An English Medium Co. Ed.

Senior

Secondary School

Investigatory
Project
On

SUBMITTED BY:
SUBMITTED TO:

Subhag Singh
Sandeep Kulshesthra
XII Sci. B
(H.O.D Biology)

Mr.

Aknowledgement
I am overwhelmed in all humbleness and gratefulness to acknowledge
my depth to all those who have helped me to put these ideas, well
above the level of simplicity and into something concrete.
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my biology
teacher, Mr. Sandeep Kulshesthra as well as our Principal Mrs. Nidhi
Bhatia who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful
project on the topic Applications of Biotechnology, which also helped
me in doing a lot of research and I came to know about so many new
things. I am really thankful to them.
Any attempt at any level cant be satisfactorily completed without the
support and guidance of my Parents and Friends who helped me a lot
in gathering different information, collecting data and guiding me from
time to time in making this project, despite of their busy schedules, they
gave me different ideas in making this project unique. I am thankful to
them too.
I am making this project not only for marks but to also increase my
knowledge...
Thanking you
Subhag Singh
XII Sci. B

Certificate
This is to certify that SUBHAG SINGH of class
XII SCI.B of GYAN DEEP SHIKSHA BHARATI
has successfully completed the investigatory
project on the topic APPLICATIONS OF
BIOTECHNOLOGY under the guidance of
MR.
SANDEEP
KULSHESTHRA
(H.O.D.
Biology) during the session 2015-16 in the
partial
fulfilment
of
Biology
Practical
Examination conducted by CENTRAL BOARD
OF SECONDARY EDUCATION (AISSCE).

___________________
___________________
Mr. Sandeep Kulshesthra
Examiner
(H.O.D Biology)

External
(C.B.S.E)

Introduction
What is Biotechnology?
Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or
make products, or "any technological application that uses biological
systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof,
to make or modify
products
or processes for specific use.
At its simplest, biotechnology
is technology based on biology biotechnology
harnesses
cellular and bio molecular
processes
to
develop
technologies
and
products
that
help
improve our lives and the
health of our planet.
We have used the biological
processes of microorganisms for
more than 6,000 years to make
useful food products, such as bread and cheese, and to preserve dairy
products.
Modern biotechnology provides breakthrough products and
technologies to combat debilitating and rare diseases, reduce our
environmental footprint, feed the hungry, useless and cleaner energy,
and have safer, cleaner and more efficient industrial manufacturing
processes.

Biotech is helping to heal the world by harnessing nature's own toolbox

and using our own genetic makeup to heal and guide lines of research
by:

Reducing rates of infectious disease

Saving millions of children's lives

Changing the odds of serious, life-threatening conditions affecting

millions around the world

Tailoring treatments to individuals to minimize health risks and

side effects

Creating more precise tools for disease detection

Combating serious illnesses and everyday threats confronting the

developing world.

History
Throughout the history of agriculture, farmers have inadvertently
altered the genetics of their crops through introducing them to new
environments and breeding them with other plants - one of the first
forms of biotechnology.

These processes also were included in early fermentation of beer.

In brewing, malted grains (containing enzymes) convert starch from
grains into sugar and then adding
specific yeasts to produce beer. In
this process, carbohydrates in the
grains were broken down into
alcohols such as ethanol. Later
other cultures produced the
process
of lactic
acid
fermentation which allowed the
fermentation and preservation of
other forms of food, such as soy
sauce. Fermentation was also
used in this time period to produce leavened bread. Although the
process of fermentation was not fully understood until Louis Pasteur's
work in 1857, it is still the first use of biotechnology to convert a food
source into another form.
For thousands of years, humans have used selective breeding to
improve production of crops and livestock to use them for food. In
selective breeding, organisms with desirable characteristics are mated
to produce offspring with the same characteristics. For example, this
technique was used with corn to produce the largest and sweetest
crops.
Biotechnology has also led to the development of antibiotics. In
1928, Alexander Fleming discovered the mould Penicillium. His work
led to the purification of the antibiotic compound formed by the mould
by Howard Florey, Ernst Boris Chain and Norman Heatley - to form what
we today know as penicillin. In 1940, penicillin became available for
medicinal use to treat bacterial infections in humans.
The field of modern biotechnology is generally thought of as having
been born in 1971 when Paul Berg's experiments in gene splicing had
early success. Herbert W. Boyer and Stanley N. Cohen significantly
advanced the new technology in 1972 by transferring genetic material
into a bacterium, such that the imported material would be reproduced.

