The general term of biotechnology ( biological technology) means all the technological applications of biology.
Among the definitions available, the most comprehensive is no doubt that stretched from the Convention on Biological Diversity A, namely:
- "Biotechnology is the technological application that uses biological systems, the living organisms or derivatives of these to make or modify products or processes for a particular purpose. "
Biotechnology can also be defined as the use of living organisms in order to obtain goods or services.
In common parlance, the term is used more frequently in the plural ( Biotechnology), indicating the diversity of technologies developed and areas of application concerned.
Biotechnology is used in the food industry to optimize the role of microorganisms, known for centuries, in common food production. The more detailed knowledge (at the molecular level) of the processes of fermentation wine and beer and mechanisms of crossing and selection of varieties of animals and plants has resulted in recent decades, the food industry to be increasingly influenced by biotechnology.
There are also numerous applications in the field of bioremediation (treatment, recycling and reclamation of waste through active micro-organisms).
There are applications that, while not making use of micro-organisms, are classified as biotechnology. Biotechnology is in fact widely used in the development of new therapies or innovative medical diagnostic tools. The techniques of DNA and RNA microarray used in genetics and the radiotracers used in medicine are good examples.
biotechnology, are more often associated with the use of genetically modified organisms. Microorganisms such as Escherichia coli or some yeasts can be used for the synthesis of substances like insulin or antibiotics. Although genetically modified mammalian cells are widely used in the biosynthesis of drugs. Promising new applications are linked to the biosynthesis of medicines through plants.
Applications at the center of debate are those suitable for producing transgenic animals and plants (such as BT corn) known to all as GMOs.
biotechnology have replaced the computer companies in the portfolio of technology stocks listed on stock exchange (NASDAQ ). Of the 1300 biotechnology companies operating in the U.S. only 35 (3%) are active, others are at a loss. Despite this, stock prices are rising, as in the days of the bubble of the Net Economy, where share prices grew for all nineties to deflate and return to the prices of the previous decade.
The primary tool they use biotechnology, genetic engineering has. This discipline is committed to what concerns the gene cloning (cloning of genes of an organism), and their analysis required to construct or operate Genotec expression vectors in order to monitor activity Transcriptional \\ translational of a given protein of interest, for purposes of research or production. The public mistakenly believes that biotechnology makes use of somatic cloning, it is absolutely not true. Cloning gene copy is responsible for specific DNA sequences, unlike the somatic cloning (copying an organism from somatic cells), which is a manipulation of the reproductive system, which has no use for purposes of biotechnological purposes.
biotech
biotechnological applications are numerous. The following classification, very general, contains a number of areas as defined in international parlance.
Red biotechnology (Biotechnology red) is applied to the industry processes biomedical and pharmaceutical . Examples include the identification of organisms capable of synthesizing drugs or antibiotics , or the development of technologies genetic engineering to cure diseases.
White biotechnology, also known as gray biotechnology (white biotechnology and gray). It is the branch that deals with of biotechnological processes of industrial interest . For example, the establishment of micro-organisms capable of producing chemicals. The resources consumed by industrial processes like biotechnology are considerably smaller than traditional ones, which is why this area is expanding significantly.
Green biotechnology (Biotechnology green). It is the field applied to agricultural processes . Among the applications, include the modification of organisms to make them able to grow under certain environmental conditions or nutrition. The purpose of this field is to produce agricultural solutions with less environmental impact than the processes Farm Classic. For example, some have been engineered plants can produce their own pesticides, eliminating the need for external administration, more expensive and polluting. To this end it is produced, for example, BT corn . There is an ongoing debate about the actual eco-compatibility of these processes, as well as on the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs ).
Bioinformatics , sometimes known as computational biology . This is an interdisciplinary field that uses a computerized approach to solve problems for organic agriculture. Plays a crucial role in applications of functional genomics, structural genomics and proteomics. It has a fundamental role in the development of new drugs (drug discovery ).
On some occasions it also uses the term blue biotechnology (blue biotechnology ), used to describe the marine and aquatic applications of biotechnology.
History of biotechnology
- 8000 BC Collection of seed for a harvest. Confirmations in Mesopotamia frequent use intersection ( artificial selection) to improve the livestock .
- 6000 BC yeast used (eg in Egypt ) for the first fermentation to produce beer , bread and wine .
- 4000 BC Production yogurt and cheese by lactic bacteria fermenting type ( China).
- 1500 With the great geographical discoveries, wide distribution of plant species from the places of origin around the world.
- 1675 Anton van Leeuwenhoek discovered the existence of micro-organisms microscope.
- 1857 Gregor Mendel discovered the laws of inheritance
- Karl Ereky 1919, an agronomist Hungarian, uses for the first time the term biotechnology.
- 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick describe the double helix structure of DNA .
- 1972 The composition of the human DNA was found to be 99% identical to that of chimpanzees and gorillas .
- 1975 Kohler and Milstein finalize the production of monoclonal antibodies
- eighties developed recombinant DNA technology . The bacterium Escherichia coli prokaryotic is engineered to produce molecules such as' insulin in human form (about 5% of diabetics you are allergic to insulin of animal origin given above).
- 1983 Kary B. Mullis he perfected the technique of polymerase chain reaction ( Polymerase Chain Reaction or PCR), which will revolutionize the world of biotechnology.
- 1994 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the first genetically modified food: tomato "Flavr Savr".
- 1997 The working group led by Ian Wilmut Roslin Institute of Scotland clones for the first time a large mammal, a sheep (Dolly ), using the DNA of two cells of adult sheep.
- 2000 The Human Genome Project completed the .
- 2002 is sequenced the entire genome of the plant rice, the main source of nutrition for two thirds of world population. Rice is the first species of agricultural use to be fully sequenced.
- May 2007 shall be deposited with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office patent number 20070122826, entitled "Minimal bacterial genome "ovvero l'essere vivente con il più piccolo corredo genetico, capace di vita propria.
0 comments:
Post a Comment