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Here is an essay on ‘Biotechnology’ for class 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Biotechnology’ especially written for school and college students.
Essay on Biotechnology
Essay Contents:
- Essay on the Introduction to Biotechnology
- Essay on Industrial Biotechnology
- Essay on Medical Biotechnology, Health and Medicine
- Essay on Gene Therapy
- Essay on Vaccinology
- Essay on Biotechnology and the Immune System
- Essay on Agricultural Biotechnology
- Essay on Biotechnology and Animals
- Essay on Bioinformatics Technology
- Essay on Nano Biotechnology
- Essay on Environmental Biotechnology
- Essay on Bioremediation and Biodegradation
- Essay on the Applications of Biotechnology
Essay # 1. Introduction to Biotechnology:
The term biotechnology is often used to refer to genetic engineering technology of the 21st century however the term encompasses a wider range and history of procedures for modifying biological organisms according to the needs of humanity, going back to the initial modifications of native plants into improved food crops through artificial selection and hybridization. With the development of new approaches and modern techniques, traditional biotechnology industries are also acquiring new horizons enabling them to improve the quality of their products and increase the productivity of their systems.
Biotechnology combines disciplines like genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology and cell biology, which are in turn linked to practical disciplines like chemical engineering, information technology, and biorobotics. Pathobiotechnology describes the exploitation of pathogens or pathogen derived compounds for beneficial effect.
The most practical use of biotechnology, which is still present today, is the cultivation of plants to produce food suitable to humans. Agriculture has been theorized to have become the dominant way of producing food since the Neolithic Revolution. The processes and methods of agriculture have been refined by other mechanical and biological sciences since its inception.
Combinations of plants and other organisms were used as medications in many early civilizations. Since as early as 200 BC, people began to use disabled or minute amounts of infectious agents to immunize themselves against infections. These and similar processes have been refined in modern medicine and have led to many developments such as antibiotics, vaccines, and other methods of fighting sickness.
The field of modern biotechnology is thought to have largely begun on June 16, 1980, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that a genetically-modified micro-organism could be patented in the case of Diamond V. Chakrabarty. Indian-born Ananda Chakrabarty, working for General Electric, had developed a bacterium (derived from the Pseudomonas genus) capable of breaking down crude oil, which he proposed to use in treating oil spills.
Essay # 2. Industrial Biotechnology:
Industrial biotechnology is a new and exciting approach to preventing pollution, resource conservation and reducing costs. It will be able to create new markets and offer businesses a way to reduce costs while protecting the environment. The benefits seen in industrial biotechnology can occur in as little as two years from lab study to commercial application.
Biotechnology helps in industry not only by transforming the ability to manufacture products but it is also able to provide us with new products that we at one time would never have thought possible. Industrial biotechnology is one of the most promising new approaches to pollution prevention, resource conservation, and cost reduction. It is often referred to as the third wave in biotechnology. The application of biotechnology to industrial processes is not only transforming manufacture of products but is also providing us with new products.
Industrial biotechnology is a set of practices that use living cells (such as bacteria, yeast, algae) or component cells like enzymes, to generate industrial products and processes. Products include biomass-based materials such as fuels and chemicals, while processes include the treatment of waste water and energy efficiency measures.
The most established application of industrial biotechnology is in the food and beverage sector. For example, microbes (yeast) or enzymes are used to produce beer and wine as well as dairy goods such as cheese. However, biotechnology is being increasingly applied to improve manufacturing processes and to solve environmental problems.
Industrial biotechnology can be used to:
i. Create new products, such as plant-based biodegradable plastics.
ii. Replace petroleum-based feed stocks by processing biomass using bio-refineries to generate electricity, transport fuels or chemicals.
iii. Modify and develop new industrial processes, such as by using enzymes to reduce the amount of harsh chemicals used in textiles and the pulp and paper industry.
iv. To reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing, for example by treating industrial waste water onsite using biological mediums such as microbes.
v. Provide energy savings by adding enzymes in detergents, allowing clothes to be washed in lower temperatures.
vi. Provide water savings through more efficient processes such as using enzymes to break down chemicals and reduce subsequent washing steps in the textile industry.