Biotechnology in
Agriculture
Genetically Modified Crops
Genetically modified crops or GM
crops or biotech crops are plants used
in agriculture, the DNA of which has been
modified
with genetic
engineering techniques. In most cases
the aim is to introduce a new trait to the
plant which does not occur naturally in
the species. Examples in food crops
include resistance to certain pests, diseases, stressful environmental
conditions, resistance to chemical treatments, reduction of spoilage, or
improving the nutrient profile of the crop. Examples in non-food crops
include production of pharmaceutical agents, bio fuels, and other
industrially useful goods, as well as for bioremediation.
Plants and crops with GM traits have been tested more than any other
cropswith no credible evidence of harm to humans or animals. In fact,
seeds with GM traits have been tested more than any other crops in the
history of agriculture with no credible evidence of harm to humans or
animals.
Governmental regulatory agencies, scientific organizations and leading
health associations worldwide agree that food grown from GM crops is
safe to eat. The World Health Organization, the American Medical
Association, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the British Royal
Society, among others that have examined the evidence, all come to the
same conclusion: consuming foods containing ingredients derived from
GM crops is safe to eat and no riskier than consuming the same foods
containing ingredients from crop plants modified by conventional plant
improvement techniques.
Genetic modifications have:
1. Made crops more tolerant to abiotic stresses (cold, drought, salt,
heat).
2. Reduced reliance on chemical pesticides (pest resistant crops).

3. Helped to reduce post harvest losses & enhanced the nutritional

value of the food.

RNA Interference (RNAi)

RNA interference (RNAi) is a method of blocking gene function by
inserting short sequences of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that match part of
the target genes sequence, thus no proteins are produced. RNAi has the
potential to become a powerful therapeutic approach toward targeted
and personalized medicine. RNAi has provided a way to control pests
and diseases, introduce novel plant traits and increase crop yield. Using
RNAi, scientists have developed novel crops such as nicotine-free
tobacco, non-allergenic peanuts, decaffeinated coffee, and nutrient
fortified maize among many others.
Mechanism of RNA interferences as understood is that it comes into play
when a double stranded RNA is introduced either naturally or artificially
in a cell. An endo ribonuclease enzyme cleaves the long dsRNA into
small pieces of RNA. The small pieces could be mi RNA or si RNA
depending upon the origin of long dsRNA i.e. endogenous or exogenous
respectively.
A
double
stranded
RNA
may
be
generated by either RNA
dependent RNA polymerase
or bidirectional transcription
of transposable elements or
physically introduced.
There
are
several
opportunities
for
the
applications of RNAi in crop
science for its improvement
such as stress tolerance and
enhanced nutritional level.This knockdown technology may be useful in
inducing early flowering, delayed ripening, delayed senescence,
breaking dormancy, stress-free plants, overcoming self-sterility, etc.
RNA interference (RNAi) has recently been demonstrated in plant
parasitic nematodes. It is a potentially powerful investigative tool for the

genome-wide identification of gene function that should help improve

our understanding of plant parasitic nematodes. RNAi should help
identify gene and, hence, protein targets for nematode control
strategies. Prospects for novel resistance depend on the plant
generating an effective form of double-stranded RNA in the absence of
an endogenous target gene without detriment to itself. These RNA
molecules must then become available to the nematode and be capable
of ingestion via its feeding tube. If these requirements can be met, crop
resistance could be achieved by a plant delivering a dsRNA that targets
a nematode gene and induces a lethal or highly damaging RNAi effect
on the parasite.

Bt toxin
A protein that is toxic to chewing insects and is produced by the soil
bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis and has long been used as a biological
pesticide. By means of genetic engineering, the genes for Bt toxin can
be isolated from Bacillus thuringiensis and transferred to plants.
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a bacteria that produces proteins which
are toxic to insects. But extreme toxicity comes at no surprise. Its in the
same family of bacteria as B. anthracis, which causes anthrax, and B.
cereus, which causes food poisoning.
The Bt toxin dissolve in the high pH insect gut and become active. The
toxins then attack the gut cells of the insect, punching holes in the
lining. The Bt spores spills out of the gut and germinate in the insect
causing death within a couple days.
Even though the toxin does not kill the insect immediately, treated plant
parts will not be damaged because the insect stops feeding within
hours. Bt spores do not spread to other insects or cause disease
outbreaks on their own.

1. Insect eats Bt crystals and spores.

2. The toxin binds to specific
receptors in the gut and the insects
stops eating.
3. The crystals cause the gut wall to
break down, allowing spores and
normal gut bacteria to enter the body.
4. The insect dies as spores and gut
bacteria proliferate in the body.

Bt action is very specific. Different strains of Bt are specific to different

receptors in insect gut wall. Bt toxicity depends on recognizing
receptors, damage to the gut by the toxin occurs upon binding to a
receptor. Each insect species possesses different types of receptors that
will match only certain toxin proteins, like a lock to a key.
It is because of this that farmers have to be careful to match the target
pest species with a particular Bt toxin protein which is specific for that
insect. This also helps the benifical insects because they will usually not
be harmed by that particular strain of Bt.

