SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

In the past, biotechnology concentrated on the production of food and medicine. It also tried to solve environmental problems. In the nineteenth century, industries linked to the fermentation technology had grown tremendously because of the high demand for various chemicals such as ethanol, butanol, glycerine, acetone,
etc. The advancement in fermentation process by its interaction with chemical engineenng has given rise to a new area—the bioprocess technology. large-scale production of proteins and enzymes can be carried out by applying bioprocesstechnology in fermentation. Applying the principles of biology, chemistry, and engineering sciences, processes are developed to create large quantities of chemicals, antibiotics, proteins, and enzymes in an economical manner. Bioprocess technology Includes media and buffer preparation, upstream processing and downstream processing. Upstream processing provides the microorganism the media, substrate, and the correct chemical environment to carry out the required biochemical reactions to produce the product. Downstream processing is the separation method to harvest the pure product from the fermentation medium. Thus, fermentation technology changed into biotechnology, now known as classical biotechnology. Now if we look at biotechnology, we find its application in various fields such as food, agriculture, medicine, and in solving environmental problems. This has led to the division of biotechnology into different areas such as agricultural biotechnology, medical or pharmaceutical biotcchnology industrial biotechnology, and environmental biotechnology.
       Modern biotechnology is mainly based on recombinant DNA (rDNA) and hybridoma technology in addition to bioprocess technology. rDNA technology is the main tool used to not only produce genetically-modified organisms, including plants. animals, and microbes, but also to address the fundamental questions in
life sciences, in fact, modem biotechnology began when recombinant human insulin was produced and marketed in the United States in 1982. The effort leading up to this landmark event began in the early 1970s when research scientists developed protocols to construct vectors by cutting out and pasting pieces of DNA together to create a new piece of DNA (recombinant DNA) that could be inserted into the bacterium, e. cvii (transformation). If one of the pieces of the new DNA includes a gene for insulin or any other therapeutic protein or enzyme. the bacterium would be able to produce that protein or enzyme in large quantities by applying bioprocess technology.

       Another way of preparing human therapeutic proteins, vaccines, and diagnostic proteins is by hybridoma technology The first hybridoma experiments were carried out in 1975. In hybridoma technology, a B-lymphocyte secreting antibody against a specific antigen is fused with a myeloma cell. The resulting (a cancerous B-lymphocyte) cell, if inlected into a mouse’s abdomen or if cultured in a bioreactor by applying bloprocess technology, will grow and divide indefinitely, producinglarge quantities of the antibody. which can then be harvested. The resulting proteinsare called monodonal antibodies (MAb) and are most often used in diagnostic kits. The most famous MAb-containing diagnostic kit is the pregnancy test. In agriculture, rDNA technology can be used to produce new varieties of crop plants with improved agricultural and nutritive qualitics. Transgcnic plants. which are resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, and disease,have been produced.

      Recombinant microorganisms, pLant cells, and animal cells can be cultivatedand used for the large-scale production of industnally-important enzymes andchemicals. Examples of such enzymes are protease, amylase. lipase, glucose isomerase. invertase. etc. Amylase is used in the starch industry. Glucose isomerase is used in fructose formation from glucose syrup. Proteases and lipases arc incorporated into detergent products to take out stains. Protease is also used in the meat and leather industries to remove hair and soften meat and leather. A list of enzymes and their industrial uses is given in Table 1.1.