Industrial biotechnology has produced enzymes for use in our daily lives and for the manufacturing sector. Meat tenderizer is an enzyme and some contact lens cleaning fluids contain enzymes to remove sticky protein deposits. In the main, industrial biotechnology involves the microbial production of enzymes, which are specialized proteins.
These enzymes act as biocatalysts that facilitate and speed-up complex biochemical reactions. These chemical catalysts make industrial biotechnology a powerful new technology. One of such enzyme produced through biotechnological methods is subtilising produced by using a bacteria called Bacillus subtilis.
Industrial biotechnology helps nature to maximize and optimize existing biochemical pathways that can be used in manufacturing. The industrial biotechnology revolution based on three fields of study of detailed information derived from the cell: genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics. As a result, scientists can apply new techniques to a large number of microorganisms ranging from bacteria, yeasts, and fungi to marine diatoms and protozoa.
Essay # 3. Medical Biotechnology, Health and Medicine:
Medical biotechnology is also known as red biotechnology, and deals with the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. This field has changed enormously over the past decades. A significant boost came in 1953 with the discovery of the molecular structure of the genetic molecule DNA by the American scientist James Watson and Francis Crick. This eventually led to the decoding of the human genome in 2000. The completion of the Human Genome Project and the post-genome era promises an exponential increase of new vaccines and treatment regimens and development of new diagnostics and therapeutics.
Biotechnology has made a huge difference in human health care and has now enabled scientists to develop products which can give quicker and more accurate tests, therapies that have lesser side effects and vaccines which are safer than ever before. Medical conditions and diseases are now being detected more accurately arid quickly due to the advancement of biotechnology based tools.
Illnesses such as strep throat and other infectious diseases are now diagnosed within minutes enabling treatment to begin at a much earlier time where previous tests could take a few days. Certain types of cancer such as ovarian and prostate cancer now rely on biotechnology-based tests by taking a simple blood test and thus eliminating the need for expensive and invasive surgery.
The tests are cheaper and they are more accurate and quicker than any previous tests prior to the use of biotechnology, this allows doctors to make a diagnosis earlier in the diseases progress and begin treatment of the disease quicker, which greatly increases the patients’ prognosis. Genetic tests would also be able to reveal and identify those people who could be prone to diseases such as cancers, asthma, osteoporosis, emphysema and diabetes type II.
Through genetic engineering scientists have been able to create new medicines. Today one third of all new medicines in development are based on biotechnology, with tremendous potential to provide not only more effective treatments, but also cures. Molecular biology is playing a major role in the development of therapeutics.
Advancements in molecular biology have led to the identification of cellular proteins that are involved in disease processes like inflammation and programmed cell death. These proteins can serve as therapies themselves for example, interferon for cancer patients, synthetic growth hormones and synthetic insulin, among others.
Study of Proteomics has discovered those molecular markers which can indicate the signs of disease even before visible changes to the cells or symptoms have appeared; soon in the very near future physicians will have access to tests which are able to detect biomarkers even before the disease begins. This information of course is invaluable in treating and diagnosing hereditary diseases such as diabetes, cystic fibrosis and the early onset of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
Genetic tests would also be able to reveal and identify those people who could be prone to diseases such as cancers, asthma, osteoporosis, emphysema and diabetes type II. Biotechnology has developed many curative measures such as humulin – for the treatment of deficiency of insulin, interferons for fighting against the viral attack, monoclonal antibodies and stem cell technology for several other disorders.
Essay # 4. Gene Therapy:
The use of DNA microarray technology enables a fairly complete analysis of all genes that change in a tumour state, for example, and therefore provide new targets for potential therapeutic for that particular cancer cell. Many different genes that are altered in human cancers have been identified and there has been an explosive burst of new information on what cellular processes are involved in the development of human cancers.
Gene therapy involves the introduction of a therapeutic gene into the infected individual for the purpose of ultimately reconstituting a healthy immune system. Viral and non-viral vectors have been developed to facilitate the entry of foreign DNA into cells and various biomolecules are being identified for use in gene therapy. This therapy then is useful for the treatment of various diseases such as Alzheimer disease, coronary disease, cystic fibrosis, prostate cancer, liver carcinogenesis and HIV.
