What is Biotechnology about?
Bio is usually related to living organisms and technology is the use of techniques and science to make products. So biotechnology is the branch of science in which utilization of organisms, Parts of an organism, or any biological process is used to make better products for the benefits of mankind. So biotechnology has made our life much easier. The emergence of biotechnology has been nothing less than the bone of the medical industry. Everything ranging from vaccine to gene therapy has raised the standard of healthy living.
An example of Biotechnology is Hepatitis B medicine. Previously hepatitis B vaccine was developed from the blood of human that is affected from hepatitis B. And this is very pain full for the patient and also can have a negative effect on the receiving body. So, with the development of biotechnology new vaccines that are synthetic in nature are produced by using a small part of the pathogenic virus. It is also known as the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine. From the study, it is found that if a person is injected with the hepatitis B vaccine then he would not effect by hepatitis B, And this is not less than a miracle.
Types of Biotechnology:
Just like the band of rainbow the bio Tec also divided into areas. They are described as follows:
Red Biotechnology (Medical Biotechnology):
The red Biotechnology is everything related to health and medical applications. This field deals with the production of vaccines and antibiotics for the welfare of mankind.
White Biotechnology (Industrial Biotechnology):
White Biotechnology related to industrial work. This deals with making products using less resources and makes the product more efficient and sustainable than the previous one. An example of white Biotechnology is the development of new workable energy resources such as bio-fuels. Other examples are biocatalyst and Fermentation.
Grey Biotechnology (Environmental Biotechnology):
This field refers to environmental applications. Its purpose is to remove pollutants from microorganisms and maintain the plants and also maintain biodiversity.
Yellow Biotechnology:
This branch deals with the production of food. In this field, useful food is produced from organisms. The most common examples are making vine, cheese, beer by fermentation. An example of yellow biotechnology is bioremediation.
Green Biotechnology:
This field belongs to agriculture. In this field, the scientist works to develop modified plants to increase the production of crops. Scientists have done this by identifying the characteristics and the gene that produce that characteristic and then put that gene to the plant, so desirable results can be found. An example is that the tobacco plant is modified to grow the Ebola vaccine.
Blue Biotechnology:
This field is based on utilizing the ocean resources like ocean plants and animals. Sea has huge biodiversity and we can get huge benefits using this biodiversity. An example of this field is chitosan. Chitosan is the sugar that is produced from the hard outer skeleton of shellfish. It has huge benefits. It treats obesity and also reduces the complication that kidney failure patients on dialysis.
Gold Biotechnology:
This field is related to bioinformatics. In this field, data is gathered, stored, and analyze in the biological process to get desirable. And this has a huge scope and uses. The major area it covers is in agriculture, crop production, environmental uses and uses of crops.
Applications of Biotechnology:
There is vast range of applications of biotechnology. Some of them are as follows:
Nutrient supplement:
The main and important application of biotechnology is infusing the nutrients in the food. In this way, food is given high nutrients and it can be used in necessary conditions. An example is a golden rice. It is done by adding beta-carotene to rice.
- Health care:
Biotechnology is also use to in the development of pharmaceutical. And this is brings a huge benefits for mankind.
- Biotic Stress:
Biotechnology also helps the crops to make them stronger so that they can survive in any type of difficult situation like cold, drought and salinity and in the better production of the crop.
- Bio fuels:
Biotechnology is also used for energy production. As the natural resources have been decreasing so there is too much need for alternative resource and biotechnology and this problem can be solved by this.
- Bio environment:
Environmental biotechnology is helpful in protecting our environment. It gives way to engineers to find ways to keep the environment clean and safe by avoiding hazardous pollutants and waste that affect our natural resources.
