BIOTECHNOLOGY/AGROINDUSTRIAL

BIOTECHNOLOGY

 

‘Dexterity in action is the best evidence of application of technology’

Bhagavadgeeta [Chapter II, Stanza 50]

 

Biotechnology is an exciting area of human endeavour that encompasses a range of

sciences and technologies. They include -chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics,

molecular biology, genetics, microbiology,plant and animal cell culture, fermentations,

chemical engineering, biochemical engineering and process engineering. The

multidisciplinary nature of biotechnology is thus self-evident. Like the proverbial

elephant as recognised by the four blind men, biotechnology means many different

things to different people. Although variously defined, it is a new biological

approach to a wide range of industrial processes

 

Biotechnology as an activity has existed since ancient times. Then what is new?

The present excitement in biotechnology Is because we have begun to understand

and manipulate biological systems at the molecular level. As Arthur Kornberg put it

“DNA and RNA provide the script, but the enzymes do the acting”. Our ability to achieve controlled modifications of DNA is known as recombinant DNA technology.

These selective changes to DNA allow us to impart new/modified messages in a

variety of species. With this powerful tool at the molecular level, we are able to express

a desired property in a macromolecule, a bacterium, a cultured cell or an entire

organism.