Essay # 5. Vaccinology:
The vaccines in use today are of three types such as live attenuated micro-organisms, inactivated whole micro-organisms, or split or subunit preparations. A variety of new approaches to vaccine development is now available and the application of recombinant DNA approaches to vaccinology has opened up whole new possibilities.
The hepatitis B virus surface antigen, made by DNA transfected yeast or mammalian cells, is the basis of the first genetically engineered vaccine. New vaccines based on oligopeptides, monoclonal antibodies, recombinant live viral or bacterial vectors or recombinant DNA plasmids are being developed for a variety of diseases such as those caused by HIV, Plasmodia (malaria) and mycobacteria.
DNA vaccination provides an exciting new field of vaccinology and therapeutic and prophylactic DNA vaccine clinical trials for a variety of pathogens and cancers are under the research process. The development of plants expressing vaccine antigens is a particular promising approach. Several different methods of delivering DNA vaccines which include, intramuscular and intranasal routes as well as via the gene gun are also on the process of development.
Essay # 6. Biotechnology and the Immune System:
The body’s immune system is complex and is divided into many branches or “soldiers” that all keep in constant communication with each other to fight off disease. An example of this is the cytokine branch which is proteins, due to the help of biotechnology these proteins can now be produced in enough quantity to be marketed as therapeutics. They have been very successful in battling against AIDS, various types of cancer and infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.
Specific type of cells can now be increased when under certain conditions the body and the immune system might not produce enough of the cell type that the patient needs, cell culture now helps researchers to provide or help the body create the cells that are needed to do battle for us.
Monoclonal antibody technology relies on immune system cells to make antibodies. However, antibodies are extremely complex in that while they might protect us from flu like virus one winter they cannot do anything to help protect against a slightly different strain the following winter. It is the specificity of antibodies that makes them one of the most powerful diagnostic tools available to us.
Essay # 7. Agricultural Biotechnology:
From the very beginning we have always relied on plants and animals to provide us with food, shelter, clothing and fuel, and for thousands of years farmers have strived to better these in order to continue providing us and to meet the needs of evolution.
Horticulturists and farmers have always relied for centuries on cross breeding and hybridizing plants and making genetic modifications to them in order to make improvements in the output and quality of food and fibre crops. They have made great advancements in building in protection against pests and diseases and protection from the harsher elements. By selectively sowing seeds the earliest agriculturists performed modifications genetically to turn plants growing in the wild into domesticated crops, a long time before the science of genetics was really understood.
Biotechnology allows us to take single genes from plants that give us the desired traits and move them freely from one plant to another. This is a far more precise process than what we used to use and eliminates the thousands of genes of unknown function which was transferred along with the good traits into our crops. Biotechnology can also help us to remove the technical obstacles when moving genetic traits between plants and opens up a whole new world in benefiting food production.
Biotechnology has also given us a better understanding of how we can make better use of the plants built in defence systems and it has opened up new avenues allowing us to work with nature by providing us with new bio pesticides. These new pesticides allow us target crop pests but do not harm humans, animals, birds, fish and insects; they are also beneficial as they can control pests which have become resistant to the more conventional pesticides.
Some application of biotechnology in crop improvement is noteworthy.
Examples of such applications are:
a. Improved malting quality of barley by gene transfer, Finland.
b. Herbicide resistant crop (engineered plants) to resist the toxic effect of weed killer.
c. Some of the achievements include the procedures for isolation of Bt plasmid DNA, preparation of plasmid DNA library, probing of ICP gene and purification of toxic crystal protein from Bacillus thuringianis cultures which have been standardized. This technique thus helps us to develop the pest resistant Bt crops such as cotton, tomato, wheat, rice and many more. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a soil bacterium that produces a protein with insecticidal qualities.
Traditionally, a fermentation process has been used to produce an insecticidal spray from these bacteria. In this form, the Bt toxin occurs as an inactive protoxin, which requires digestion by an insect to be effective. There are several Bt toxins and each one is specific to certain target insects. Crop plants have now been engineered to contain and express the genes for Bt toxin, which they produce in its active form.
