BT501 Handouts Complete

BT501-HEALTH BIOTECHNOLOGY

1-What is biotechnology all about?

Biotechnology

bio - life Technology - the application, or harnessing of science for a specific purpose technology, process or practice - modifies or harnesses any living organism or system to be useful to any human purpose

Classical Biotech vs Modern

Classical Biotech –since ages ,Growing better crops, Breeding animals Cheese and yogurt production – use of microorganisms Mendel’s work – Laying foundation of modern Biotech Major discoveries : DNA structure, Ligase, Restriction enzyme Birth of rDNA technology Cut Gene from one organism and paste into others

Applications of Biotech

AgriBiotech –: Pest-resistant, Herbicide resistant, Abiotic stress tolerant crops Environmental Biotech: Bioremediation, Bacteria and Fishes as Biosensors Health Biotech: biotherapeutics (insulin, growth hormones) Diagnostics tools (PCR, FISH, microarray) The field of biotechnology has been in use for ages in various forms, which include the growing of better crops (agricultural biotechnology) and animal breeding (animal biotechnology). Similarly, the use of biotechnology has been around for thousands of years, especially the application of microorganisms in the production of cheese and yogurt (food biotechnology). In addition, the tools of biotechnology have been implied in animal husbandry, to develop pestresistant crops, bioremediation (environmental biotechnology), as well as in bioethanol production. But the most promising application of biotechnology is found to be in the medical field by generations of biotherapeutics (insulin, growth hormones) and diagnostics tools (PCR, FISH, micro-array technique). Before we discuss various applications of medical biotechnology, let us briefly go through the historical aspects of biotechnology and this information will make you to understand the field better.

It all began with the discovery made by Sir Alexander Fleming in the year 1918 where he observed that the mold Penicillium inhibited the growth of human skin disease-causing bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus. The discovery by Sir Alexander Fleming lead to the making of antibiotics that we use today. These antibiotics are highly recommended and extensively used medicinally for bacterial infections. These antibiotics are basically substances produced by microorganisms that normally inhibit the growth of other microorganisms. Later on, antibiotics became widely available as a drug for treating microbial infections in human beings, especially with the development of penicillin as the most used antibiotic. Currently, a variety of microorganisms have been used to generate thousand liters of antibiotic drugs by using advanced biotechnology tools. The field of biotechnology has taken a leap with the discovery of the double-helix structure of the deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) molecule and the credit goes to one research publication titled ―This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest‖ authored by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, which claimed to discover the structure of the human DNA helix, the molecule that carries genetic information from one generation to the other. Nine years later, in the year 1962, they shared the Nobel Prize with Wilkins for cracking one of the most important of all biological puzzles. This discovery has led to the birth of genetic mapping, manipulation, and genetic engineering-type fields.

Surprisingly, with the help of genetic engineering, the gene of interest can be cut and inserted into the genome of other living organisms (microorganisms and viruses) and this process of gene insertion and manipulation is called recombinant DNA technology. Over the past few years recombinant DNA technology has been extensively employed to generate therapeutic products (insulin and growth hormones) for treating human diseases. With a rapid increase in the number of patients worldwide, there has been a tremendous scope to identify and create medicine for various human diseases. Thankfully with the availability of biotechnology tools, now it is possible to develop therapy for various diseases.