Transcription occurs in the nucleus and requires the usage of three polymerase enzymes. After the synthesis, preRNA transcript undergoes processing to form mRNA by removal of introns by splicing and polyadenylation and capping. Chain elongation occurs after sequential addition of amino acids by formation of peptide bonds.
Then polypeptide can fold or conjugate itself to other biomolecules and may undergo posttranslational modifications as glycosylation or phosphorylation to perform its biological functions. The biotechnological tools are employed toward modification of the gene for gain of function or loss of function of the protein.
The technique of removing, adding, or modifying genes in the genome or chromosomes of an organism to bring about the changes in the protein information is called genetic engineering or recombinant DNA technology Fig. DNA recombination made possible the sequencing of the human genome and laid the foundation for the nascent fields of bioinformatics, nanomedicine, and individualized therapy. Multicellular organisms like cows, goats, sheep, rats, corn, potato, and tobacco plants have been genetically engineered to produce substances medically useful to humans.
Genetic engineering has revolutionized medicine, enabling mass production of safe, pure, more effective versions of biochemicals that the human body produces naturally [ 20 — 22 ]. The process of recombinant DNA technology.
The gene of interest from human nucleus is isolated and cloned in a plasmid vector. The gene is ligated with the help of DNA ligase. The vector is transformed into a bacterial host. After appropriate selections, the gene is amplified when bacteria multiply or the gene can be sequenced or the gene can be expressed to produce protein.
The technological advancements have resulted in 1 many biopharmaceuticals and vaccines, 2 new and specific ways to diagnose, 3 increasing the productivity and introduction of quality traits in agricultural crops, 4 the ways to tackle the pollutants efficiently for sustainable environmental practices, 5 helped the forensic experts by DNA fingerprinting and profiling, 6 fermentation technology for production of industrially important products.
The list is very long with tremendous advancements and products which have boosted the economy of biotechnology sector worldwide [ 16 ]. This fieldof biotechnology has many applications and is involved in production of recombinant pharmaceuticals, tissue engineering products, regenerative medicines such as stem cell and gene therapy, and many more biotechnology products for better human life Fig.
Biotechnological tools produce purified bio-therapeutic agents on industrial scales. These include both novel agents and agents formerly available only in small quantities. Crude vaccines were used in antiquity in China, India, and Persia. For example, vaccination with scabs that contained the smallpox virus was a practice in the East for centuries. In English country doctor Edward Jenner demonstrated that inoculation with pus from sores due to infection by a related cowpox virus could prevent smallpox far less dangerously.
It marked the beginning of vaccination. Humans have been benefited incalculably from the implementation of vaccination programs. Tremendous progress has been made since the early recombinant DNA technology RDT experiments from which the lively—and highly profitable—biotechnology industry emerged.
RDT has fomented multiple revolutions in medicine. Safe and improved drugs, accelerated drug discovery, better diagnostic and quick methods for detecting an infection either active or latent, development of new and safe vaccines, and completely novel classes of therapeutics and other medical applications are added feathers in its cap. The technology has revolutionized understanding of diseases as diverse as cystic fibrosis and cancer. Pharmaceutical biotechnology being one of the important sectors involves using animals or hybrids of tumor cells or leukocytes or cells prokaryotic, mammalian to produce safer, more efficacious, and cost-effective versions of conventionally produced biopharmaceuticals.
The launch of the new biopharmaceutical or drug requires screening and development. Mice were widely used as research animals for screening. However, in the wake of animal protection, animal cell culture offers accurate and inexpensive source of cells for drug screening and efficacy testing.
The underlying cause of defect of many inherited diseases is now located and characterized. Gene therapy is the insertion of the functional gene in place of defective gene into cells to prevent, control, or cure disease. It also involves addition of genes for pro-drug or cytokines to eliminate or suppress the growth of the tumors in cancer treatment.
But the progress so far is viewed by many scientists as only a beginning. Yet the risks cannot be ignored as new developments and discoveries pose new questions, particularly in areas as gene therapy, the ethics of stem cell research, and the misuse of genomic information. Many bio-therapeutic agents in clinical use are biotech pharmaceuticals. Insulin was among the earliest recombinant drugs. Canadian physiologists Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered and isolated insulin in In that time many patients diagnosed with diabetes died within a few years.
In the mids, several groups reported synthesizing the hormone. Until then, insulin was obtained from a limited supply of beef or pork pancreas tissue. By inserting the human gene for insulininto bacteria, scientists were able to achieve lifesaving insulinproduction in large quantities. In the near future, patients with diabetes may be able to inhale insulin, eliminating the need for injections.
They may provide relief from prandial insulin. Afrezza consists of a pre-meal insulinpowder loaded into a cartridge for oral inhalation.
