BASICS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
Nowadays, we hear about the boom of Biotechnology and how it is the Science of the future… But few of us know what it is really about. Biotechnology is nothing but an interdisciplinary science that integrates the use of biochemistry, microbiology and engineering sciences in order to achieve technological applications of the capabilities of micro-organisms, cultured tissues and parts thereof.
The term Biotechnology is derived from a fusion of biology and technology. True to its name, it concerns with the exploitation of biological agents or their components for generating useful products/ services. By its nature, the area covered by biotechnology is very vast and the techniques involved are highly divergent.
The different definitions of biotechnology differ in their approach, content and emphasis. But the two main features common to them all 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 other useful product is generated. This product or service should enhance human life.
It may be pointed out that production techniques pertaining to agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry etc. also utilize biological entities like plants and animals to generate useful products. But these activities are not regarded as biotechnology since they are long recognized and well- established disciplines in their own right. However, the exploitation of animal and plant cells cultured in vitro as well as constituents for generating products/services is an integral part of biotechnology. An organism in which a gene is modified or replaced by biotechnological processes is known as a Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) or a transgenic organism.
The biotechnological process may be separated into the following 5 major steps or operations:
STRAIN OR CULTURE CHOICE
The first step in a biotechnological process is the identification of the biological agent (micro-organism / animal cell/ plant cell) capable of producing the desired compound. This involves the isolation of such micro-organism from its appropriate habitat and its improvement through suitable strain development techniques. These activities would require knowledge of general biology and ecology of the organism to decide on what organism to isolate and from where.Often, it may be necessary to produce genetically engineered micro-organisms (GEMs) capable of producing the desired compound.
MASS CULTURE
Once a suitable strain has been developed it needs to be maintained for as long as needed. Such strains can be used either to produce the biomass, which per se is the desired product e.g. in the case of single cell protein (SCP), or to recover some compounds from the biomass or the medium. In either case it is necessary to culture the strain on a large scale. This operation thus requires the knowledge of genetics, cell physiology etc.. in addition an understanding of process technology is also important.
OPTIMISATION OF CELL RESPONSES
The genetic machinery of cells is so geared that they perform a specified function only under specific conditions. In general, the conditions favouring rapid cell growth and are different from those conducive to the production of compound of interest. E.g. antibiotics. Therefore, in order to optimize the biological yields, the culture conditions have to be precisely regulated and, if needed, sequentially manipulated to fully exploit the intrinsic capabilities of cells.
PROCESS OPERATIONS
The various steps of a biotechnological process need to be fully optimized for safety, reproducibility, control, and efficiency of all the assets of operation. This is the function of process design engineering developed with a full understanding of the biological, chemical and socio-economic factors. The practical exploitation of a biotechnological process depends chiefly on the successful implementation of process operation.
PRODUCT RECOVERY
The essence and termination of any biotechnological process is the recovery of the concerned product in a useful form. The efficiency of product recovery is directly reflected in the product cost. The mode of this operation also determines the environment friendliness of the process. In some cases, the process of product recovery and downstream processing may be either inefficient or costly preventing the commercial exploitation of the biotechnological process e.g. recovery of insulin, interferon etc. from seeds of transgenic plants.
LIST OF SOME AREAS WHRE BIOTECHNOLOGY IS MAKING MARKED CONRIBUTIONS:
Human health
Medicines
Animal husbandry
Crimes and parentage dispute
Food processing and beverages
Renewable energy and fuels
Environment