Question

Highlight five areas where biotechnology has influenced our lives.

Accepted Answer

Biotechnology is a vast area of biology and has various applications that have influenced our lives. The main applications are:

1. Therapeutic use- Treatment of certain diseases by the artificial production of drugs in the transgenic animals. E.g. human protein (alpha -1-antitrypsin) used to treat emphysema, tissue plasminogen activator that is used to treat myocardial infarction which prevents the blood clotting inside the blood vessels. These drugs have been obtained from transgenic animals. The transgenic variety of Brassica napus that produces hirudin, an anticoagulant which is found in the seeds can be used for the treatment of certain disease like thrombosis and embolism.

2. Diagnostic use- Discovery of PCR has resulted in the formation of various diagnostic kits like ELISA, WIDAL and pregnancy test kits. These have been developed for the early detection of disease like AIDS, Typhoid, cancer, etc.

3. Biofortification of the food- The transgenic cow called Rosie is a transgenic animal that has been introduced with a gene coding for the human milk protein alpha-lactalbumin. The milk of this cow has a very high nutritional value.

4. Crops with increased disease resistance- Some crops have been made more resistant to the pests which resulted in their increased yield. E.g. Bt cotton, Bt-Brinjal are insect-resistant crops, Golden rice rich in vitamin A and the Flavr-Savr tomato which has increased shelf life and has reduced the post-harvest loss. All these crops have been produced by recombinant DNA technology.

5. Bioremediation and waste treatment- Some trees have been genetically engineered to clean up the heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil by the process of phytoremediation.

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