Biotechnology and Its Applications

Biotechnology is made up of two words; ‘Bio’ means life and ‘Technology’ means application or harnessing of science for a specific purpose. Thus, biotechnology is the science of modifying or employing any living organism for a specific and useful purpose. Karoly Ereky, a Hungarian engineer,  is believed to have coined the term in 1919. This branch of science gained unprecedented popularity and importance during the last few decades.

Biotechnology has helped improving production of agricultural produce, industrial processes and developing new drugs for treatment of fatal diseases and has contributed for improvement of living standards. But there are opponents for the technology too. They argue that biotechnology can be used to develop weapons of Mass Destruction (MDS). It is also alleged that the technology can bring back certain extinct forms of life with unpredictable consequences. The technology is capable of affecting biodiversity.    

Various applications of biotechnology 

The technology is widely used in agricultural, industrial and medical fields. 

Green Biotechnology

One of the biggest applications of biotechnology is in the field of agriculture where it is known as green biotechnology. In agriculture, the technology is widely used in the development of transgenic plants. Normally, in nature plants acquire genes through pollination. But in transgenic crop plant, one or more genes are artificially inserted to alter the characteristics of genes. The inserted gene sequence is known as transgene. The origin of a transgene can be another variety of the plant, another unrelated plant or completely different species.  Plants developed by employing transgenes are popularly known as genetically modified (GM) crops.  BT (Bacillus Thurinigiensis) cotton is a transgenic variety crop which becomes pest resistant by producing its own pesticide. BT cotton has capability to save itself from the attack of the pest known as ball worm.

Red Biotechnology

Use of the biotechnology methods in medicine is known as red biotechnology. It is used in variety of applications like gene therapy, pharmacogenomics, genetic testing, drug administration , virotherapy etc. 

White Biotechnology

Application of this branch of science in industry is known as white biotechnology.  It is widely used to improve industrial processes and for creation of new industrial products. This technology is applied in industry for development of microorganisms, reduction of surface tension, production of biofuels etc. 

Blue Biotechnology

Application of biotechnology for improvement of varieties of marine organisms is known as blue biotechnology. It is employed in aquatic environment for generation of new sources of energy, drugs, extraction of useful resources etc. The technology is used to develop microorganisms capable of cleaning water bodies, minimize damages due to oil spills etc. 
 

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