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Term biotechnology is composed of two words
– bio (Greek bios – means life ) and technology (
Greek technologia )-means systematic
treatment .
In other words , it is science of applied
biological processes.
Spinks (1980) defined biotechnology as “the
application of biological organism , systems or
processes to manufacturing and service
industries ‘’’
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MEDICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
RECOMBINANT TECHNOLOGY
ANIMAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY
INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
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MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES
* These are highly specific antibodies derived from
only one clone of a specific hybridoma cell and
exactly of the same type .
* These can be produce using hybridoma techinque
.
* Used for disease diagnosis e.g –venereal disease ,
hepatitis B and other viral disease , cancer etc .
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Sequence of DNA used to detect presence of
particular nucleotide sequence.
Used for disease diagnosis e.g kala- azar,
sleeping sickness, malaria etc.
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Vaccine is a preparation which contains an
antigen composed of whole disease causing
organisms.
Vaccines are used to confer immunity against
antigen.
These have three types of antigens:
[1] Dead microorganisms
[2]Live microorganisms
[3] Toxoids
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Insulin, a small protein hormone , is used for
controlling diabetes.
Bacterially produced human insulin is now
available in the market.
This compares well with the classical insulin that
was extracted from the slaughtered animals .
Products of microbial origin are more safer than
that of traditional sources.
For example human insulin produced by microbes
does not cause allergic reactions while obtained from
cows and pigs can cause .
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These are glycoproteins having molecular weight of
about 20000.
These are classified into three groups :
IFN-alfa
IFN-beta
IFN-gama
These are species specific cytokinins which have in
common an inhibitory action upon multiplication of
viruses in cells more or less adjacent to the affected
ones.
These are used for the treatment of several diseases
including a rare form of cancer called hairy cell
leukamia.
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These are chemical substances produced by
microorganisms and synthetically , that has the
capacity in dilute solutions to inhibit growth of
and even destroy them.
Most antibiotics are produced during the resting
phase of microbial growth as a result of type of
metabolism called secondary metabolism which is
different from that occurring during growth and
division and is concerned with maintaining the cell
during this phase of its life.
Examples are Erythromycin, Streptomycin etc.
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It has opened up new opportunities for highly
specific manipulation of genetic material.
Genetic engineering can be profitably
employed to enhance the fermentation
capabilities and other beneficial properties of
microbes.
It can also be helpful in development of
nitrogen fixing cultivars in non-leguminous
crops development of increased photosynthetic
efficiency in crop plants and improvement of
nutritional quality of crop plants.
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Introduction of a normal functional gene into
cells which contain the defective allele of
concerned gene with the objective of correcting
genetic disorder.
Identification of the gene that plays the key role
in development of a genetic disorder.
Determination of the role of its product in
heath and disease.
Isolation and cloning of gene
Development and approach for gene therapy.
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Identification of criminals in forensic
laboratories.
Determination of paternity disputes.
Verification of migrants from one country to
another.
Identification of racial groups to map biological
evolution.
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This includes:
METABOLITE PRODUCTION.
BIOTRANSFORMATION.
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION [for methane
production].
WASTE TREATMENT[both organic and
industrial]
PRODUCTION OF BIOCONTROL AGENTS.
FERMENTATION OF FOOD PRODUCTS.
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Majority of alcoholic beverages are
manufactured by metabolic activity of
Saccharomyces cerevisae and other yeasts.
Examples of alcoholic beverages and production
substrates:
Beer : Barley and other cereals.
Brandy: Grapewine ,apple ,cherry
Rum: Sugarcane juice ,mollases
Vodka: Cereals ,potato
Whisky: Cereals.
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Citric acid is produced on commercial scale
from fermenting molasses or purified glucose
syrup from maize using Aspergillus niger as
microorganism.
Uses: manufacture of soft drinks,jams,candies
etc.
Lactic acid is produced using thermotolerant or
thermophilic lactic acid bacteria.
Propionic acid is produced by bacteria like
Propionobacterium shermanii.
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Commercial production of a number of amino
acids is being done using fermentation
technology.
Out of 20 naturally occurring amino acids,10
are produced by industrial fermentation or
enzyme conversion.
Amino acids or their derivatives are also used
in the manufacture of leathers,
cosmetics,biocides and surface active agents.
