BIOTECHNOLOGY

• Any biology based technology which uses organisms or their parts to make or modify products, or improve plants, animals and microorganisms.

Genetic engineering and biotechnology intertwining concepts Presented before class by:AVILA, ERNIE CBSE 4B

Advances in S&T have brought us:

1. Tissue and cell culture

2. Marker or molecular fingerprint technology

3. Discovery and cloning of genes

4. Recombinant DNA technology or Genetic engineering.

1. Molecular and biochemical markers

• Serve as fingerprints and used in

a. mapping genomes,

b. Diagnostic tools to detect diseases or disorder in plants, animals including human

c. Facilitate in selection in plant and animal breeding and make it more effective and exact

d. Study biological diversity

e. Identify species variety or hybrid plants and animals, human individuals

2. Tissue and cell culture

• Used in:

a. Medicine to propagate cell culture to produce health products such as hepatitis vaccine, insulin.

b. Agriculture-Propagate plants from a very small sections of various

plant parts such as seed, roots, leaf and other. This will result to clone of similar and uniform quality

Create variability or change in plants. Important traits such as resistance to disease can be obtained in this manner

Eliminate diseases to produce disease-free planting materials which can be safely transported to other places.

3. Discovery and cloning of important genes

Help in designing drugs to combat diseasesTo incorporate such genes for important traits like disease

resistance, control of ripening in crops by genetic engineering.

Genetically modified products

• An organism which has a gene transferred by genetic engineering is called as genetically modified organism

• Gen Eng. Is utilized only when the trait to be transferred is difficult or impossible and it will take long time to attain, by conventional breeding methods.

Application in food and agriculture

• There are now many GM crops such as corn, cotton, soybean, oil rapeseed, papaya and tomato with traits obtained through genetic engineering.

• These traits includes resistance to insect pest such as corn and cotton borer, herbicide resistance, fugal resistance and viral diseases, altered soil composition and long shelf life.

Future products:

• Various crops with better nutritional, post harvest and processing qualities.

• Crops that thrive on:o Saline soilso Less watero Less nutrients

Industrial application

• Current:Production of biodegradable plastics by microorganismUse of recombinant chymosin in cheese productionUse of genetically engineered glucose isomerase enzyme

for high fructose syrup production which has a high thermal stability.

• Future benefits:Production of biodegradable plastics and other industrial

polymers by plantsUse of protein engineered industrial enzymes that reduce

energy and raw material used.Production of processed foods with desired functional

properties.

Application in environment

• Current benefits:Bioremediation using selected microorganismUse of transgenic crops which protects themselves from

insect pest and pathogen, thus reducing tremendously the use of chemical pesticide.

• Future benefitsDevelopment of crops which use less chemical fertilizer

and less water Development of crops which produce less wastes and

toxins and extract pollutants.

What is biotechnology in Philippines?

• Our growing population is expected to reach 104 million in 2020.

• To feed this population, our price production has to be increased from 12.3 million tons to 17.8 M or a 40% increase.

• These increase must come primarily from higher biological crop yields and not by increasing land area or using more nutrients and water.

• Studies by UNDP, FAO, and World Bank shows that conventional method, even at their optimum efficiencies, will not be able to meet the food requirement of the increasing population. Such increases must be done in the context of sustainable agriculture.