The study of biotechnology involves using biological systems, living things, or products derived from them to create goods that are helpful to people. Numerous issues, including infectious diseases, bettering food quality, a shortage of fossil fuels, etc., are solved thanks to biotechnology. Biotechnology aids in the discovery of alternative sources as the population grows and the availability of natural resources declines. In order to meet our daily needs, biotechnology is essential. Healthcare, the food industry, winemaking, dairy products, the textile industry, and bioremediation are just a few of the industries where biotechnology has long provided services. At a time when COVID-19 is ravaging the globe, biotechnology is a key component of vaccine production.
[Examples]
1. Biofuels
Biomass, such as plant, animal, and algae waste, is used to make biofuels. Bitechnology-based biofuel production can be extremely important given the rise in fuel prices and the diminishing supply of fossil fuels. Because they reduce greenhouse gas emissions, biofuels serve as a sustainable source of energy. Ethanol, biodiesel, and biogas are a few types of biofuel.
Three Types of Biofuels
Biodiesel
A biofuel made in the United States from vegetable oils, animal fats, etc. is called biodiesel. It promotes clean fuel combustion and serves as a renewable alternative to petroleum diesel. By lowering environmental pollution, using biodiesel in vehicles enhances air quality. The trigylcerides found in the fatty acids are converted into biodiesel through a process known as transesterification. Biodiesel and glycerine are produced when vegetable oil is transesterified with ethanol. Jatropha plant seeds are used to make biodiesel in some nations, including India.
Biogas
Methanogens are a group of bacteria that break down municipal or agricultural waste, animal and plant waste, and sewage to produce biogas. Methane, carbon dioxide, and other gases are combined to form biogas, a renewable source of energy. The majority of biogas is used for cooking in rural areas, but it can also be compressed and used as fuel for vehicles.
Bioethanol
A colourless liquid biofuel known as ethanol is created when starch from plants like sugarcane, maize, and others is fermented. The top two countries that produce ethanol are Brazil and the United States. Food grains with a high sugar content, such as sugarcane, barley, and sorghum, are used in the United States as feedstock for ethanol production. Gasohol,’ a blend of petrol and ethanol used as fuel in internal combustion engines, is a term used in the US for 10% ethanol blended with petrol.
2. Dairy Products
Our favourite dairy products, like cheese and yoghurt, are thanks to biotechnology, which has many applications in the dairy industry. Lactic acid fermentation of milk produces cheese. Milk is primarily composed of water, but it also contains fat, lactose, casein, and whey proteins. The process of making cheese involves separating milk into liquid whey and solid curd by either acidifying the milk or by adding rennet.
Milk’s pH is lowered when certain bacteria, such as those in the lactobacilli or streptococci families, turn milk sugar (lactose) into lactic acid. This process of killing the harmful bacteria in milk is known as acidification. This aids in separating the milk’s curd from its liquid whey. An enzyme called rennet aids in the coagulation of casein protein. This divides the liquid whey from the solid curd. The curd is then salted and shaped after the liquid whey has been removed. The digestive system of ruminant mammals contains a group of enzymes known as rennet. The primary enzyme that causes milk’s casein protein to curdle is called chymosin (protease).
3. Bakery Products
One of the most popular foods that people eat on a daily basis is bread. Do you know what gives bread its fluffy, supple texture? Making dough with flour, water, yeast, and sugar produces bread. The starch (amylase or amylopectin) in the flour is broken down by the amylase present in the moist dough, releasing maltose and sucrose. A type of fungus called yeast uses sugar as fuel.
Maltase, a component of the yeast in the dough, converts maltose into glucose through aerobic respiration, but it quickly runs out of oxygen and switches to anaerobic respiration as a result. It breaks down the sugar and releases CO2 and ethanol during anaerobic respiration. The gluten molecules become entrapped by these CO2 molecules, giving the dough its puffiness. The yeast is then killed and the ethanol is evaporated by heating the dough. The yeast species used to make bread is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also referred to as baker’s yeast.
