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What is biotechnology, principles and processes ?
Biotechnology is the use of biological processes, organisms, or systems to manufacture products intended to improve the quality of human life. The science of biotechnology can be broken down into subdisciplines called red, white, green, and blue. Red biotechnology involves medical processes such as getting organisms to produce new drugs, or using stem cells to regenerate damaged human tissues and perhaps re-grow entire organs. White (also called gray) biotechnology involves industrial processes such as the production of new chemicals or the development of new fuels for vehicles. Green biotechnology applies to agriculture and involves such processes as the development of pest-resistant grains or the accelerated evolution of disease-resistant animals. Blue biotechnology, rarely mentioned, encompasses processes in marine and aquatic environments, such as controlling the proliferation of noxious water-borne organisms.
1. Genetic engineering : Techniques to alter the chemistry of genetic material (DNA and RNA), to introduce these
into host organisms and thus change the phenotype of the host organism.
2. Maintenance of sterile (microbial contamination-free) ambience in chemical engineering processes to enable
growth of only the desired microbe/eukaryotic cell in large quantities for the manufacture of biotechnological
products like antibiotics, vaccines, enzymes, etc.
3. Three basic steps in genetically modifying an organism —
(i) identification of DNA with desirable genes;
(ii) introduction of the identified DNA into the host;
(iii) maintenance of introduced DNA in the host and transfer of the DNA
to its progeny.
The detailed process will be given in class notes.


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