THEMES

Agritech, or agricultural biotechnology or Green Biotechnology, is a subfield of agricultural science that focuses on altering living things like plants, animals, and microbes using tools and techniques from science. These include molecular diagnostics, vaccinations, tissue culture, and genetic engineering. Crop biotechnology is one field of agricultural biotechnology that has lately shown tremendous growth. From one type of crop to another, desired qualities are transmitted. In terms of flavor, floral color, growth rate, harvested product size, and pest and disease resistance, these transgenic crops have advantageous qualities.

Animals are genetically engineered (i.e., their genomes are modified) using molecular biology techniques in the field of animal biotechnology in order to make them more suitable for use in medicinal, industrial, or agricultural applications.
Animals with enhanced growth rates, illness resistance, or the ability to synthesis therapeutic proteins have all been created via animal biotechnology.

Recent developments in the sequencing of animal genomes, gene expression, and metabolic profiling of animal cells have aided advancements in animal biotechnology. More recently, genome editing technologies (such as TALENS, CRISPR-Cas, and Zinc Finger Nucleases) have created new options to quickly alter the genetic makeup of animals to increase their health and well-being, agricultural output, and resistance to illness.

Environmental biotechnology primarily focuses on maintaining an environment that is free of pollution, contaminated water, and harmful substances in the atmosphere. As a result, it covers waste treatment, environmental change monitoring, and pollution prevention. The principal use of environmental biotechnology is bioremediation, which involves using higher living organisms (plants: phytoremediation) or certain microbial species to decontaminate or convert toxic compounds.

Food biotechnology is a young field that has the potential to boost food production while enhancing its nutritional value and flavor. Because it requires less pesticides and insecticides, the food is healthy and safe. The method seeks to provide foods with more tastes, vitamins, and minerals, as well as reduced fat absorption during cooking. For improved usefulness, food biotechnology may eliminate allergies and harmful ingredients.

Industrial biotechnology is the use of biotechnological instruments (bioprocessing) for the production of biotechnology-derived goods (fuels, polymers, enzymes, chemicals, and many other substances) on a large scale. The goal is to create better, more efficient, and environmentally friendly industrial production processes and products than those that now exist.

This area of biotechnology, also known as Red Biotechnology include the production of recombinant pharmaceuticals, tissue engineering products, regenerative treatments including stem cell & gene therapy, and many more biotechnology products for a greater quality of life. Biotechnological advances make it possible to produce pure bio-therapeutic compounds on a large scale. Both newly developed agents and those that were previously only in short supply are present in these. For instance, the East had a long-standing custom of immunizing people against smallpox using scabs that contained the virus. A country physician in England named Edward Jenner established in 1798 that injecting pus from sores brought on by infection with a virus related to cowpox might prevent smallpox in a method that was far less dangerous. It served as a starting point for vaccination. The advantages of vaccination programs for people are incalculable.

Exploring and making use of the world’s marine resources is the focus of marine or aquatic biotechnology, sometimes known as “blue biotechnology.” For many years, aquatic or marine life has been fascinating and a source of subsistence. Oceans and aquatic systems are home to about 75–80% of all known living forms since a large portion of the world is covered by water. It examines the enormous variety in the physiology and structure of marine species. They are distinctive in their own ways and lack a land-based counterpart.

Cutting-edge research is being conducted because it “brings us closer to our ultimate objective of eradicating disability and illness via the greatest treatment that modern medicine can deliver.” The development of screening methods and therapies that can help stop the spread of these catastrophic diseases into the world’s most quickly developing economies will be aided by an understanding of the genetics of heart disease and cancer.

Although biotechnology is a neutral instrument, certain disturbing ethical issues are brought up by its potential. Should parents-to-be be permitted to “design” the physical traits of their embryos? Should the human germ line be altered by science, or would this fundamentally and permanently change what it is to be a person?

References:
1.

Gupta, V., Sengupta, M., Prakash, J., Tripathy, B.C. (2017). An Introduction to Biotechnology. In: Basic and Applied Aspects of Biotechnology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0875-7_1

2. https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/biotechnology-programs/animal-biotechnology

3.https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/biotechnology-programs/plant-biotechnology