Question

Highlight five areas where biotechnology has influenced our lives.

Answer 1

Introduction to Biotechnology :

The branch of biology that uses living organisms and their derivatives to produce products and processes beneficial to human beings is called biotechnology.

Biotechnology has influenced life in various ways as follows:

• Agriculture
• Recombinant therapeutics
• Molecular diagnosis
• Gene therapy
• Transgenic animals

Agriculture :

• For example, the commercially available, Bt cotton is resistant to insect pests like lepidoptera, diptera and coleoptera.
• This has helped the farmers to have increased yield from cotton plants.

Recombinant therapeutics :

• Various medically important materials such as vaccines, hormones, proteins, enzymes are produced by recombinant DNA technology by using microorganisms or eukaryotic cells.
• Few of the important therapeutics approved in India are insulin hormone (diabetes mellitus), Hepatitis B vaccine, interleukins (immune disorders), alpha interferons (leukemia), erythropoietin (anaemia).

Molecular diagnosis :

• Molecular diagnosis is a popular method these days because it is highly sensitive.
• Few of the molecular diagnostic techniques listed below:
• PCR technique can be used to detect the presence of bacterial and viral infection even before the appearance of symptoms, by amplifying the nucleic acids of pathogens. It is used to detect HIV/AIDS, cancer and other genetic mutations.
• ELISA technique is used to detect the presence of antigens or antibodies by antigen-antibody interaction.
• Autoradiography is used to detect certain sequences of nucleic acids, with the help of radiolabeled probes. For example, detection of mutations in the genetic material.

Gene therapy :

• The genetic disorders can be treated by gene therapy.
• If the gene therapy is done in the embryonic stage the disease can be completely cured.
• For example, SCID is a genetic disorder caused by the mutations in the ADA gene. The gene is incorporated in the lymphocytes and injected in the body to cure the disease.

Transgenic animals :

• Transgenic animals are widely used for the production of various products, research and chemical safety testing.
• Transgenic animals producing better quality and quantity of milk and meat are created.
• Transgenic animals can be widely used to study human diseases, their causes, effects of treatments and testing of vaccines.