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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 ‘’’ MEDICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY RECOMBINANT TECHNOLOGY ANIMAL BIOTECHNOLOGY PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY 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 . Sequence of DNA used to detect presence of particular nucleotide sequence. Used for disease diagnosis e.g kala- azar, sleeping sickness, malaria etc. 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 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 . 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. This includes: METABOLITE PRODUCTION. BIOTRANSFORMATION. ANAEROBIC DIGESTION [for methane production]. WASTE TREATMENT[both organic and industrial] PRODUCTION OF BIOCONTROL AGENTS. FERMENTATION OF FOOD PRODUCTS. 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. 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. 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. 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 . 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 ) 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . Test tube babies in human . Hormone –induced superovulation . Production of transgenic animals . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 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 . 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 . 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. 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]. 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. 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. 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.