Biotechnology

Overview and practical applications

Biotechnology is a discipline that studies the effective and efficient use of living creatures, systems and organisms for developing products useful of mankind.   Biotechnology is not a recent addition to the world; instead it has been practiced and utilized from the ancient time of human civilizations.  The moment our predecessors started cultivating their own crops and breeding their domestic animals, the journey of the biotechnology had been started on world.

Biotechnology is extensively used in food processing, agriculture and medicine. At present, biotechnology uses knowledge and concepts of different disciplines for finding better solutions on optimal use of different biological systems.   For this reason, molecular biology, bioinformatics, biochemistry, chemical engineering etc disciplines are ventured regularly for by the biotechnologists.   To ensure optimal use of living biological systems, (such as microorganisms, animals, marine creatures, botanical elements    )   , biotechnology have to be applied.

 

The production of yogurts by using bacteria on milk, preparation of bread by using one kind of fungus is the practical applications of biotechnology. Making of wine also involves biotechnology applications.  Crossbreeding of different species of domestic animals for producing a better performing a new species also goes under the discipline of biotechnology. These are the traditional use of biotechnology. But with the progress of technology and science, more diversified use of biotechnology has been invented.

Marine and aquatic living resources are now managed under the supervision of biotechnology.  In the agricultural field, farmers are getting benefited in a large extent by the applications of biotechnology    .  Domestications of foreign plants are being performed for cultivating eastern crops in the western part of the world and vice versa. Summer plants are now easily cultivated in the winters.  Green farming without pesticides is now being implemented by the biotechnologists.

Medical sciences are not out of the beneficiaries of biotechnology’s miracle.  Different kinds of antibiotic production and genetic manipulations are run under the light of biotechnology.  Industrial use of biotechnology has greater commercial value.  Some particular useful chemicals are produced by employing an organism that is specially modified by biotechnologists.  In the similar way, hazardous chemicals are destroyed by employing appropriately modified organisms.  Industrial output can be increased by input of fewer resources if biotechnology concepts are applied appropriately.

 

The readers can get confused by fact that several of the examples   of biotechnology applications stated above are often considered as applications of other disciplines. Such as, developments of antibiotics and genetic manipulations are described above as the result of contributions by biotechnology. But those are also considered as the output of biochemistry, genetic engineering, molecular biology etc.   To remove this confusion, please note that a product can be built using knowledge and instruments of    multiple disciplines. For making an automobile, engineers   of   mechanical, electrical, chemical, industrial etc orientations are required. Therefore, an automobile can be described as a contribution of any of those disciplines. The same is true for the different disciplines of biological sciences. Moreover, some biotechnological disciplines have several sub disciplines under those. And mixture of several sub disciplines formed   some new disciplines. Therefore, no one should get confused by the mentions of single stuff as contribution of multiple disciplines.

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