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Vitamins can be synthesized by chemical
processes or by biological means.
Riboflavin is produced Eremothecium ashbyii
whereas vitamin B12 is cheifly synthesized from
Streptomyces griseus .
Streptomyces also produces antibiotics .
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Enzymes are protiens ,which catalyse specific
biochemical reactions in a very efficient manner .
The industrial enzymes are produced from
different species of bacteria and fungi.
These enzymes are used in industries like banking
, brewing , distilling , textile and paper.
The use of microbial enzymes in either isolated or
immobilized form to modify certain chemicals
could play an important role in the pharmaceutical
industry.
Eg : alfa –amylase – Aspergillus oryzae ( Banking
, brewing )
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Biotransformation is a biological process in which an
organic compounds is modified into some useful ,
recoverable products by enzymes contained in the cells .
Biotransformation are mostly stereospecific , involving the
addition or removal of single chemical groups .
Biotransformation has been utilised on a massive industrial
scale in the steroid industry .
Several species of bacteria ( e.g. Acetobacter , Gluconobacter
) and fungi ( e.g. Rhizopus ) have been used for the past
many years to accomplish the specific alterations in the
phenanthrene ring structure and side-chain-composition of
several plant – derived steroids , e.g. diosgenin , to produce
the steroid sex hormones and anabolics .
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Single – cell protein (SCP) is microbial biomass meant
for human or animal consumption .
Yeast cultivated specially as food and feed represents
one of the most promising aspects of using microbial
biomass as food .
The most useful single cell proteins furnish all essential
amino acids .
Bacteria are widely used for SCP production because
of their fast growth rates and their ability to utilise a
wide range of carbon and energy sources .
Algae and photosynthetic prokaryotes are potentially
inexpensive sources of single cell protein .
Algae like Spirulina , Scenedesmus , and Chlorella are
being used in dried forms as human food .
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Biogas is the product of the anaerobic decomposition of
organic material and the most important component
produced is methane .
Biogas plants (anaerobic digesters ) are operative in
several Asian countries such as India and China .
There are certain advantages in using methane as
source of energy :
* Methane is very insoluble .
* It separates readily from a fermenter system.
* It can be easily collected , pressurised or
liquefied for storage .
* It is readily combustible .
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Methanogens are group of bacteria that release
methane as a metabolic product .
Methanogens occur in the intestine of animals ,
soil ,black pond muds , faeces and anaerobic
sewage tanks .
Methanogens are autorophs and use only CO2
as the source of carbon .
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Test tube babies in human .
Hormone –induced superovulation .
Production of transgenic animals .
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When the union between egg cell and sperm
occurs outside the body in a culture vessel , it is
known as in vitro fertilization .
The implantation of young embroys developed in
vitro or obtained from the uterus of different
donor females into the womb of selected females is
termed as embryo transplantation .
Test tube babies in human .
The babies produced using this approach are
popularly known as test tube babies .
The first test tube baby was born on July 25 , 1978
and was named as Loise Joy Brown .
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Hormone –induced superovulation or embryo
splitting in farm animals involves embryo
transfer and , in many cases , in vitro
fertilization .
Used for rapid multiplication of animals of
superior genotype .
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Production of transgenic animals for increased :
* Milk
* Growth rate
* Resistance to diseases
* Production of some valuable proteins in
milk/ urine / blood .
E.g. Transgenic mice , pigs , chicken , rabbits ,
cattle, sheep , fish production .
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Production of Pathogen –free Plants
Production of Disease Resistant Plants
Improvement of Nutritional Quality
Selection for Salt and Drought Tolerance
Production of Genetically Variable Plants
Biofertillization
Rapid Clonal Propagation
Germplasm storage
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Plants traditionally being vegetatively propagated are
systemically infected with viruses and other pathogens which
greatly reduce yield and also quality of the marketed commodity .
This method consists of culturing shoot tips of infected plants in
vitro which then give rise to virus free plants .
There are two distinct advantages of meristem-tip culture :
* The integrity of the original plant or clone is maintained
with minimum genetic variation .
* Methods of meristem-tip culture are relatively straight
forward and can be used directly with slight modification for
clonal propagation of the species .
By using shoot meristem culture , specific pathogen –free plants
or “clean stock ” have been recovered from diseased plants in
several economically important crops viz., sugarcane , potato ,
citrus .
