Tag: commercial applications of biotechnology

Modern biotechnology is based on the the methods of genetic engineering.  It is a technique which involves the introduction of foreign DNA carrying the desired gene of interest into the host organism & thus change the phenotype of the host organism.

Genetic engineering aims to add new DNA to an organism to add one or more new favorable traits that are not found in that organism. Genes are the DNA segments that carry the genetic information for the production of particular proteins/ enzymes. These enzymes/proteins determine the traits of an organism, thus alteration in gene structure is the key to impart new traits to the organisms. The genetic information present in genes is copied to the RNA and finally into the proteins; further genes are inherited from generation to generation. Hence, manipulation of RNA, protein or extranuclear gene will be confined to that generation only. Hence, genetic engineering is the manipulation of genes.

Briggs and King discovered that normal hatched tadpoles can be obtained by transplanting the nucleus of a blastula cell to the enucleated eggs of Rana pipiens. This finding provided an initial answer to the long-standing question of whether the process of development and cell differentiation requires a loss or stable change in the genetic constitution of cells.

Har Govind Khorana synthesized artificial gene in a test tube in the year 1969.

• Hirudin is a potent inhibitor of thrombin. Thus, it has a high therapeutic value in the treatment of thrombosis.
  
• Hirudin gene inserted in Brassica napus was synthesized chemically in E. coli and yeast and was found to be a reasonable success. Extended work suggested the production of this protein in a plant system, particularly oil-producing crop.