“Biotechnology” is a fast emerging thrust area with unprecedented opportunity for understanding of fundamental life processes as well as physical well being & improvement in standard of living. Biotechnology is the integrated use of biochemistry, microbiology and chemical engineering in order to achieve the technological applications of the capacities of microbes and cultured cells.
“Biotechnology” is a fast emerging thrust area with unprecedented opportunity for understanding of fundamental life processes as well as physical well being & improvement in standard of living. Biotechnology is the integrated use of biochemistry, microbiology and chemical engineering in order to achieve the technological applications of the capacities of microbes and cultured cells.
Biotechnology is the application of the basic concepts of molecular biology to produce useful products for pharmaceutical, veterinary, clinical biochemistry and agricultural uses.
The British biotechnologists define biotechnology as “the application of biological organisms, systems, or processes to manufacturing and service industries”.
European Federation of Biotechnology defines the term biotechnology as “the integration of natural sciences in order to achieve the applications of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services.”
The development of recombinant DNA technology during 1970s laid a foundation for the development of modern biotechnology. Plants are the sources for phytopharmaceuticals, flavors, fragrances, colours, pesticides and food. The availability of these plants became scarce because of ruthless exploitation and depletion of forest. Many of the pharmaceuticals are chemically complex in nature and there is no economically viable method of synthesis. The alternatives for the production of phytopharmaceuticals and allied products are met through the plant tissue culture. Thus biotechnology requires the knowledge of chemical engineering, life sciences and pharmaceutical sciences.
Medicinal plant biotechnology has been successfully employed for the production of phytopharmaceuticals, perfumes, colours, flavours and biopesticides. Medicinal plants are the most important source of life saving drug for the majority of world’s population. The biotechnological tools are important to select, multiply and conserve the critical genotypes of medicinal plants. In-vitro regeneration holds tremendous potential for the production of high quality plant based medicine. Cryopreservation is long term conservation method in liquid nitrogen and provides an opportunity for the conservation of endangered medicinal plants. In-vitro production of secondary metabolites in plant cell suspension cultures has been reported from various medicinal plants.
Bioreactors are the key step towards commercial production of secondary metabolites by plant biotechnology. Genetic transformation may be a powerful tool for enhancing the productivity of novel secondary metabolites especially by agrobacterium rhizogenes induced hairy roots.
Most crops developed through biotechnology that are on the market today provide farmers with increased convenience and product quality while requiring fewer chemical inputs. According to the USFDA economic research service, herbicide and insect resistant biotech varities accounted for about 85% of soybean acreage &45%of corn acreages in 2003. Plant breeders are concentrating on enhancing grains or protein sources to produce feed stuffs that will improve feed utilization, performance, product quality, health of livestock while reducing production costs and environmental impacts.