The term biotechnology is derived from the words biology and technology. True to its name, it is concerned with the exploitation of biological agent or their components for generating valuable products/services. Biotechnology is truly multidisciplinary in nature and it encompasses several disciplines of basic sciences and engineering. The science disciplines from which biotechnology draws heavily are microbiology, chemistry, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, immunology, cell and tissue culture and physiology. On the engineering side, it leans heavily on process, chemical and biochemical engineering since large scale cultivation of micro-organisms and cells, their downstream processing etc are based on them.
By its nature, the area covered under biotechnology is very vast and the techniques involved are highly divergent; this has often made the precise definition of the subject rather difficult. Some standard definitions of biotechnology are reproduced below with a view to orient the readers to the nature and scope of the discipline.

U.S National Science Foundation defines Biotechnology as “the controlled use of biotechnological agents, such as, micro-organisms or cellular components, for beneficial use.”

European Federation of Biotechnology defines biotechnology as “the integrated use of biochemistry, microbiology and engineering science in order to achieve technological application of the capabilities of micro-organisms, cultured tissue or cells and parts thereof.”

J.D Bulock, in 1987,has given the view that Biotechnology comprises the “ controlled and deliberate application of simple biological agents- living or dead, cells or cell components- in technically useful operations, either of productive manufacture or as service operation.”

It may be seen that the different definitions of biotechnology differ in their approach, content and emphasis but the two main feature common to them are: (1) utilization of biological entities(micro-organisms, cells of higher organisms- either living or dead), their components or constituents (e.g., enzymes), in such a way that (2) some product or service is generated. This product or services should, obviously enhance human welfare.








Old and new biotechnology


Although the term biotechnology is of recent origin, the discipline itself is very old. Man began employing micro-organisms as early as 5000 BC for making wine, vinegar, curd, leavened bread etc. Some of these processes are so common and have become such an integral part of usual kitchen technology of every home that we may even hesitate to refer to them as biotechnology. Such processes which are based on the natural capabilities of micro-organisms are commonly considered as old biotechnology.

Table 1: Chronology of some important developments in biotechnology.

Activity Year

Yeasts used to make wine and beer before 6000 BC
Yeasts used to make leavened bread about 4000 BC
Sewage treatment systems using microbe developed/established about 1910 AD
Large scale production of acetone, butanol, and glycerol using bacteria 1912-14
Large scale production of penicillin 1944
Mining of uranium with the aid of microbes (Canada) 1962
First successful genetic engineering experiments 1973
Marketing of human food of fungal origin (U.K) 1980
The use of monoclonal antibodies for diagnosis approved in U.S.A 1981
Approval for the use of insulin produced by genetically engineered
Microbes (U.S.A and U.K) 1983

Animal interferon, produced by GEMs, approved for the protection
Of cattle against diseases 1984


Source: B.D Singh (1998)





The use of micro-organism for the production of chemicals at commercial scale was prompted, ironically, by war efforts. During the First World War, Germans were forced to develop the technology for glycerol (needed for manufacturing explosives) production when their supply of vegetable oil was disrupted due to British naval blockade. Similarly British resorted to acetone-butanol fermentation using Clostridium acetobutylicum due to the German interference with the normal supply of these chemicals. The First World War also left the Citrus orchards of countries like Italy in ruins; this resulted in great jump in the prices of citric acid which was extracted from citrus juice. As a result, the technology for citric acid production using Aspergillus niger was developed. The production of antibiotic penicillin by Penicillium notatum was discovered in 1930 by Fleming, but its commercial production began, again, only during Second World War. But the subsequent developments in chemical and pharmaceutical production using micro-organisms have been very rapid after that.

Man has continued his quest for improving the natural capabilities of micro-organisms, making them capable of novel processes and discovering micro-organisms with new capabilities. This has led to the development of recombinant DNA technology which allows man to create in them highly valuable, novel and naturally non-existent capabilities. For example, the human gene producing insulin has been transferred and expressed in bacteria like E. coli; the insulin produced by these genetically engineered microbes (GEMs) is being used in the treatment of diabetes. In addition, animal and plant cells and their components are being employed to generate valuable products. Crops varieties and animal breeds with entirely new and highly useful traits are being created with the help of recombinant DNA technology. These and many similar examples constitute new biotechnology.

