Technology Of 21st Century

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Technology Of 21st Century

By Suraj Upadhyay

The term biotechnology is derived from the two words, biology and

technology. True to its name, it is concerned with the exploitation

of biological agent or their components for generating valuable

products/services. Biotechnology is truly multidisciplinary in

nature and it encompasses several disciplines of basic sciences and

engineering. The science disciplines from which biotechnology draws

heavily are microbiology, chemistry, biochemistry, genetics,

molecular biology, immunology, cell and tissue culture and

physiology. On the engineering side, it leans heavily on process,

chemical and biochemical engineering since large scale cultivation

of micro-organisms and cells, their downstream processing etc are

based on them.

By its nature, the area covered under biotechnology is very vast and

the techniques involved are highly divergent; this has often made

the precise definition of the subject rather difficult. Some

standard definitions of biotechnology are reproduced below with a

view to orient the readers to the nature and scope of the discipline.

U.S National Science Foundation defines Biotechnology as " the

controlled use of biotechnological agents, such as, micro-organisms

or cellular components, for beneficial use. " European Federation of

Biotechnology defines biotechnology as " the integrated use of

biochemistry, microbiology and engineering science in order to

achieve technological application of the capabilities of micro-

organisms, cultured tissue or cells and parts thereof. "

J.D Bulock, in 1987, has given the view that Biotechnology comprises

the " controlled and deliberate application of simple biological

agents- living or dead, cells or cell components- in technically

useful operations, either of productive manufacture or as service

operation. "

It may be seen that different definitions of biotechnology differ in

their approach, content and emphasis but the two main features

common to them are: (1) utilization of biological entities (micro-

organisms, cells of higher organisms- either living or dead), their

components or constituents (e.g., enzymes), in such a way that (2)

some product or service is generated. This product or services

should, obviously enhance human welfare. Old and new biotechnology:

Although the term biotechnology is of recent origin, the discipline

itself is very old. Man began employing micro-organisms as early as

5000 BC for making wine, vinegar, curd, leavened bread etc. Some of

these processes are so common and have become such an integral part

of usual kitchen technology of every home that we may even hesitate

to refer to them as biotechnology. Such processes which are based on

the natural capabilities of micro-organisms are commonly considered

as old biotechnology. The use of microorganism for the production of

chemicals at commercial scale was prompted, ironically, by war

efforts. During the First World War, Germans were forced to develop

the technology for glycerol (needed for manufacturing explosives)

production when their supply of vegetable oil was disrupted due to

British naval blockade. Similarly, British resorted to acetone-

butanol fermentation using Clostridium acetobutylicum due to the

German interference with the normal supply of these chemicals. The

First World War also left the Citrus orchards of countries like

Italy in ruins; this resulted in great jump in the prices of citric

acid which was extracted from citrus juice. As a result, the

technology for citric acid production using Aspergillus niger was

developed. The production of antibiotic penicillin by Penicillium

notatum was discovered in 1930 by Fleming, but its commercial

production began, again, only during Second World War. But the

subsequent developments in chemical and pharmaceutical production

using micro-organisms have been very rapid after that.

Man has continued his quest for improving the natural capabilities

of micro-organisms, making them capable of novel processes and

discovering micro-organisms with new capabilities. This has led to

the development of recombinant DNA technology which allows man to

create in them highly valuable, novel and naturally non-existent

capabilities. For example, the human gene producing insulin has been

transferred and expressed in bacteria like E. coli; the insulin

produced by these genetically engineered microbes (GEMs) is being

used in the treatment of diabetes. In addition, animal and plant

cells and their components are being employed to generate valuable

products. Crops varieties and animal breeds with entirely new and

highly useful traits are being created with the help of recombinant

DNA technology. These and many similar examples constitute new

biotechnology.

On the other extreme of the spectrum are ranged the sophisticated

techniques of the recombinant DNA technology, hybridoma technology,

enzyme technology, enzyme engineering etc. Some people tend to

restrict biotechnology to the process based on recombinant DNA

technology but this view is like equating a person to the beauty of

his/her faces only. Thus in its simplest form, biotechnology employs

micro-organisms, cells or its components for the production of novel

and/or valuable product/service to man. The Importance:

Biotechnology has rapidly emerged as an area of activity having

potential impact on virtually all domains of human welfare, ranging

from foods processing, protecting the environment to human health.

As a result, it now plays a very important role in employment,

production and productivity, trade and economics, human health and

quality of human life throughout the world The importance of

technology to human welfare would become obvious from some selected

examples given above. For the protection of human health, production

of monoclonal antibodies, DNA and RNA probes ( for disease

diagnosis), artificial vaccines (for inoculation), rare and highly

valuable drugs such as human interferon, insulin etc. (for disease

treatment), and the technology for gene therapy (for treatment of

genetic diseases) are some of the notable achievements in Medical

Biotechnology. Micro-organisms are being employed, since several

decades for the large scale production of variety of biochemical

ranging from alcohol to antibiotics, and in the processing of foods

ands feeds. This comprises Industrial Biotechnology. Enzymes,

isolated mainly from micro-organisms and immobilized in suitable

polymers (called matrices) are preferred over the whole organism for

a variety of reasons; they are becoming increasingly popular in many

commercial ventures e.g. for the production of the high fructose

corn syrup using immobilized enzyme glucose isomerase ( Enzyme

Technology). Techniques for remodeling of existing proteins/enzymes

in order to enhance their efficiency and/or alter their specificity

have been developed, and some notable success have already been

achieved (Protein/Enzyme Engineering). Several biological agents,

such as, viruses, fungi, amoeba, bacteria etc. are being exploited

for the control of plant diseases and insect pest. This constitutes

Biocontrol.

Bacteria are being utilized for detoxification of industrial

effluents, in combating oil spills, for treatment of sewage and for

biogas production. These aspects come under Environmental

Biotechnology. Moreover microbes are also being employed for the

extraction of metals from low grade ores where the conventional

method would be uneconomical (Microbial Mining).

In-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer techniques have permitted

childless couples, suffering from one or the other kind of

sterility, to have their own babies (test tube babies). Hormone

induced super-ovulation and /or embryo splitting coupled with embryo

transfer can be used for rapid multiplication of farm animals,

particularly cattle. Genetic engineering is being employed to

develop transgenic animals resistant to certain diseases, capable of

faster growth rates and more efficient feed conversion. These

transgenic animals even have the capacity to produce certain

valuable biochemical and to excrete them in milk, urine or blood

from which they can be isolated and purified. All these techniques

are involved in Animal Biotechnology and the last case is also

called Molecular Farming.

In agriculture, rapid and economic clonal multiplication of fruits

and forest trees, production of virus free stocks of clonal crops,

creation of novel genetic variation through somaclonal variation and

transfer of novel genetic genes (like disease and insect resistant

genes) through genetic engineering have opened up exciting

possibilities in crop production, protection and improvement

(Agricultural Biotechnology).

Thus Biotechnology seems to have an unlimited commercial potential

in the view of its capabilities to generate an unlimited range of

valuable and useful products/services concerned with virtually every

aspects of human existence. This is clearly reflected by the

emergence of numerous Biotechnology Company throughout the world,

including our neighboring country China and India. The movement of

noted scientists, including Nobel Laureates to some of these

companies further elevates the scope of biotechnology. The total

volume of trade in biotechnology products is increasing sharply

every year, and it is expected to soon become the major contributor

to the world trade. We can be confident that the 21st century will

be the century of biotechnology, just as the 20th century was the

era of electronics.