The Advances in Biotechnology

by: RussellM.Stewart
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Biotechnology can be defined in many ways and although different involved organizations do explain it in their own terms, ultimately, biotechnology is the use of biology as the foundation for developing various technologies as applied to research and product development. So, biotechnology can be used in food science, agriculture, environment, medicine and even robotics fields.

People have always tried to manipulate the environment, but never before have we been so close to controlling it. It started from the time when we started fermenting beer, which went to another level when bacteria were cultured. Now we have moved forward to a point where animal cloning and advanced forms of nucleotide-based organ regeneration are being attempted successfully.

Biotechnology was in practice much before the actual term was used to describe it. The basics began with very simple scientific methods such as preserving foods for winter. The first fruit juice fermentation to produce alcohol is believed to have been done in 6000 BC. Back then, it was more of an art than an actual science.

The biotechnology we know today started gaining attention only about twenty years ago, when genetics were discovered to be the primary element for synthesizing essential proteins in an organism. The discovery of DNA and the related development of molecular biology was the true beginning of biotechnology as we know it now.

The eighties marked an epoch in biotechnology with the discovery of new concepts, the most important being that modification of genetic structures was possible through combinations of plants and animals. This discovery led to research into fields like disease resistance and increase in productivity rate. Medicine and research in other fields of biology have found the most use for biotechnology. Now, plant-generated pharmaceuticals are common enough, as are creation of insulin and antibiotics.

There are three categories in modern biotechnology. The first is red biotechnology. This concerns the making of substances used in medicine and pharmaceuticals, like vaccines, proteins, antibiotics and vitamins. Red biotechnology also deals with genome manipulation. The other two kinds of biotechnology are green and white biotechnology.

White Biotechnology is also called bio-manufacturing, or Grey Biotechnology. In this field, live organisms are changed and controlled to produce industrial chemicals. The organisms that White Biotechnology uses are moulds, enzymes, yeast and bacteria.

Agricultural Biotechnology, also known as Green Biotechnology, is what's applied into creating better, fresher, more nutritious and longer-lasting agricultural produce. A traditional agricultural biotechnology example is how wheat varieties are cross-bred to produce a disease-resistant crop.

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