When a susceptible insect ingests the transgenic crop cultivar expressing the Bt protein, it stops feeding and soon thereafter dies as a result of the Bt toxin binding to its gut wall. Bt corn is now commercially available in a number of countries to control corn borer (a lepidopteran insect), which is otherwise controlled by spraying which is a more difficult process.
d. Improving the yield of crops using the techniques of modem biotechnology, where one or two genes may be transferred to a highly developed crop variety to impart a new character that would increase its yield.
e. Reduction in vulnerability of crops to environmental stresses. Crops containing genes that enable them to withstand biotic and abiotic stresses may be developed. Drought and excessively salty soil are two important limiting factors in crop productivity.
f. Increased nutritional qualities and quantity of food crops. Proteins in foods may be modified to increase their nutritional qualities. Proteins in legumes and cereals may be transformed to provide the amino acids needed by human beings for a balanced diet. A good example is the work of Professors Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer on the so-called Golden rice.
g. Improved taste, texture or appearance of food. Modern biotechnology can be used to slow down the process of spoilage so that fruit can ripen longer on the plant and then be transported to the consumer with a still reasonable shelf life. This improves the taste, texture and appearance of the fruit. The first genetically modified food product was a tomato which was transformed to delay its ripening, called Flavor Savor tomato.
There are many examples of several ongoing biotechnology research projects in India viz., genetic changes in the Indian mustard, genetic diversity in some Indica cultivators, and production of rice hybrid tolerant to saline conditions using tissue culture, wide hybridization and use of pollen as a system for screening disease resistance, development of chickpea strains with improved agronomic traits etc.
Setting up of national Gene Banks with the objective of conserving species of medicinal and aromatic plants under endangered/threatened categories is an important development.
Technologies used in Agricultural Biotechnology:
The technologies used in agriculture and horticulture are DNA manipulation, Tissue culture, Gene transfer, Biopesticides and Biofertilisers.
a. Recombinant DNA Technology:
Recombinant DNA technology is the construction of a stretch of DNA sequence consisting of components derived from different sources.
b. Gene Transfer Technology:
Gene transfer technology is the ability to identify a particular gene – one that encodes a desired trait in an organism. The gene transfer technology is to locate the relevant gene (or genes) among the tens of thousands that make up the genome. This is done by reducing the lengths of an organism’s genomic DNA equivalent to one or several genes.
These smaller segments can be stored and then cloned to produce a quantity of genetic material for further analysis. Cloned genes are necessary research tools for studies of the structure, function and expression of the genes. They are also used as diagnostic test probes in medicine and agriculture to detect specific diseases.
The transfer of genes from one organism to another is a natural process that creates variation in biological traits. The molecular biological methods of gene transfer alleviate the process to manipulated one gene at a time. They can also control the way in which these genes express themselves in the new variety of plant and animal. This can shorten the time required to develop new varieties and give greater precision.
c. Tissue Culture:
Tissue Culture is the science of cultivating animal/plant tissue in a prepared medium. Technologies based on this can be harnessed to achieve crop improvement objectives. The applications of tissue culture are in the field of multiplying bamboos, mass multiplication, micro propagation etc.
i. Multiplication of bamboos. It has been reported that bamboos can be induced to flower in tissue culture in relatively lesser time. This opens up vast possibilities of selective breeding of improved bamboo varieties and thus replacing the vegetative propagation by speed propagation.
ii. Mass multiplication is carried out with a number of ornamental and field crops which have shown that the use of this fully mechanized procedure of multiplication, distribution and transfer is suited to commercial micropropagation.
iii Micropropagation has been carried out in several crop which include, potato, sweet potato, yams, garlic, lime, banana, pineapple and papaya; spices including ginger, small cardamom, turmeric, black pepper and several aromatic and medicinal plants such as sarpgandha etc. Genotypes of banana, papaya, coconut, small cardamom and oil palm have been multiplied on a commercial scale by private seed companies. Micropropagation of ornamental plants such as gladioli, orchids and bougainvillea which have tremendous export value has been achieved.
d. Biofertilisers:
Certain micro-organisms and minute plants which can absorb gaseous nitrogen and phosphorus directly from the atmosphere and make it available to the plants can be identified, multiplied in the laboratories and introduced into the root zone of crop plants to supply nitrogen and phosphorus. Materials containing such organisms are called biofertilisers. Some of the biofertiliser are Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Azispirillum, Blue-green algae, Azolla etc.