Technosphere technology: The technology allows administration of therapeutics through pulmonary route which otherwise were required to be given as injections. These formulations have broad spectrum of physicochemical characteristics and are prepared with a diverse assortment of drugs with protein or small molecule which may be hydrobhobic or hydrophilic or anionic or cationic in nature.
The technology can have its applicability not only through pulmonary route but also for other routes of administration including local lung delivery. This was present on the surface of the virus that stimulates the immune response. This avoided the need to extract the antigen from the serum of people infected with hepatitis B. The Food and Drug administration FDA approved more biotech drugs in than in the previous several years combined. The FDA has approved many recombinant drugs for human health conditions.
Today there are more than recombinant drugs and vaccines. Because of their efficiency, safety, and relatively low cost, molecular diagnostic tests and recombinant vaccines may have particular relevance for combating long-standing diseases of developing countries, including leishmaniasis a tropical infection causing fever and lesions and malaria.
Stem cell research is very promising and holds tremendous potential to treat neurodegenerative disorders, spinal cord injuries, and other conditions related to organ or tissue loss. DNA analysis is another powerful technique which compares DNA pattern [ 14 ] after performing RFLP and probing it by minisatellite repeat sequence between two or more individuals.
Its modification, DNA profiling process of matching the DNA profiles for STS markers in two or more individuals; see chapter 18 , which utilizes multilocus PCR analysis of DNA of suspect and victims, is very powerful and is useful in criminal investigation, paternity disputes, and so many other legal issues.
The analysis is very useful in criminal investigations and involves evaluation of DNA from samples of the hair, body fluids, or skin at a crime scene and comparison of these with those obtained from the suspects. It has given added power to gene expression profiling, a method of monitoring expression of thousands of genes simultaneously on a glass slide called a microarray. This technique can predict the aggressiveness of cancer. The development of monoclonal antibodies in led to a medical revolution.
The body normally produces a wide range of antibodies—the immune system proteins—that defend our body and eliminate microorganisms and other foreign invaders. When tagged with radioisotopes or other contrast agents, monoclonal antibodies can help in detecting the location of cancer cells, thereby improving the precision of surgery and radiation therapy and showing—within 48 h—whether a tumor is responding to chemotherapy.
The polymerase chain reaction, a method for amplifying tiny bits of DNA first described in the mids, has been crucial to the development of blood tests that can quickly determine exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus HIV. Genetic testing currently is available for many rare monogenic disorders, such as hemophilia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, etc. Another rapidly developing field is proteomics, which deals with analysis and identification of proteins.
The analysis is done by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of the sample and then performing mass spectrometric analysis for each individual protein. The technique may be helpful in detecting the disease-associated protein in the biological sample. They may indicate early signs of disease, even before symptoms appear. One such marker is C-reactive protein, an indicator of inflammatory changes in blood vessel walls that presage atherosclerosis. Nanomedicine is a rapidly moving field. Scientists are developing a wide variety of nanoparticles and nanodevices, scarcely a millionth of an inch in diameter, to improve detection of cancer, boost immune responses, repair damaged tissue, and thwart atherosclerosis.
Nanoparticles are being explored in heart patients in the USA as a way to keep their heart arteries open following angioplasty. Therapeutic proteins are those, which can replace the patients naturally occurring proteins, when levels of the natural proteins are low or absent due to the disease. The goal is to improve the speed and accuracy of therapeutic protein or potential drug discovery while lowering the cost and improving the safety of pharmaceuticals that make it to market.
Many of the molecules utilized for detection also have therapeutic potential too, for example, monoclonal antibodies. The monoclonal antibodies are approved for the treatment of many diseases as cancer, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. As the antibodies may be efficiently targeted against a particular cell surface marker, thus they are used to deliver a lethal dose of toxic drug to cancer cells, avoiding collateral damage to nearby normal tissues.
The manhas made tremendous progress in crop improvement in terms of yield; still the ultimate production of crop is less than their full genetic potential. There are many reasons like environmental stresses weather condition as rain, cold, frost , diseases, pests, and many other factors which reduce the ultimate desired yield affecting crop productivity.
The efforts are going on to design crops which may be grown irrespective of their season or can be grown in frost or drought conditions for maximum utilization of land, which would ultimately affect crop productivity [ 24 ]. Agricultural biotechnology aims to introduce sustainable agriculturalpractices with best yield potential and minimal adverse effects on environment Fig. For example, combating pests was a major challenge. Thus, the gene from bacterium , the Bt gene, that functions as insect-resistant gene when inserted into crop plants like cotton, corn, and soybean helps prevent the invasion of pathogen, and the tool is called.
This management is helpful in reducing usage of potentially dangerous pesticides on the crop. Not only the minimal or low usage of pesticides is beneficial for the crop but also the load of the polluting pesticides on environment is greatly reduced [ 24 ]. The gene produces crystal proteins called Cry proteins. More than different variants of the Bt toxins have been identified which have different specificity to target insect lepidoptera. For eg. These Cry proteins are toxic to larvae of insects like tobacco budworm, armyworm, and beetles.
