Biotechnology Applications In Agriculture
* Genetically engineered, crop-based agriculture increases food production and provides pest resistance.
* Plants, bacteria, fungi and animals whose genes have been altered are called
* Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs.
* GM plants have higher tolerance to abiotic stresses such as cold, drought, salt and heat.
* GM plants increase the efficiency of mineral usage and thereby prevent early exhaustion of soil fertility.
* Bt toxin produced by a bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis has been cloned and expressed in many plants to make them insect-resistant.
* RNA interference is a pest-control strategy designed to control the infestation of nematodes or round worms.
Biotechnology Applications In Medicine
* Recombinant therapeutics do not provoke the human body to create antibodies against it.
* In 1983, an American company Eli Lilly prepared bioengineered insulin or human insulin.
* Gene Therapy is a collection of methods employed to correct the defective genes and cure diseases such as haemophilia and cystic fibrosis.
* Gene Therapy was used for the first time in 1990 on a four year old girl suffering from Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency.
* ADA deficiency can be cured permanently when a functional ADA from bone marrow cells is introduced at an early embryonic stage.
* Molecular Diagnosis methods such as Polymerase Chain Reaction or PCR and Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay or ELISA facilitate early diagnosis of diseases.
Transgenic Animals
* Transgenic animals are animals whose genome has been deliberately modified to possess and express an extra foreign gene.
* Some transgenic animals are especially designed to study gene regulation and the effects of genes on the normal functions of the human body and its development.
* Transgenic animals are also designed to understand how genes contribute to the development of a disease.
* Biological products for the treatment of genetic disorders are also created with the help of transgenic animals.
* Transgenic animals are helpful in testing chemical safety and vaccines.
Ethical Issues in Biotechnology
* Ethical standards should be set up in order to monitor and regulate the morality of all human activities that help or harm living organisms.
* In India, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee or GEAC make decisions regarding the validity of GM research and safety of introducing GM organisms.
* Biopiracy refers to the blatant use of bio-resources by multinational companies without proper authorisation from the respective country and its people and without compensatory payment to them.
* The second amendment of the Indian Patents Bill takes issues such as biopiracy, patent terms, emergency provisions and research and development initiative into account.
