Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology

Pseudomonas putida is a Gram-negative, rod shaped, aerobic, chemoheterotrophic bacterium. Being chemoheterotrophic, they use organic compounds as source of their energy. This bacterium can break down any of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Most of the organic toxins are aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Genetically engineered marine-dweller Pseudomonas putida use hydrocarbons as fuel and break down the ring structures of the hydrocarbons in oil spill in presence of enzymes and seawater oxygen and emit carbon dioxide. 

Use of microbes or the living cells in industry and technology to manufacture certain food,drugs(medicines) and chemicals etc is known as biotechnology.

Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make products, or "any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use" (UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Art. 2). New tools and products developed by biotechnologists are useful in research, agriculture, industry and the clinic. Thus, the correct answer is option C.

Biotechnology involves manipulation of 1) structure and action of molecules and 2) genes for numerous purposes ranging from producing drugs(like insulin) from bacteria, to introduce beneficial genes in plants and animals to obtain desired chemical substances in their products.

White (also called gray) biotechnology involves industrial processes such as the production of new chemicals or the development of new fuels for vehicles, the use of cells, natural organisms and bio-organic compounds to synthesize materials, instead of petrochemicals or substitution of enzymes for caustic reagents.

Biotechnology uses cellular and biomolecular processes to develop technologies and products that help improve our lives and the health of our planet. Plants and animals can be improved by selectively breeding for particular traits or by genetic modification. Beneficial traits can be identified visually or by DNA profiling. Gene modification or transgenesis are used to produce therapeutic human proteins in cells or whole organisms. The cell or organism used depends upon how large and complex the protein is. For example, human insulin. Biotechnology improves crop insect resistance, enhances crop herbicide tolerance and facilitates the use of more environmentally sustainable farming practices.

Genetic engineering is the process of modifying the genetic makeup of an organism. In this, specific genes from one organism are transferred into the chromosome of another organism. Two bacteria commonly employed in genetic engineering are Escherichia and Agrobacterium. Escherichia is widely used in because it is easy and inexpensive to grow. It is easy to manipulate the genome of Escherichia. Agrobacterium is used because of its ability to transfer genes to plants and fungi due to presence of Ti plasmid.

Hargobind Khorana is famous for his work on the genetic code and the synthesis of the first artificial gene.

Synthetic human insulin was the first biochemical product which is produced commercially by recombinant DNA technology. Before that insulin was extracted from the pig which mimics like human insulin. Currently, millions of diabetics worldwide use synthetic insulin to regulate their blood sugar levels. Synthetic insulin is made in both bacteria and yeast.

Scaling up is the process of expanding a process from small scale to a larger scale. So, here scaling up is defined as the conversion of a laboratory scale plant into a manufacturing unit.

Nanotechnology is the science and technology of building electronic circuits and devices from single atoms and molecules. Nanotechnology is used to describe many types of research where the characteristic dimensions are less than about 1,000 nanometers. Nanotechnology deals with the molecular make-up and organization of structures. By building materials from the nano-scale up, nanotechnology is able to project the unusual material functionality found at the nanoscale to a useful, applicable measure. Nanotechnology provides new and improved methods for making almost every manufactured products - better transportation, faster computers, energy developments and medical breakthroughs.

Biotechnology is the branch of science which deals with the application of biological techniques for human welfare. It involves the modification of genes by the enzymatic action which leads to the production of some biological entity like antibodies, vaccines etc which benefits the mankind by improving health. The vaccines, antibodies, hormones, etc are the pharmaceutical products which help to prevent the transmission of diseases. The plants and the organisms can be genetically modified. The modified plants are resistant to the pests and diseases. The modified organisms can be useful in the production of useful products in the industry.

Biotechnology is the integration of natural science and organisms. Biotechnology involves pure biological sciences like animal cell culture, biochemistry, cell biology, embryology, genetics, microbiology, and molecular biology. Modern usage also includes genetic engineering as well as cell and tissue culture technologies.