Biopharmaceuticals
Biopharmaceuticals, also known as biologics, are complex medicines made from
living organisms or cells, such as those from humans, animals, plants, or
microorganisms
Example: Insulin production
Therapeutic
The branch of medicine concerned with the treatment of disease and the
action of remedial agents.
Example: therapeutics for asthma
Diagnostic
Biotechnology can be used in diagnostics in many ways, including:
• Detecting DNA
• Amplifying nucleic acid sequences
Genetically modified (GM) crops
GM crops are plants that have been modified through genetic
engineering to have certain traits.
Example: Bt cotton, Flavr-savr tomato
Processed food
Biotechnology can improve the edibility, consistency, and shelf life of food
by preventing the growth of unwanted toxin-producing microorganisms naturally
present in foods, production of antimicrobial agent to kill undesirable
putrefactive microorganisms, production of beverages.
Bioremediation
Bioremediation is the process of using biological microorganisms to breakdown
hazardous materials and substances into less toxic or nontoxic product.
Example: It is often used to clean up oil spills because it's a cost-effective,
sustainable, and efficient solution.
Waste treatment
Biotechnology uses biological materials and microorganisms to treat
waste and reduce environmental pollution.
Example: waste water treatment, Biogas production
Energy production
Biotechnology can be used to produce energy in
several ways
Biofuels are liquid fuels produced from biomass,
which is a renewable energy source like plants,
algae, or animal waste. Biofuels are a renewable
alternative to fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural
gas, which are formed through slow natural
processes
•Ethanol
•A bioalcohol fuel made from sugar crops like sugarcane and sugarbeet. Most vehicles can use gasoline-
ethanol blends with up to 10% ethanol.
•Biodiesel
•A cleaner-burning alternative to petroleum-based diesel fuel. It's made by combining vegetable oil, animal
fat, or recycled cooking grease with alcohol.
Applications of Biotechnology: Agriculture
Problems in agriculture Solutions of the problem
Three options for increasing food
production are :
Drawbacks of solutions
The Green Revolution succeeded in tripling the food supply but it was
not enough to feed the growing human population.
Increased yield was due to the use of improved crop varieties, better
management practices and use of agrochemicals (fertilisers and
pesticides).
However, for farmers in the developing world
The problem can be solved by genetic engineering that control traits of
organisms by bringing desirable changes in their genetic composition and
the resulting organism is called genetically modified organism (GMO)
Biotechnological Applications in Agriculture
Plants, bacteria, fungi and animals whose
genes have been altered by the process of
genetic engineering are referred to as
genetically modified organisms.
Genetic manipulation has been used to create
tailor-made plants to supply alternative
resources to industries, in the form of starches,
fuels and pharmaceuticals.
(A tailor-made plant is a plant that is grown for a specific
purpose, such as high yield, disease resistance, or to
supply alternative resources to industries)
Genetically modified organisms are:
How to create genetically modified crops?
How to create genetically modified crops?
Gene addition Gene subtraction
This method involves
This method involves altering inactivation of existing
plant characteristics by genes.
insertion of new genes Eg: RNA interference in
Eg: Bt cotton, Transgenic tobacco plant infecting
Brassica napus nematode, Flavr Savr
tomatoes
Bt Cotton
Cotton is one of the important crops in India.
Bollworm infestation causes high loss in the yield
of cotton crops.
Some strains of Bacillus thuringiensis produce
proteins that kill certain insects such as
oLepidopterans(Tobacco budworm, Armyworm)
oColeopterans(Beetles) and
oDipterans (Flies, Mosquitoes).
The crystalline protein produced by cry gene is
present in inactive protoxin form in the bacteria,
hence the toxin does not affect the bacteria.
Whenever the insect ingests an inactive toxin, the
inactive protoxin gets activated in alkaline pH of
the gut which solubilises crystals.
Inactivated toxin alkaline pH Activated toxin (gut
of insect)
Activated toxin binds to epithelial surface of gut
and creates pores that cause cell swelling and
eventually cell lysis and death of the insects.