Essay # 8. Biotechnology and Animals:
Biotechnology not only benefits humans but animals too, recently there have been over 100 great advancements in veterinary biologies and vaccines that can help to improve the health of our family pets, livestock and poultry. Advancements in veterinary products have made great achievements in being better able to treat heartworm, arthritis, parasites, allergies and heart disease as well as advancements in vaccines against rabies and feline HIV. These advancements are used on a daily basis in veterinary clinics throughout the world. Biotechnology has also significantly improved the use of diagnostic kits and the improvements of breeding programs to eliminate hereditary diseases.
Biotechnology by way of genomics, transgenics and cloning techniques are able to provide new techniques for the advancement in the quality and efficiency of milk, eggs and meat which reduces the environmental impact of agriculture and are being used to help protect endangered species. With the help of animals, biotechnology companies have been able to develop more than 160 drugs and vaccines, which have helped over 350 million people worldwide and have prevented innumerable sufferings.
Essay # 9. Bioinformatics Technology:
Biotechnology has made great advancements but it would have all been impossible without the use of computers and the internet. Researchers of today have to face one of the biggest problems and that is bioinformatics, more specifically how to make sense of such a massive amount of data provided by powerful techniques and research tools of biotechnology. The main problem which the scientists are facing today is how to manage, store, collect and retrieve all this information. Data has to be managed to ensure that everyone can access it and hindered by location or problems with compatibility.
An integrated form of data analysis has to be provided and ways of visually representing cellular and molecular data has to be developed. Bioinformatics technology can however take advantage of the vast array of computational tools than that the information technology has provided us with such as statistical software, graphics simulation, algorithms and database management software.
These are able to consistently organise, process and bring together data from numerous different sources. Bioinformatics is referred to as computational biology as it consists of two branches, the first part is the gathering of data, storing, accessing and visualizing with the second relies on integration of the data collected, analysis and modeling of the data. Systems biology is another branch of technology which attempts to take and use the biological data to create predictive models of cell process, biochemical pathways and the ultimate goal, whole organisms.
Biologists in this department rely on a series of mathematical models of pathways to determine the complexity of interactions that can occur in biological systems. They rely on super computers which make accurate and interactive bio simulations in order to be able to get a complete picture of the system they are studying. For next few years, biotechnology will focus on products that focus on systems and pathways along with the single molecule or gene. Bioinformatics technology will come to be an important and essential component in every step of development, commercialization and product research.
Essay # 10. Nano Biotechnology:
Nano technology is a step into the future of miniaturization. In today’s world smaller is better, examples of this are seen with electronics equipment. The word Nano technology derives from the word Nano metre (i.e., 10-9 m = 1 nm) which is one thousandth of a micron, which is roughly the size of a single molecule. Nano technology is the study, manufacture and manipulation of any small structure or machine that can be made of as little as one molecule. Nano biotechnology is a major breakthrough to get a better understanding and gain access to the nanostructures.
At one time silicon scaffolding would be used as the basis for Nano structures, however, ladder structure of DNA provides Nano biotechnologists with the perfect natural framework Nano technologists rely on the self- assembling properties of biological molecules when it comes to the creation of Nano structures, such as the lipids which are able to form liquid crystals spontaneously. DNA is not only being put to good use in building Nano structures but is also a very essential component when it comes to building Nano machines, DNA which can be said to be an information storage molecule could very well serve as the basis for the next generation of computers.
It seems that the DNA molecules can be mounted onto microchips and may eventually come to replace the microchips with electron flow channels etched in silicon. Biochips such as these are DNA based processors that can take advantage of and use DNA’s extraordinary capacity to store information. Biochips are able to exploit the properties of DNA in order to solve complex computational problems, this put very simple means that they are used to do mathematics.
Scientific studies have shown us that 1,000 DNA molecules were able to solve complex computational problems that would have taken over a century for a computer to solve, in just four months. Other biological molecules are helping in many different ways as biologists strive towards being able to store and transmit more and more information in smaller places. A good example of this is the common CD that hold information and music, researchers are now using light absorbing molecules very similar to that found in our retinas to increase the storage capacity of a single CD by, a thousand fold.
