
mutation and will soon be clinically tested in 
man. Earlier, an important new antibiotic, 
amikacin, was produced through classical mo- 
lecular genetic techniques. And before that, the 
well-known antibiotic, tetracycline, which is 
normally not found in nature, was produced by 
a strain of the bacterium, Streptomyces, after 
appropriate genetic changes had been carried 
out in that bacterium. 