4. Lactose-free Milk
Lactose is a sugar that exists naturally in milk. Galactose and glucose, its smaller units, are present. The digestive enzyme lactase breaks down lactose. Some people lack the enzyme lactase in their bodies, making them lactose intolerant and unable to digest lactose.
Lactose remains in this form in the gut of these people, resulting in symptoms like nausea, bloating, cramps, etc. Many thanks to biotechnology, which has made lactose-free milk available to us. Such milk has already been treated with lactase. This results in the conversion of lactose into glucose and galactose. Kluyveromyces yeast, a type of yeast, produces this enzyme. Single unit glucose and galactose, which are more soluble in water than lactose and are simple for the gut to absorb, make up lactose-free milk.
5. Alcohol Production
Alcohols are frequently produced using a biotechnological process called alcoholic fermentation, which is accomplished by specific bacteria and yeast. Starch-producing plants, such as barley, wheat, rice, sugarcane, or maize, are the raw materials used to make alcohol. During fermentation, yeast transforms sugar into ethanol and CO2 through the process of fermentation. Yeast converts glucose (sugar) molecules into two molecules of pyruvic acid in the presence of oxygen, releasing carbon dioxide and water as waste products.
Under anaerobic conditions, these two pyruvic acid molecules are then reduced into ethanol and CO2. Some bacterial species, such as Zymomonas mobilis, are also capable of fermenting alcohol. yeast-based alcohol fermentation Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a widely used and well-known yeast, but Z. Mobilis is also used in industrial settings as a starter for the production of ethanol. Grapes (Vitis vinifera) undergo fermentation to produce wine.
Malolactic fermentation and alcoholic fermentation are the two main biotechnological processes used in the production of wine. Following the conversion of fruit sugar into ethanol and CO2 during alcoholic fermentation, the lactic acid bacteria Oenococcus oeni performs malolactic fermentation on the majority of red wines. This process raises the pH and changes the bitter-tasting malic acid into the creamier lactic acid. This is required for the wine’s deacidification and flavour modification.
6. Skin Care Products
Cosmetology and aesthetic medicine have benefited greatly from advances in biotechnology. One of the well-known examples of a biotechnology product in daily life is Botox. The bacterium Clostridium botulinum produces the protein known as botox. It paralyses nerve cells, which lessens facial wrinkles. In addition, hyaluronic acid is a key component of anti-aging skin care products. It exists in the human body by nature.
In a lab setting, certain bacteria like Streptococcus zooepidemicus, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis ferment glucose to produce hyaluronic acid at the proper temperature and pH.
7. Detergent enzymes
Detergent enzymes, a byproduct of biotechnology, have eclipsed conventional detergents. These detergents include enzymes such as proteases, lipases, and amylases that aid in removing stains from things like blood and oil.
8. Genetically Modified (GM) Crops
Improvements made by biotechnology have a significant impact on natural fibres like cotton, wool, silk, etc. Making crops resistant to pesticides or herbicides also aids in increasing crop yield and quality. Foods that have undergone genetic engineering have had changes made to their DNA. Bt crops, golden rice, and other GM food products are a few examples.
Two Types of GM
Bt Crops
Bt crops are those that have had a specific Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene added to them through genetic modification. A toxin is produced in the leaves as a result of this gene. The toxin (Cry protein) found in plant cells crystallises in a pest’s digestive tract, killing it, when it feeds on Bt crops. Humans are not harmed by this protein. Numerous insects, including butterflies, moths, skipper flies, beetles, etc., are fatally affected by this poison. Cotton and maize are two instances of BT crops.
Golden Rice
The genetically modified rice variety known as “golden rice” is Oryza sativa. In this, a multi-gene biochemical pathway is incorporated through genetic engineering into the rice genome. Beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, is produced by this pathway. Humans can metabolise it to create vitamin A. In order to combat vitamin A deficiency in developing nations, golden rice has been developed. A lack of vitamin A can result in permanent blindness, corneal scarring, and night blindness.