Essay # 11. Environmental Biotechnology:
Environmental biotechnology is when biotechnology is applied to and used to study the natural environment. The International Society for Environmental Biotechnology defines environmental biotechnology as – the development, use and regulation of biological systems for remediation of contaminated environments (land, air and water), and for environment-friendly processes (green manufacturing technologies and sustainable development).
A few micro-organisms from the polluted sites are isolated and scanned for any significant changes in their genome like mutations or evolutions. The modified genes are then identified. This is done because, the isolated microbes would have adapted it to degrade or utilize the starch better than other microbes of the same genus.
Similar conditions can be elucidated like in the case of oil spills in the oceans which require cleanup, microbes isolated from oil rich environments like oil wells, oil transfer pipelines…etc. have been found having the potential to degrade oil or use it as an energy source. Thus they serve as a remedy to oil spills, e.g., the superbug developed by Ananda Chakraborty.
Another elucidation would be in the case of microbes isolated from pesticide rich soils. These would be capable of utilizing the pesticides as energy source and hence when mixed along with bio- fertilizers, would serve as excellent insurance against increased pesticide-toxicity levels in agricultural platform.
Environmental Biotechnology Cooperative Research Centre (EBCRC) develops advanced technologies based on biological systems to improve efficiency and reduce or utilize waste to benefit a wide range of industries and the environment.
The Center for Environmental Biotechnology (CEB) scientists and engineers provide expertise to train in microbial ecology and environmental engineering. The personnel within CEB are supported by the Environmental Remediation Technology Program (ERT), the Energy Resources Program (ERP), and the Climate Change and Carbon Management Program (CCCMP). The Center for Environmental Biotechnology is the center of all of the Ecology offices and laboratory facilities. The Department focuses on research in real-time direct environmental assessment and biological treatment, bioremediation, and natural attenuation.
Essay # 12. Bioremediation and Biodegradation:
Bioremediation can be defined as any process that uses micro-organisms, fungi, green plants or their enzymes to return the natural environment altered by contaminants to its original condition. Bioremediation may be employed to attack specific soil contaminants, such as degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons by bacteria.
An example of a more general approach is the cleanup of oil spills by the addition of nitrate and/or sulphate fertilisers to facilitate the decomposition of crude oil by indigenous or exogenous bacteria. Naturally occurring bioremediation and phytoremediation have been used for centuries. For example, desalination of agricultural land by phytoextraction has a long tradition.
Bioremediation technology using micro-organisms was reportedly invented by George M. Robinson. He was the assistant petroleum engineer for Santa Maria, California. During the 1960’s, he spent his spare time experimenting with dirty jars and various mixes of microbes.
Bioremediation technologies can be generally classified as in situ or ex situ. In situ bioremediation involves treating the contaminated material at the site while ex situ involves the removal of the contaminated material to be treated elsewhere. Some examples of bioremediation technologies are bioventing, land-farming, bioreactor, composting, bio-augmentation, rhizofiltration, and biostimulation.
Phytoremediation is useful in these circumstances, because natural plants or transgenic plants are able to bioaccumulate these toxins in their above-ground parts, which are then harvested for removal. The heavy metals in the harvested biomass may be further concentrated by incineration or even recycled for industrial use.
The use of genetic engineering to create organisms specifically designed for bioremediation has great potential. The bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans, the most radioactivity resistant organism, has been modified to consume and digest toluene and ionic mercury from highly radioactive nuclear waste.
Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation, the process of using mushrooms to return an environment (usually soil) contaminated by pollutants to a less contaminated state. The term mycoremediation was coined by Paul Stamets and refers specifically to the use of fungal mycelia in bioremediation.
Bio-based processes are used in new products and services in nearly all sectors of the economy.
The following list shows some of the more common applications and how they are used:
1. Aquaculture Treatment/Management:
It is the treatment(s) using micro-organisms to inactivate or eliminate undesirable aquaculture byproducts, and excess nutrients.
2. Bioaugmentation:
It is the addition of commercially prepared bacterial strains with specific catabolic activities to degrade wastes.
3. Biobleaching/Biopulping Pulp and Paper:
Enzymes derived from micro-organisms to breakdown lignin and colourants which are part of wood structures of various types of trees.