How do Bt crops are produced?
The choice of cry gene from Bacillus
thuringiensis, depends on the crop and the
target pest.
●Bt toxin gene is cloned and expressed in
many plants like Bttomato, Btcorn, Bt
brinjal, Btrice, Bt soybean, Bt potato.
Golden Rice
Golden rice is a transgenic variety of rice (Oryza sativa).
It contains beta-carotene(pro vitamin A) which gives yellow
colour to the rice grains.
The gene for beta-carotene is taken from daffodil(Narcissus
pseudonarcissus)plant.
The vector used for transfer of gene is Agrobacterium Narcissus pseudonarcissus
tumefaciens vector.
The golden rice appear golden due to presence of vitamin A
in it (Vitamin A deficiency results in poor vision).
RNAi
RNA Interference (RNAi Based Pest Resistance)
Tobacco plant cultivation is affected badly by Meloidogyne incognita (parasitic round worm).
They infect the roots of tobacco plants and cause a great reduction in the tobacco yield.
RNAi is a cellular defence mechanism in eukaryotes.
It involves silencing of a specific mRNA due to the formation of complementary dsRNA molecule.
The complementary dsRNA binds to and prevents translation of the mRNA (silencing).
The source of this complementary RNA could be from an infection by viruses having RNA
genomes or mobile genetic elements (transposons) that replicate via an RNA intermediate.
RNAi Based Pest Resistance
Nematode-specific genes were introduced into the host plant
This was done using Agrobacterium vectors
It produced both sense and anti-sense RNA in the host cells
These two RNAs formed a double stranded (dsRNA)as they were
complementary to each other
The parasite does not survive in a
transgenic host expressing specific
interfering RNA.
Thus, the plant becomes resistant.
Flavr Savr (also known as CGN-89564-2; pronounced "flavor saver"),
a genetically modified tomato
Tomatoes have a short shelf-life in which they remain firm and ripe
The Flavr Savr was made more resistant to rotting by adding
an antisense gene which interferes with the production of the enzyme Beta
polygalacturonase. The enzyme normally degrades pectin in the cell
walls and results in the softening of fruit which makes them more
susceptible to being damaged by fungal infections.
pTOM6 gene encodes the polygalaturonase enzyme.
Some information
The first produced genetically modified plant in the laboratory was tobacco
in 1983 and was tested in 1986 as herbicide-resistant in France and the
USA.
The first Bt crop in India is Bt cotton
The first functional recombinant protein (somatostatin) was produced in
1977 using E. coli as cell host
Biotechnological Applications in Medicine
Recombinant DNA technological procedures have had a huge influence on
healthcare by allowing for the mass manufacturing of safer and more effective
medications.
Furthermore, unlike comparable products obtained from non-human origins,
recombinant therapeutics do not elicit undesired immune reactions.
Currently, over 30 recombinant medicines have been authorised for human
use across the world. Twelve of these are now on the market in India.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a metabolic disease,
characterised by high levels of blood
sugar.
Insulin synthesis - β cells of islets of
Langerhans in the pancreas
Insulin – controls the level of glucose
in the blood
Insulin deficiency - causes Diabetes
mellitus
We can treat diabetes by giving insulin
from outside
An autoimmune disease
chronic condition that
that occurs when the
occurs when the body
body's immune system
doesn't use insulin
destroys the pancreas,
properly, resulting in high
preventing the production
blood sugar levels:
of insulin
Insulin consists of two short polypeptide chains: Chain A and Chain B, linked by disulphide
bridges.
In humans, insulin is synthesized as a prohormone which contain an extra chain C.
This C peptide chain is removed during maturation.
In 1983, Eli Lily, an American
company prepared two
DNA sequences of Chain A
& B and introduced them in
plasmid of [Link] to produce
insulin chains.
Chains A and B were
produced, extracted and
combined by created
disulphide bonds to form
human insulin.