9. Dye Manufacturing
A naphthoquinone that occurs naturally is shikonin. It can be found in Lithospermum erythrorhizo’s dried root. They are utilised in the food, textile, and cosmetic industries as natural colourants.
Anthraquinone dye production is aided by biotechnology. Different fungi, including strains of trichoderma, aspergillus, and curvularia, can be used to extract these dyes. The biodyes CI disperse blue 7 and CI acid green 28 are examples of anthraquinones. Anthraquinones are organic substances made by fungi and plants; they are less expensive and extremely environmentally friendly.
10. Paper Industry
Cellulose is extracted from wood and transformed into pulp, which is then used to make paper. Pulping is done to remove lignin and other impurities from the cellulose fibres that are present in the wood. Biopulping is the term for the process of pulping cellulose by a particular fungus that breaks down lignin.
In the pulp processing process, enzymes take the place of many dangerous chemicals. Due to the presence of lignin, pulps are typically brown in colour. Biobleaching is used to make pulps lighter in colour. Chlorine was once used to bleach the pulp, but because of its harmful effects on the environment, enzymes like xylanase have taken its place. Trichoderma asperellum, a fungus, produces the biobleaching agent Xylanase, which aids in the hydrolysis of hemicelluloses (xylan) found in pulp. Cost-effective and effective at preventing the formation of harmful byproducts is biobleaching. Additionally, it strengthens and improves the texture of paper.
11. Bioremediation
Although environmental pollution is a major concern on a global scale, we can easily control its harmful effects thanks to the development of bioremediation technology. Microbes are used in the bioremediation process to break down toxic substances found in contaminated soil or groundwater and transform them into non-toxic substances.
Applications of Bioremediation
- It aids in the cleanup of bodily fluids and blood at crime scenes. Today, enzyme cleaners (proteases, lipases, etc.) are used to get rid of dangerous substances like blood that might pose health risks like HIV or hepatitis. Initially, bleach or ammonia were used as cleaning agents.
- By dispersing toxic substances into the soil, chemical pesticides and industrial wastes can contaminate the soil and underground water. Microbes can use these chemical contaminants in the soil as their energy source through bioremediation. Through oxidation-reduction processes, they metabolise these pollutants and generate energy.
- Oil spills in the marine ecosystem can also be controlled with the aid of bioremediation. Oil spills not only endanger marine life but also make seafood unsafe to eat. Oil spill hazards can be reduced through bioremediation in two different ways
- Bioaugmentation is the small-scale introduction of oil-degrading microbes into a damaged area.
- Biostimulation: Adding nutrients to promote the growth of microbes that break down oil. As a result, bacteria and fungi degrade materials more quickly.
12. Production of Antibiotics
One of the many products made using biotechnology is antibiotics. They are non-protein molecules made by soil-dwelling microorganisms. Numerous bacterial species, including those of the fungi Streptomyces, Bacillus, and Penicillium, produce antibiotics as secondary metabolites. Antibiotics are crucial in the fight against infectious diseases that affect both humans and animals. Based on how they work, antibiotics can be categorised as either bactericidal (which kills the bacteria) or bacteriostatic (which stops bacterial growth). Alexander Fleming made the first antibiotic discovery—penicillin.
Why do microorgaicms produce antibiotics?
Antibiotics are produced by a variety of soil-dwelling microbes, including bacteria and fungi, as a form of defence against other microbes in the area. Numerous microorganisms live in soil because of its heterogeneity. These various microbes compete with one another for resources necessary for successful reproduction and survival, so they create antibiotics to stop the spread of other microbes. The primary source for the creation of antibiotics was soil microorganisms.
13. Vaccine Production
The development of vaccines against numerous deadly diseases has benefited greatly from biotechnology. Pathogens that are dead or inactive, one of their surface proteins, or toxins produced by pathogens are used to make vaccines. Antibodies are produced by our immune system as a result of vaccination. These antibodies circulate in the blood for a long time as memory antibodies, and they will fight the pathogen if it reemerges in the future.
