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.
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 to the 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 using r-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 the living 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 synthesize genetic 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 notable applications of the recombinant technology having direct impact on humanity have been: 1. Large scale production of therapeutic protein such as insulin, hormones, vaccine
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.