On the other extreme of the spectrum are ranged the sophisticated techniques of the recombinant DNA technology, hybridoma technology, enzyme technology, enzyme engineering etc. Some people tend to restrict biotechnology to the process based on recombinant DNA technology but this view is like equating a person to the beauty of his/her faces only. Thus in its simplest form, biotechnology employs micro-organisms, cells or its components for the production of novel and/or valuable product/service to man.

Scope and Importance

Biotechnology has rapidly emerged as an area of activity having potential impact on virtually all domains of human welfare, ranging from foods processing, protecting the environment to human health. As a result, it now plays a very important role in employment, production and productivity, trade and economics, human health and quality of human life throughout the world.

Table 2: A list of some important areas covered by Biotechnology

Human health
Medicines
Animal husbandry and dairy
Food processing and beverages
Fisheries and aquaculture
Mining
Chemicals and biochemical
Renewable energy and fuels
Forestry
Environment
Agriculture
Crimes and parentage disputes

The importance of technology to human welfare would become obvious from some selected examples given above. For the protection of human health, production of monoclonal antibodies, DNA and RNA probes ( for disease diagnosis), artificial vaccines (for inoculation), rare and highly valuable drugs such as human interferon, insulin etc. (for disease treatment), and the technology for gene therapy (for treatment of genetic diseases) are some of the notable achievements in Medical Biotechnology.

Micro-organisms are being employed, since several decades for the large scale production of variety of biochemical ranging from alcohol to antibiotics, and in the processing of foods ands feeds. This comprises Industrial Biotechnology. Enzymes, isolated mainly from micro-organisms and immobilized in suitable polymers (called matrices) are preferred over the whole organism for a variety of reasons; they are becoming increasingly popular in many commercial ventures e.g. for the production of the high fructose corn syrup using immobilized enzyme glucose isomerase ( Enzyme Technology). Techniques for remodeling of existing proteins/enzymes in order to enhance their efficiency and/or alter their specificity have been developed, and some notable success have already been achieved (Protein/Enzyme Engineering).

Several biological agents, such as, viruses, fungi, amoeba, bacteria etc. are being exploited for the control of plant diseases and insect pest. This constitutes Biocontrol.

Bacteria are being utilized for detoxification of industrial effluents, in combating oil spills, for treatment of sewage and for biogas production. These aspects come under Environmental Biotechnology. Moreover microbes are also being employed for the extraction of metals from low grade ores where the conventional method would be uneconomical (Microbial Mining).

In vitro fertilization and embryo transfer techniques have permitted childless couples, suffering from one or the other kind of sterility, to have their own babies (test tube babies). Hormone induced super-ovulation and /or embryo splitting coupled with embryo transfer can be used for rapid multiplication of farm animals, particularly cattle. Genetic engineering is being employed to develop transgenic animals resistant to certain diseases, capable of faster growth rates and more efficient feed conversion. These transgenic animals even have the capacity to produce certain valuable biochemical and to excrete them in milk, urine or blood from which they can be isolated and purified. All these techniques are involved in Animal Biotechnology and the last case is also called Molecular Farming.







In agriculture, rapid and economic clonal multiplication of fruits and forest trees, production of virus free stocks of clonal crops, creation of novel genetic variation through somaclonal variation and transfer of novel genetic genes (like disease and insect resistant genes) through genetic engineering has opened up exciting possibilities in crop production, protection and improvement (Agricultural Biotechnology).

Thus Biotechnology seems to have an unlimited commercial potential in the view of its capabilities to generate an unlimited range of valuable and useful products/services concerned with virtually every aspects of human existence. This is clearly reflected by the emergence of numerous Biotechnology Company throughout the world, including our neighboring country China and India. The movement of noted scientists, including Nobel Laureates to some of these companies further elevates the scope of biotechnology. The total volume of trade in biotechnology products is increasing sharply every year, and it is expected to soon become the major contributor to the world trade. We can be confident that the 21st century will be the century of biotechnology, just as the 20th century was the era of electronics.