BIOTECHNOLOGY

What is biotechnology?
Biotechnology is technology based on biology - biotechnology harnesses cellular and biomolecular
processes to develop technologies and products that help improve our lives and the health of our planet.
We have used the biological processes of microorganisms for more than 6,000 years to make useful food
products, such as bread and cheese, and to preserve dairy products.

Stages of Biotechnology

1. Ancient Biotechnology
It can be referred to all the developments or discoveries that took place before the 1800s. These were
all mainly to fulfil the basic needs of humans such as food, cattle, or shelter. Earlier, hunting was a
common practice for food gathering, and eating raw meat was ordinary. It took time to understand the
importance of fire, clean water, shelter, and definitely agriculture.

With agriculture came the domestication of animals and foods like cheese, curd, and others. Possibly,
cheese was the first product of biotechnology, as it was prepared by adding an enzyme called rennet
found (in the stomach of calves) to sour milk. This exposed milk to microbes leading to the formation
of cheese. Yeast is considered as one of the oldest microbes which were exploited to benefit humans for
making bread, vinegar, alcohols like whiskey, wine, or beer.

2. Classical Biotechnology
This phase was from the 1800s to the middle of the 20th century where hundreds of discoveries
were made but with scientific evidence. Each discovery somehow contributed to solve this great
puzzle of biotechnology paving the path for new discoveries. G. J. Mendel an Austrian Augustinian
monk discovered the basis for the transfer of genetic information in his experiment on pea plants. It
took him 8 years (1856–1863) and grew more than 10,000 pea plant to complete his experiment and
published his results in 1865 as the ‘Laws of Inheritance’.

By the time R. Brown (1831) was successful in discovering the nucleus in cells and F. Miescher (1868)
reported nuclein which consisted of nucleic acid. Later, these two discoveries became the basis for the
discovery of DNA as genetic material and DNA’s role in transferring genetic information. The
developments and discoveries in biotechnology in this phase were at their exponential phase.

3. Modern Biotechnology
After the Second World War, some very crucial and important discoveries were made which set the
stage for modern biotechnology. J. D. Watson and F. Crick (1953) were the first ones to unravel the
mysteries of DNA by discovering its double-helical structure which was called a ‘Double Helix Model
of DNA’. This explained the various phenomena of DNA and its role in inheritance. Further, in 1975,
Kohler and Milestein came up with the concept of cytoplasmic hybridization. They also produced 1st

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monoclonal antibodies which revolutionized the diagnostic world. When it seemed like the biotech
community had almost every basic tool available to them for future major discoveries. Then it was the
year 2000 when C. Venter sequenced the human genome which has unlimited applications. He also
successfully demonstrated that synthetic genome has the potential to replicate autonomously giving birth
to the new possibility of creating life in a test tube with the help of a pen, computer, and bioinformatics
tools.

Branches of biotechnology

1. Red Biotechnology
Red biotechnology (Bio-pharmaceutical) is a process that utilizes organisms to improve health care and
help the body to fight diseases. It is a branch of modern biotechnology that is utilized in the field of
medicine. Red biotechnology is not only limited to the pharmaceutical industry but also the medical
sector as it facilitates the alleviation of human suffering and enhances the quality of life.

2. White Biotechnology
White biotechnology – also called Industrial Biotechnology uses microorganisms and their enzymes to
manufacture the goods for industry, such as chemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, food, and energy
carriers. These renewable raw materials and the waste from forestry and agriculture are used for
manufacturing industrial goods. White biotechnology is solely applied to the industry to replace
polluting technologies for clean ones. The technology uses living cells from molds, bacteria, plants, and
yeast to synthesize the easily degradable products. It may need less energy and produce fewer by-product
wastes. White biotechnology is used for Metabolite production, Waste treatment, Production of bio
control agents, Bio-based fuel & energy, etc.

3. Green Biotechnology
Green biotechnology is defined as the application of plants and other photosynthetic organisms with the
aim to improve agricultural crops or for industrial purposes in order to generate industrially useful
products in sectors such as detergents, paper, biofuels, textiles, pharmaceutical substances etc.

