Biotechnology is a technology that develops or produces various products using biological processes, living organisms, or parts of them. The importance of biotechnology in human life is vast. It's a technology that's old but evolving. Biotechnology is essentially a broad field of biology that includes the creation or processing of the desired product using living organisms. Depending on the methods and applications, it often overlaps with similar scientific fields. Baking and brewing bread are examples of processes that fall under biotechnology.
This traditional process takes the organisms into their natural state, while the more modern form of biotechnology typically requires a more sophisticated alteration of the biological system
or organism. Biotechnology research increased with the advent of genetic engineering in the 1970s due to the new possibility of improving the genetic material of organisms.
Karl Ereky first used the term" biotechnology " in 1919. He was a Hungarian agricultural engineer known as the" father "of biotechnology. Biotechnology today encompasses several different disciplines (e.g., genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, etc. In medicine, agriculture, or industrial biotechnology, innovations and products are produced annually.
Modern biotechnology will help combat diseases, reduce environmental issues, and make industrial production safer, cleaner, and more effective. It improves the resistance of insects, improves the tolerance of herbicides, and encourages the use of more environmentally-friendly agricultural practices.
Biotech helps feed the earth through:
-Producing food that fixes vitamin and nutrient shortages with enhanced nutritional profiles;
-Generating greater yields of crops with fewer inputs;
-Reducing the volumes of agricultural chemicals needed by crops-limiting the environmental run-off of those products;
-Use of biotech crops that require fewer pesticide applications and allow farmers to reduce tilling of farmland;
-Creation of allergens-free foods and toxins such as mycotoxin;
-To help improve cardiovascular health, improve food and crop oil content.
-Biotechnology allows for the production of medicines and health-related products that improve our quality of life.
-It is also used to produce food and beverages, as well as to clean and recycle industrial waste.
Biotechnology has become an essential part of our modern world. More than two hundred and fifty biotech health care products and vaccines are now available to patients a day, and 13.3 million farmers worldwide use agricultural biotechnology to raise yields, avoid insect and pest damage, and reduce the environmental effect of farming. Through this technology, they can grow the Golden Rice, Bt brinjal, Bt cotton, Bt maize, etc. In particular, industrial biotechnology uses enzymes and microorganisms in sectors such as pesticides, food additives, detergents, paper, textiles, and biofuels to producing bio-based products.Agricultural biotechnology is an important tools that helps for better production.
Industrial biotechnology has since developed enzymes for use in our everyday lives and the manufacturing sector. It is very significant in medicine, where it promotes the development of therapeutic proteins and other medicines. Insulin and synthetic growth hormones and diagnostic tests to classify different forms of diseases are only a few examples of the effect of biotechnology on medicine. Biotech also helps refine manufacturing processes, the cleaning of the atmosphere, and the development of agriculture.
Fig: Plasmid
Importance of Biotechnology in Agriculture
Creating more productive plant varieties:
An improved variety of plants is created by replacing the best genes of a wild plant or by altering its structure or pattern.
Insect control:
Insects are controlled with this technology by sterilizing male insects that cause damage to crops.
Production of Transgenic plant:
Transgenic plants are plants that are created by gene transfer through genetic engineering. In this process, the recombinant DNA technique is applied to the organism, either through a carrier or through microinjection into the plant protoplast.
Transgenic plants are disease and pest resilient, high-yielding, higher quality, and nutrient enrich. Transgenic plants include golden rice, BT cotton, and soybean maize, to name a few. Transgenic crops contain nif-gene, which can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere.
Biofuels:
The genes of all the plants from which biofuels are obtained are the primary source of fuel production. The rate of fuel production is being increased by sequencing the genomes of these plants.
At a glance: Application of Biotechnology in Agriculture
-Plant cells, tissue, and organ culture.
Production of more efficient plants for photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and higher protein storage capacity.
-Disease, insect, and pest-resistant plant production
-Greater meat and milk producing healthy livestock production
-Production of medicine from milk, blood, and urine of transgenic domestic animals.
-In the production of delicious fruits or cereals
Importance of Biotechnology in Medicine
Medicine is one of biotechnology's most valuable aspects. Biotech products diagnose and treat diseases, develop new vaccines and therapies, and produce medical devices and diagnostics. Biotech products are also used in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals.