4. Biocatalysis:
It is the application of enzymes as catalysts for chemical synthesis.
5. Biodetergent:
It is the addition of biotechnology-derived microorganisms and/or their enzymes which degrade waste and colourants, therefore acting as brightening and cleaning agents.
6. Biofiltration:
It is the breakdown of volatile organic compounds and odour-causing chemicals in air by passing through media containing biodegrading micro-organisms.
7. Bioleaching:
Use of micro-organisms to extract metals and minerals from ores or mine wastes.
8. Biomass Fuels:
Include forest and mill residues, agricultural crops and wastes, wood and wood wastes, animal wastes, livestock operation residues, aquatic plants, fast growing trees and plants, and municipal and industrial wastes. Technologies breakdown various plant materials (for example, cellulose, lignin and xylan from crops) into residues (sugars like glucose and xylose) and convert them to fuel-grade ethanol and other fuel- like chemicals, as well as generate heat and/or electricity. Biomass is made by growing microorganisms on organic materials.
9. Bioremediation:
It is the use of certain types of plants and microbes to contain eliminate or decrease hazardous and radioactive wastes to environmentally safe levels.
10. Drain Cleaning and Degreasing:
Use of micro-organisms selected for their enhanced ability to produce enzymes, such as amylase, protease, cellulase and lipase, needed to degrade the starches, proteins, cellulose and fats common to household and restaurant wastes.
11. Municipal and Industrial Waste and Wastewater Treatment:
It is the use of bacterial cultures with enhanced ability to degrade specific toxic chemicals, thereby reducing their effects in municipal and industrial waste treatment systems.
12. Textiles:
It is the use of enzymes in fabric designing, polishing, denim abrasion and bleaching and bleach cleanup.
Essay # 13. Applications of Biotechnology:
Biotechnology has applications in four major industrial areas, including health care (medical), crop production and agriculture, non-food (industrial) uses of crops and other products (e.g. biodegradable plastics, vegetable oil, biofuels), and environmental uses.
For example, one application of biotechnology is the direct use of organisms for the manufacture of organic products (examples include beer and milk products). Another example is using naturally present bacteria by the mining industry in bioleaching. Biotechnology is also used to recycle, treat waste, clean-up sites contaminated by industrial activities (bioremediation), and also to produce biological weapons.
A series of derived terms have been coined to identify several branches of biotechnology, for example:
1. Bioinformatics:
Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field which addresses biological problems using computational techniques, and makes the rapid organization and analysis of biological data possible. The field may also be referred to as computational biology, and can be defined as, conceptualizing biology in terms of molecules and then applying informatics techniques to understand and organize the information associated with these molecules, on a large scale. Bioinformatics plays a key role in various areas, such as functional genomics, structural genomics, and proteomics, and forms a key component in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector.
2. Blue Biotechnology:
Blue biotechnology is a term that has been used to describe the marine and aquatic applications of biotechnology, but its use is relatively rare.
3. Green Biotechnology:
Green biotechnology is biotechnology applied to agricultural processes. An example would be the selection and domestication of plants via micropropagation. Another example is the designing of transgenic plants to grow under specific environmental conditions or in the presence (or absence) of certain agricultural chemicals.
One hope is that green biotechnology might produce more environmentally friendly solutions than traditional industrial agriculture. An example of this is the engineering of a plant to express a pesticide, thereby eliminating the need for external application of pesticides. An example of this would be Bt corn. Whether or not green biotechnology products such as this are ultimately more environmentally friendly is a topic of considerable debate.
4. Red Biotechnology:
Red biotechnology is applied to medical processes. Some examples are the designing of organisms to produce antibiotics, and the engineering of genetic cures through genomic manipulation.
5. White Biotechnology:
White biotechnology is also known as industrial biotechnology. It is applied to industrial processes. An example is the designing of an organism to produce a useful chemical. Another example is the using of enzymes as industrial catalysts to either produce valuable chemicals or destroy hazardous/polluting chemicals. White biotechnology tends to consume less in resources than traditional processes used to produce industrial goods. The investments and economic output of all of these types of applied biotechnologies form what has been described as the biotechnology.
Biotechnology is still a huge tree with several branches of root and stem. It still is a growing tree.