Biotechnology Essay

8/3/2019 Biotechnology Essay

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Biotechnology: The Enigma

Keneth Otieno Ogot, SJ

2nd year Msc. Biochemistry Department-St. Josephs College-Trichy

Introduction

The novel field of biotechnology has elicited mixed reactions both in the intellectual and

environment spheres with proponents and those opposed to it taking divergent views. Those who

have embraced biotechnology wholeheartedly acclaim it as a field with potential to

revolutionalize global health, food security and human well-being. However, those that oppose it

implacably have unleashed a barrage of accusation against it, such as environmental and genetic

pollution to playing God just to mention a few. These antagonistic positions of the protagonists

in this discourse raise pertinent questions such as: (1) Is biotechnology properly understood and

handled? (2) Do we gain or lose from biotechnology? (3) Whether the biotechnological road will

lead to ruin or prosperity. With these aforementioned questions in mind, this essay, will attempt

to shed light on the benefits that could accrue from embracing biotechnology and also address

the fears expressed by the opponents of biotechnology. However, I will leave the matter at hand

in abeyance in order to give some definitions which are helpful in this discourse.

Definitions

Biotechnology is derived two root words biothe use of biological processes; and technology

to solve problems or make useful products. Therefore, Biotechnology can simply be defined as a

collection of technologies that capitalize on the attributes of cells, such as their manufacturing

capabilities, and put biological molecules, such as DNA and proteins, to work for us (Clark and

Pazdernik, 2009). There are other words that have arisen to identify other branches of

biotechnology, for example:

Bioinformatics is a discipline of quantitative analysis of information relating to biological

macromolecules with the aid of computers. Its development is a result of advances in both

molecular biology and computers in the past few decades (Xiong, 2006). Bioinformatics play

pivotal roles various areas such as pharmaceutical biotechnology, functional and structural

genomics, and proteomics.


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Green biotechnology refers to the application of biotechnology in agriculture to come up with

transgenic plants and crops that are resistant to herbicides or able to express pesticide proteins

whereas marine and aquatic applications of biotechnology is termed as blue biotechnology.

Red biotechnology is the utilization of biotechnology in medical field, for example gene

therapy, manipulation of transgenic plants to produce antibodies and vaccines while white

biotechnology denotes the industrial application of biotechnology in order to maximize

production and minimize costs and resources, for example, optimization of enzyme activity

through genetic modification.

Applications of Biotechnology

Global Health

Biotechnology based on the principle of recombinant DNA technology started in early 1970 with

Paul Berg of Stanford University producing the first recombinant DNA.

The practical reach of genetically modified organisms has grown considerably since then due tothe possibilities to express virtually any kind of coding sequence from any possible source.

Efforts have been made to genetically engineer most of the living systems such as bacteria, yeast,

fungi, plant and animals to have novel gene product or characteristics. Thousands of genes have

been cloned and expressed using recombinant DNA technology. The genetic manipulations usingr-DNA technology are more precise and outcomes are more certain over other methods resulting

in faster production of organisms with desired traits. Progress in molecular biology and genetic

engineering techniques has made impact in two major areas (a) understanding the biology of theliving system by manipulation of genome information and (b) production of useful metabolites

or living organisms having desired metabolic characteristics. This has not only resulted in the

production of specific biomolecules in different organism but also has helped to synthesizegenetic material and its related product in the laboratory. In fact, the application of genetic

engineering and recombinant DNA technology has led to the generation of new classes of

organism called genetically modified organisms (GMO) or live modified organism (LMO). More

so, the ability of genetic manipulation of almost all living organism has led to the genomics

evolution with far reaching applications of the modern biology system. The most notableapplications of the recombinant technology having direct impact on humanity have been:

1. Large scale production of therapeutic protein such as insulin, hormones, vaccine


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Antibodies

References

Clark, P. D., and Pazdernik, N. J. 2009. Biotechnology: Applying the Genetic Revolution.

Elsevier Academic Press, New York.

Vandenberg, J. 2001. Animal Biotechnology: Science based concerns. The Academics Press,

Washington.Xiong, J. 2006.Essential of Bioinformatics. Cambridge University Press, New York.

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Biotechnology Essay