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This is one of the most useful application of
tissue culture in crop improvement .
In potato , somaclones have been screened for
both late and early blight resistance .
From among more than 800 plants , about 2%
of the somaclones displayed enhanced
resistance to late blight (Phytophthora
infestans)which was transmitted through
subsequent tuber generations.
In sugarcane, resistance to diseases like fiji and
downy mildew have been recovered.
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Once sufficient variation exists in the breeding
material, selection of the desired genotype
becomes necessary.
Tissue culture method is more efficient as a
large number of plantlets can be grown in a
small space and also manipulation of culture
medium may provide a rapid method for
screening of callus cells.
E.g. an increase in free threonine levels have
been achieved in barley and maize seeds.
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Continued efforts to increase intensity of cropping
for increasing production from limited land
resource by irrigation facilities have resulted in
gradual increase in soil concentration.
This has relied on obtaining variants arising
during cell cultures.
Salt tolerant lines have been produced in crop
plants such as tobacco,tomato ,cereals.
In tomato,water stress tolerant lines have been
successfully isolated by using PEG as selective
agent.
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Cells in culture offer an excellent system for
inducing variation and regenerating pure
mutant types.
Genetic variation can be an option to lessen our
reliance on cost-intensive germplasm collection
and conservation programmes.
Somaclonal variation has been extensively
exploited for the improvement of asexually
propagated crops e.g. potato, sugarcane.
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Molecular nitrogen in the atmosphere is
converted to biologically usable forms by
nitrogen fixing microorganisms.e.g.
Rhizobium
The most sophisticated approach to
biofertillization is to create plants that possess
the genetic capacity for nitrogen fixation.
Rhizobium species carry nif genes on large 500
kbp plasmids.
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The most economical form of storing germ
plasm for seed propagated species is as seeds.
However, there are certain limitations:
Loss of viability of seeds with passage of time.
Destruction of seeds by seed-borne pathogens
,insects and pests.
It cannot be used for vegitatively propagated
crops.
*Germplasm can be stored in cultures at low
temperatures[4-8 degree celsius] with reduced
light [an 8 hour day].
*Vegetative growth of shoot cultures can be
slowed down:
*Using growth retardants.
*inducing osmotic stress.
*reducing the supply of carbon source.
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This is generally taken to mean storage at very
low temperatures in liquid nitrogen [-196’C]
The principal involves bringing the culture to a
state of non- dividing and zero metabolism ,
which is achieved by subjecting it to superlow
temperatures in the presence of
cryoprotectants.
Entire plants have been regenerated from cells,
meristems and embryo frozen and stored in
liquid nitrogen for varied lengths of time .
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Efficient sewage treatment .
Deodorization of human excreta .
Degradation of petroleum and management of
oil spills .
Detoxification of wastes and industrial
effluents .
Biocontrol of plant diseases and insect pests by
using viruses , bacteria , amoebae fungi etc .
These includes :
* Preliminary treatment : grit and heavy solids
are removed by settling and screening .
* Primary treatment : settling tanks of upward ,
horizontal or radial flow type.the water flow is
reduced to 15-45 minutes.
*Secondary treatment: digestion of organic matter
by aerobic or anaerobic processes.
*Tertiary treatment:aims to remove suspended
matter by lagooning,filtration etc.
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It is a technique in which biological organisms
are used to solve environmental problems such
as contaminated soil or ground water with the
help of technological innovations.
The aim is to control pollution in environment.
E.g. fermentation technology i.e. provesteem
[SCP].
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Suspending solids and soluble organic
compounds.
Heavy metal cyanides and other toxic organics.
Undesirable levels of nitrogen and phosphorus.
Non-biodegradable chemicals like hydrogen
sulphide and sulphur dioxide.
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These does not contain toxic substance but
higher oxygen demand.
Primary treatment: anaerobic digestion of
effluents in lagoons reduces BOD to an extent
of 80-90%
Secondary treatment: It involves aerobic
treatment and may be used to bring down BOD
further.
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Oil spills from oil tankers have been recognised
as a major environmental hazard.
This can be done: by use of oileophilic
fertilizers.
Genetic engineered oil by using
microorganisms.
E.g. pseudomonas aeruginoso.