Biotechnology Fundamentals

He was a biochemist, who coined the term Biotechnology.

The DNA profiling technique was first reported in 1984 by Sir Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester in England, and is now the basis of several national DNA databases.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed in 1983 by Kary Mullis. It is a biochemical technology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence.

India participated in this project led by Japan along with 15 other countries.

This technology was developed by Kohler and Milestein.

Martin Chalfie, Osamu Shimomura, and Roger Y. Tsien were awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on 10 October 2008 for their discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein.

DNA polymerase is not used in PCR. It is used to produce stranded DNA from DNA.

Complementary DNA (cDNA) is produced by reverse transcription.

The enzyme, which helps to remove nucleotide from the end of DNA, is exonuclease.

Plasmid is a cloning vehicle, which can carry foreign DNA with it.

Agrobacterium is well known for its ability to transfer DNA between itself and plants.

Yeast has enzyme system, which can convert sugar into alcohol in the absence of oxygen.

Restriction endonucleases are major cleavage enzymes used in gene cloning.

Genetically modified bacteria are commonly used for the production of human insulin.

Flavr Savr Tomato was the first genetically modified food product approved for human consumption. It was developed using antisense RNA technology to delay ripening by suppressing the production of polygalacturonase, an enzyme that softens fruit. This technology involves inserting a reverse copy of the gene to block its own expression, unlike gene therapy or recombinant DNA techniques which add or modify genes.