Biotechnology also has a wide range of health care products. Biopharmaceuticals is the name given to drugs that have been produced through bioengineering, i.e., Biotechnology.
Biopharmaceuticals can be synthesized directly in living organisms or produced using recombinant DNA technology, which involves inserting new genes into microorganisms or plant or animal cells to produce proteins that will become drugs. Blood components derived from donated blood are sometimes called blood products. Blood derivatives include immunoglobulins, clotting factors, albumin, and coagulation factors. The biotech industry is also known as bioindustry (biomedical) or "life science industry" (chemical/pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agro-biotech). Biopharmaceuticals are sometimes used interchangeably with "biologics," although they are distinctly different. Biologics may be produced by biotechnology methods (recombinant DNA technology) or non-biotechnology methods.
Production of Hormone:
Human growth hormone is commercially produced in recombinant DNA technology by inserting somatotropin hormone-producing genes that regulate human growth into bacterial plasmids. This biotechnology produces hormones like insulin, B-endorphin, somatotropin, somatostatin.
Human Interferon:
When a body cell is infected with a particular virus, the infected cell responds by releasing a proteinaceous chemical called interferon. The secreted interferon inhibits the protein synthesis of the invading virus so that the virus can no longer increase in number. Interferon has been used to treat complex hepatitis B, herpes infections, and rabies.
Production of insulin:
Insulin is a type of hormone secreted naturally from the beta cells of the pancreas. Diabetes requires a lot of insulin to treat. Once upon a time, insulin was stored in the pancreas of cows and pigs and was used in human medicine. At present, the production of insulin through biotechnology is becoming easier.
Treatment of Genetic Disorder:
Genetic engineering attempts to cure genetic diseases by removing the genes responsible for diseases. Micro-injection or a viral vector is used to insert functional genes. Genetic defects such as Urokinase, Cystic fibrosis, Thalassemia, hemophilia, and others can be cured using recombinant technology.
Biomedical research using biotechnological tools and techniques has given rise to bionics and cybernetics, which focuses on helping disabled people live more manageable lives, prosthetics being a common focus for these fields. Biotechnology is also used to help control pests, either through pesticides or by introducing natural predators. Biotech products are used in agriculture to produce food and beverages, and they are used to treat wastewater and clean up industrial wastes. Biotechnology can be harnessed for many other purposes; for example, major companies work with biotechnology companies to develop new drugs or alternative energy sources using plant-based materials or algae. Biotechnology is becoming very important in human life because it helps us make medicines that improve our quality of life. Biotechnology has become an essential part of our modern world. Biopharmaceuticals are now fully-fledged biomedical products, including cell therapy, gene therapy, etc.
At a glance: Application of biotechnology in the medical field:
-Recognition of virus in plants and animals
-Diagnosis and treatment of various types of a genetic disorder
-Application of microbiological organisms as germ weapon for the defense of the country
-Production of antibodies for diagnosis and vaccine of various complex diseases
-Production of insulin, interferon, and other hormones synthesized by the bacteria.
-Production of human growth hormone
Production of substances that prevent blood clotting in the brain, heart, and lungs
Importance of Biotechnology in Other Sectors
Environment Management:
Biotechnology plays a vital role in the assimilation of alkene and aromatic compounds, oils, diphenols, phenols, excreta, vegetable products, etc., that is contained in sewage.
Identifying criminals:
DNA sequencing technology is almost 100 percent correct in identifying criminals in the modern era and has been used successfully since 1975.
More:
-To improve the quality and quantity of drug production in the industry,
-Production of bioenergy
-Microbe-based food production
-Bio-farms currently produce hormones, antigens, and vitamins.
Besides its meaning, it also has some threats. The rapid advancement of science, with enthusiasm, has also posed concerns about the implications of developments in biotechnology. Biotech may be at greater risk than other fields of science: microbes are tiny and difficult to identify, yet the risks are potentially immense. It may be dangerous to inflict damage either from the unintended effects of human science or through the intentional exploitation of biology. Someone could also imagine messy conflicts in which one party invests in a biotechnology application that others consider risky or immoral.
If anyone wants to build up his biotechnology career, he can easily find an influential place in various industries.
The most important thing is that biotechnology will play a significant role in this latest case (Corona case) by finding the patient with Covid19 and having the vaccine worldwide.
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