Economic upliftment through biotechnology

ECONOMIC UPLIFTMENT THROUGH

BIOTECHNOLOGY

BIOENGINEERING

Bioengineering is the “biological or medical

application of engineering principles or engineering

equipment – also called biomedical engineering.”

Bioengineering as a defined field is relatively new. The practice of

bioengineering has expanded beyond large-scale efforts

like prosthetics and hospital equipment to include engineering at the

molecular and cellular level – with applications in energy and the

environment as well as healthcare.

Bioengineering can include elements of electrical and mechanical

engineering, computer science, materials, chemistry and biology. This

breadth allows students and faculty to specialize in their areas of interest

and collaborate widely with researchers in allied fields.

EMERGING BIOTECHNOLOGIES

Biotechnologies are significant in many aspects of life including food,

energy, medicine, and business.

The emergence of a biotechnology is a process of bringing together

knowledge, practices, products and applications into viable and productive

relationships. -

Emerging biotechnologies differ considerably in nature and purpose, but

some common features in the way they evolve can be identified. The term

‘biotechnology’ is used to apply to many different kinds of thing, including

the following:

• A broad field of knowledge (such as synthetic biology);

• A programme of research (such as genetic modification of crops);

• A specific technique (such as DNA sequencing);

• An application of a technique (such as in vitro fertilisation);

• A product (such as a nanoscale biosensor device

LIST OF EMERGING BIOTECHNOLOGIES

• Food

• Medicine

• Healthcare

• Gene therapy

• Diagnostics

• Biopolymer chemistry

• Environment technology

BIOTECHNOLOGY IS :-

All living organisms have the ability to improve themselves through natural means in order to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

CONVENTIONAL PLANT BREEDING

Since the beginning of agriculture eight to ten thousand years ago, farmers have been altering the genetic makeup of the crops they grow. Early farmers selected the best looking plants and seeds and saved them to plant for the next year. The selection for features such as faster growth, higher yields, pest and disease resistance, larger seeds, or sweeter fruits has dramatically changed domesticated plant species compared to their wild relatives.

Conventional plant breeding has been the method used to develop new varieties of crops for hundreds of years. However, conventional plant breeding can no longer sustain the global demand with the increasing population, decline in agricultural resources such as land and water, and the apparent plateauing of the yield curve of the staple crops.

MUTATION BREEDING

The art of recognizing desirable traits and incorporating them into future generations is very important in plant breeding. Breeders inspect their fields and travel long distances in search of individual plants that exhibit desirable traits. A few of these traits occasionally arise spontaneously through a process called mutation, but the natural rate of mutation is very slow and unreliable to produce plants that breeders would like to see. In the late 1920s, researchers discovered that they could greatly increase the number of these variations or mutations by exposing plants to X-rays and mutation-inducing chemicals. “Mutation breeding” accelerated after World War II, when the techniques of the nuclear age became widely available. Plants were exposed to gamma rays, protons, neutrons, alpha particles, and beta particles to see if these would induce useful mutations. Chemicals such as sodium azide and ethyl methanesulphonate, were also used to cause mutations. Mutation breeding efforts continue around the world today. Of the 2,252 officially released mutation-derived varieties, 1,019 or almost half have beenreleased during the last 15 years. Some varieties of wheat, barley, rice, potatoes, soybeans, onions and others were produced via mutation breeding with agronomically-desirable characteristics. Hybrid rice technology helped China to increase its rice production from 140 million tons in 1978 to 188 million tons in 1990.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

Genetically modified foods (or GM foods) are foods produced

from organisms that have had specific changes introduced into

their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. These

techniques have allowed for the introduction of new traits as well as

a far greater control over a food's genetic structure than previously

afforded by methods such as selective breeding and mutation

breeding

ADVANTAGES- GENETICAALY MODIFIED FOODS.

• Pest resistance: Growing GM foods such as B.t. corn can help eliminate the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market4, 5.

• Herbicide tolerance: Crop plants genetically-engineered to be resistant to one very powerful herbicide could help prevent environmental damage by reducing the amount of herbicides needed.

• Disease resistance There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases.

…

• Cold tolerance Unexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish has been introduced into plants such as tobacco and potato. With this antifreeze gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill unmodified seedlings.

• Drought tolerance/salinity tolerance: Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places.

…

• Nutrition Malnutrition is common in countries where people rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated. For example, blindness due to vitamin A deficiency.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences have created a strain of "golden" rice containing an unusually high content of beta-carotene (vitamin)

BIBLOGRAPHY…

www.Google.com

www.Wikipedia.com

Yahooanswers.com

GMO.org

PRESENTATION BY:

MAHIN BINDRA

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