4. Grey Biotechnology
Grey Biotechnology refers to environmental applications, and is focused on the maintenance of
biodiversity and the removal of pollutants/contaminants using microorganisms and plants to isolate and
dispose of different substances such as heavy metals and hydrocarbons.

5. Blue Biotechnology
Blue biotechnology is the application of science and technology to living aquatic organisms for
the production of knowledge, goods and services

Types of Biotechnology and applications

1. Microbial Biotechnology
Microbial biotechnology is an exceptionally dynamic and exciting sector of the biomedical sciences
that is unique in the breath and diversity of products and services it provides/will provide and to which
it contributes, such as disease prevention and therapy, diagnostics, agriculture and horticulture, food
provision and nutrition, energy production, production of chemicals and materials, water and waste
treatment, recycling, acquisition of and adding value to natural resources, environmental monitoring,
forensics, sustainable practices, etc.

2. Agricultural Biotechnology
This field deals with the development of genetically modified plants by introducing the gene of interest
in the plant. This, in turn, helps in increasing the crop yield. Various pest-

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resistant crops such as Bt-cotton and Bt-brinjal are created by transferring the genes from Bacillus
thuringiensis into the plants. The animals with the most desirable characteristics are bred together to
obtain the offspring with the desired traits.

3. Animal Biotechnology
Animal biotechnology is a branch of biotechnology in which molecular biology techniques are used
to genetically engineer (i.e. modify the genome of) animals in order to improve their suitability for
pharmaceutical, agricultural or industrial applications. Animal biotechnology has been used to
produce genetically modified animals that synthesize therapeutic proteins, have improved growth
rates or are resistant to disease.

4. Forensic Biotechnology
Forensic biotechnology deals with the study and investigation of genomic information for the
identification of specific signatures. The data obtained from forensic biotechnology are utilized by the
legal system to make necessary interpretations about criminals. Because of its potential to identify
unique genetic markers, the discipline has also been employed for the determination of parenthood or
other familial characteristics. Traditionally this field relied on a few basic techniques of genetics like
DNA fingerprinting. However, the recent developments in the field of
genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics have made the forensic sciences increasingly
sensitive and reliable.

5. Bioremediation
Bioremediation is a branch of biotechnology that employs the use of living organisms, like microbes and
bacteria, in the removal of contaminants, pollutants, and toxins from soil, water, and other environments.
Bioremediation may be used to clean up contaminated groundwater or environmental problems, such as
oil spills.

6. Aquatic Biotechnology
Aquatic biotechnology is defined as the use of aquatic organisms such as finfish, shellfish, marine
bacteria, and aquatic plants for biotechnology application.
This discipline contributes to current or potential uses of marine products in various areas

7. Medical Biotechnology
Medical biotechnology involves the use of living cells to develop technologies for the improvement of
human health. It involves the use of these tools to find more efficient ways of maintaining human
health. It also helps in the study of DNA to identify the causes of genetic disorders and methods to cure
them. Vaccines and antibiotics have been developed with the help of medical biotechnology that is
essential for human health. Several plants are genetically engineered to produce antibodies with the help
of biotechnology.
8. Regulatory Biotechnology
Oversees the development and introduction (importation, interstate movement and environmental
release) of genetically engineered organisms. The work is coordinated across four program units:
policy coordination programs, environmental risk analysis, regulatory operations programs and
resource management programs.

Biotechnology Philippines

The Philippines is the first ASEAN country to initiate a biotechnology regulatory system with the
issuance of Executive Order No. 430 in 1990, which established the National Committee on Biosafety of
the Philippines (NCBP). The countries biosafety regulatory system follows strict scientific standards and
has become a model for member-

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countries of the ASEAN seeking to become producers of agricultural biotechnology crops.
The role of biotechnology and other scientific innovations in global food security was highlighted during
the UN Food Systems Summit held in New York, USA. Biotechnology is the Philippine government’s
response to the call for sustainable agricultural modernization. The establishment of state-of-the-art
facilities for research and development activities to ensure sustainable production of quality food items is
one of the investments of the Philippine government.

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