2. “What is Biotechnology”
Biotechnology is the use of biology to solve problems and make useful products. The most
prominent approach used is genetic engineering, which enables scientists to tailor an
organism’s DNA at will.
Biotechnology, the use of biology to solve problems and make useful products. The most
prominent area of biotechnology is the production of therapeutic proteins and other drugs
through genetic engineering
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3. “History of biotechnology”
Biotechnology arose from the field of zymotechnology or zymurgy, which began as a search for a better understanding
of industrial fermentation, particularly beer. Beer was an important industrial, and not just social, commodity. In late
19th-century Germany, brewing contributed as much to the gross national product as steel, and taxes on alcohol proved
to be significant sources of revenue to the government. In the 1860s, institutes and remunerative consultancies were
dedicated to the technology of brewing. The most famous was the private Carlsberg Institute, founded in 1875, which
employed Emil Christian Hansen, who pioneered the pure yeast process for the reliable production of consistent beer.
Less well known were private consultancies that advised the brewing industry. One of these, the Zymotechnic Institute,
was established in Chicago by the German-born chemist John Ewald Siebel.
The heyday and expansion of zymotechnology came in World War I in response to industrial needs to support the war.
Max Delbrück grew yeast on an immense scale during the war to meet 60 percent of Germany's animal feed needs.
Compounds of another fermentation product, lactic acid, made up for a lack of hydraulic fluid, glycerol. On the Allied
side the Russian chemist Chaim Weizmann used starch to eliminate Britain's shortage of acetone, a key raw material for
cordite, by fermenting maize to acetone. The industrial potential of fermentation was outgrowing its traditional home in
brewing, and "zymotechnology" soon gave way to "biotechnology."
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4. With food shortages spreading and resources fading, some dreamed of a new industrial solution. The Hungarian
Károly Ereky coined the word "biotechnology" in Hungary during 1919 to describe a technology based on
converting raw materials into a more useful product. He built a slaughterhouse for a thousand pigs and also a
fattening farm with space for 50,000 pigs, raising over 100,000 pigs a year. The enterprise was enormous,
becoming one of the largest and most profitable meat and fat operations in the world. In a book entitled
Biotechnologie, Ereky further developed a theme that would be reiterated through the 20th century:
biotechnology could provide solutions to societal crises, such as food and energy shortages. For Ereky, the term
"Biotechnologie" indicated the process by which raw materials could be biologically upgraded into socially useful
products.
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5. “Why it is Importance”
Biotechnology is particularly important in the field of medicine, where it facilitates the production of
therapeutic proteins and other drugs. Synthetic insulin and synthetic growth hormone and diagnostic
tests to detect various diseases are just some examples of how biotechnology is impacting medicine.
Biotechnology has also proved helpful in refining industrial processes, in environmental cleanup, and in
agricultural production.
“Applications of BIOTECHNOLOGY”
Agriculture
Alternative of conventional farming : Use of genetically modified crops is a possible solution. It is an
alternative path to conventional farming. The understanding of genetics could enable farmers to obtain
maximum yield from their fields and to minimize the use of fertilizers and chemicals so that their
harmful effects on the environment.
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6. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)
Plants, bacteria, fungi and animals whose genes have been altered by manipulation are called Genetically
Modified Organisms (GMO). GM plants have been useful in many ways. Genetic modification has:
✓Made crops more tolerant to abiotic stresses (cold, drought, salt, heat).
✓Reduced reliance on chemical pesticides (pest-resistant crops).
✓Helped to reduce post harvest losses.
✓Increased efficiency of mineral usage by plants (this prevents early exhaustion of fertility of soil).
✓Enhanced nutritional value of food, e.g., golden rice, i.e., Vitamin ‘A’ enriched rice.
Medicine
✓The recombinant DNA technological processes have made immense impact in the area of
healthcare. It enables mass production of safe and more effective therapeutic drugs.
✓The recombinant therapeutics do not induce unwanted immunological responses as is
common in case of similar products isolated from non-human sources.
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7. Gene Therapy
✓If a person is born with a hereditary disease, can a corrective therapy be taken for such a disease. Gene therapy
is an attempt to do this.
✓Gene therapy is a collection of methods that allows correction of a gene defect that has been diagnosed in a
child/embryo.
✓Genes are inserted into a person’s cells and tissues to treat a disease.
✓Correction of a genetic defect involves delivery of a normal gene into the individual or embryo to take over the
function of and compensate for the non-functional gene.
Study of disease
✓Many transgenic animals are designed to increase our understanding of how genes contribute to the
development of disease.
✓These are specially made to serve as models for human diseases so that investigation of new treatments for
diseases is made possible.
✓Today transgenic models exist for many human diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis and
Alzheimer’s.
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8. Chemical safety testing
✓This is known as toxicity/safety testing.
✓The procedure is the same as that used for testing toxicity of drugs.
✓Transgenic animals are made that carry genes which make them more sensitive to toxic substances than non-
transgenic animals.
✓They are then exposed to the toxic substances and the effects studied.
✓Toxicity testing in such animals will allow us to obtain results in less time.
Biological products
✓Medicines required to treat certain human diseases can contain biological products, but such products are
often expensive to make.
✓Transgenic animals that produce useful biological products can be created by the introduction of the portion of
DNA.
✓These DNA codes for a particular product such as human protein (α-1-antitrypsin) used to treat emphysema.
✓Similar attempts are being made for treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU) and cystic fibrosis.
✓In 1997, the first transgenic cow, Rosie, produced human protein-enriched milk.
✓The milk contained the human alpha-lactalbumin and was nutritionally a more balanced product for human
babies than natural cow-milk.
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9. “Conclusion”
Application of biotechnology could be a major tool for development in all countries. Entwined
with culture and socio-ethical values, biotechnology could be utilized in solving future
problems like food and water insecurity that impede national development and threaten peace
in the developing world.
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