These are converted into active toxin in alkaline pH of the gut upon solubilization when ingested by the insect. After the toxin is activated, it binds to the surface of epithelial cells of midgut and creates pores causing swelling and lysis of cells leading to the death of the insect larva.
The genes cry genes encoding this protein are isolated from the bacterium and incorporated into several crop plants like cotton, tomato, corn, rice, and soybean. The specific genes in the form of cDNA from the parasite are introduced into the plant using -mediated transformation.
As a result, the parasite cannot multiply in the transgenic host, and the transgenic plantis protected from the pest. These resistant crops result in reduced application of pesticides. The yield is high without the pathogen infestations and insecticides. This also helps to reduce load of these toxic chemicals in the environment.
ILTAB in reported the first transfer of a resistance gene from a wild-type species of rice to a susceptible cultivated rice variety. The transferred gene expressed and imparted resistance to crop-destroying bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae.
The resistant gene was transferred into susceptible rice varieties that are cultivated on more than 24 million hectares around the world [ 6 ]. The recombinant DNA technology reduces the time between the identification of a particular gene to its application for betterment of crops by skipping the labor-intensive and time-consuming conventional breeding [ 3 ].
For example, the alteration of known gene in plant for the improvement of yield or tolerance to adverse environmental conditions or resistance to insect in one generation and its inheritance to further generations. Plant cell and tissue culture techniques are one of the applications where virus-free plants can be grown and multiplied irrespective of their season on large scale micropropogation , raising haploids, or embryo rescue.
It also opens an opportunity to cross two manipulated varieties or two incompatible varieties protoplast culture for obtaining best variety for cultivation. With the help of technology, new, improved, and safe agricultural products may emerge which would be helpful for maintaining contamination-free environment.
Biotechnology has the potential to produce:. Crops are engineered to have desirable nutrients and better taste e.
The potential of biotechnology may contribute to increasing agricultural, food, and feed production, protecting the environment, mitigating pollution, sustaining agricultural practices, and improving human and animal health. Some agricultural crops as corn and marine organisms can be potential alternative for biofuel production. Explore Documents. What Is Biotechnology. Uploaded by yo. Document Information click to expand document information Original Title What is biotechnology.
Did you find this document useful? Is this content inappropriate? Report this Document. Flag for inappropriate content. Save Save What is biotechnology For Later. Original Title: What is biotechnology. Related titles. Therapeutics and procedures are also developed by biotechnology businesses.
Biotechnology is best recognized for its use in medicine and pharmaceuticals, but the field is also used in genomics, food production, and biofuel generation. Modern biotechnology continues to make important contributions to prolonging human longevity and enhancing quality of life, including delivering disease-fighting medicines and cures, increasing food yields, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions with biofuels.
In the biotech industry, there are a lot of obstacles to overcome. One important reason for this is because biotech research and development expenses are notoriously expensive. There is generally minimal income when a firm devotes its time and resources to these areas. The history of biotechnology Biotechnology has existed in its most basic form for thousands of years, dating back to when people first discovered how to make bread, beer, and wine through the natural process of fermentation.
For years, biotechnology concepts were limited to agriculture, such as improved agricultural harvesting and yields by utilizing the finest seeds and breeding animals. Today's Biotech Since the s, the biotechnology industry has risen by leaps and bounds. Gilead Sciences, Amgen, Biogen Idec, and Celgene are just a few of the medical giants that have emerged from the sector.
Thousands of tiny, active biotech firms exist on the opposite end of the spectrum, many of which are interested in various aspects of the medical sector, such as drug development, genomics, or proteomics, while others are involved in bioremediation, biofuels, and food products. Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. Biotechnology: A Primer. Matthew N. Sarhan M. A short summary of this paper. Sadiku1, Tolulope J. Ashaolu2, and Sarhan M. Musa1 1 Roy G.
It is basically applied biology that forms the interface between biology and engineering. It is the one of the most rapidly growing field of technology today. Biotechnology pervades almost all aspects of our daily life; it affects the foods we eat, the safety of the water we drink, the clothes we wear, the medications we take, etc.
This paper provides a primal introduction to biotechnology. Key Words: Biotechnology, Biotech. So biotech is basically technology based on biology.
Biotech involves not just a single technology but a wide range of technologies that share two key characteristics: working with living cells and having a wide range of uses that can improve our lives. It embraces a wide range of procedures for modifying living organisms to suit human purposes. Related fields include molecular biology, cell biology, microbiology, biochemistry, bioengineering, biomedical engineering, biomanufacturing, molecular engineering, and bioinformatics.
The multidisciplinary nature of biotechnology is illustrated in Figure 1 [1]. Modern biotechnology began in the s after the development of genetic engineering that enabled scientists to modify the genetic material of living cells. Knowledge of DNA sequences has become indispensable for biotech.
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