Bt Cotton

Bt cotton is a genetically modified organism (GMO) cotton variety,

which
produces
an insecticide to bollworm.
Strains
of
the
bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis produce over 200 different Bt toxins,
each harmful to different insects. Most notably,
Bt toxins are insecticidal to the larvae of moths
and butterflies, beetles, cotton bollworms and
ghtu flies but are harmless to other forms of life.
The gene coding for Bt toxin has been inserted
into cotton as a transgene, causing it to produce
this natural insecticide in its tissues. In many
regions, the main pests in commercial cotton
are lepidopteran larvae, which are killed by the
Bt protein in thegenetically modified cotton they
eat. This eliminates the need to use large
amounts of broad-spectrum insecticides to kill lepidopteran pests. This
spares natural insect predators in the farm ecology and further
contributes to non insecticide pest management.
Bt cotton is ineffective against many cotton pests such as plant
bugs, stink bugs, and aphids; depending on circumstances it may be
desirable to use insecticides in prevention. A 2006 study done
by Cornell researchers,
the
Center
for
Chinese Agricultural Policy and the Chinese
Academy of Science on Bt cotton farming in
China found that after seven years these
secondary
pests
that
were
normally
controlled by pesticide had increased,
necessitating the use of pesticides at similar
levels to non-Bt cotton and causing less
profit for farmers because of the extra
expense of GM seeds.
Mechanism:
Bt cotton was created through the addition of genes encoding toxin
crystals in the Cry group of endotoxin. When insects attack and eat the
cotton plant the Cry toxins are dissolved due to the high pH level of the
insects stomach. The dissolved and activated Cry molecules bond to
cadherin-like proteins on cells comprising the brush border
molecules. The epithelium of the brush border membranes separates
the body cavity from the gut whilst allowing access for nutrients. The
Cry toxin molecules attach themselves to specific locations on the
cadherin-like proteins present on the epithelial cells of the midge and

ion channels are formed which allow the flow of potassium. Regulation
of potassium concentration is essential and, if left unchecked, causes
death of cells. Due to the formation of Cry ion channels sufficient
regulation of potassium ions is lost and results in the death of epithelial
cells. The death of such cells creates gaps in the brush border
membrane.

Advantages:
Bt cotton has several advantages over non Bt cotton. The important
advantages of Bt cotton are briefly :

Increases yield of cotton due to effective control of three types of

bollworms, viz. American, Spotted and Pink bollworms.

Insects belonged to Lepidoptera (Bollworms) are sensitive to

crystalline endotoxic protein produced by Bt gene which in turn
protects cotton from bollworms.

Reduction in pesticide use in the cultivation of Bt cotton in which

bollworms are major pests.

Reduction in the cost of cultivation and lower farming risks.

Reduction in environmental pollution by the use of insecticides

rarely.

Bt cotton exhibit genetic resistance or inbuilt resistance which is a

permanent type of resistance and not affected by environmental
factors. Thus protects crop from bollworms.

Bt cotton is ecofriendly and does not have adverse effect on

parasites, predators, beneficial insecticides and organisms present in
soil.

It
promotes
multiplication
of
parasites and predators
which
help
in
controlling
the
bollworms by feeding
on larvae and eggs of
bollworm.

No health
due to rare
insecticides.

hazards
use of

Bt cotton are early in maturing as compared to non Bt cotton.

Disadvantages:
Bt cotton has some limitations

High cost of Bt cotton seeds as compared to non Bt cotton seeds.

Effectiveness up to 120 days, after that the toxin producing

efficiency of the Bt gene drastically reduces.

Ineffective against sucking pests like jassids, aphids, whitefly etc.

Bt cotton in India:
Bt cotton is supplied in India's Maharashtra state by
biotechnology company, Mahyco, as the distributor.

the

agri-

The use of Bt cotton in India has grown exponentially since its

introduction. Recently India has become the number one global exporter
of cotton and the second largest cotton producer in the world. India has
bred Bt-cotton varieties such as Bikaneri Nerma and hybrids such as
NHH-44, setting up India to benefit now and well into the future.
Indias success has been subject to scrutiny. Monsanto's seeds are
expensive and lose vigour after one generation, prompting the Indian

Council of Agricultural Research to develop a cheaper Bt cotton variety

with seeds that could be reused. The cotton incorporated the cry1Ac
gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), making the
cotton toxic to bollworms. In parts of India cases of acquired resistance
against Bt cotton have occurred.
The state of Maharashtra banned the sale and distribution of Bt cotton
in 2012, to promote local Indian seeds, which demand less water,
fertilizers and pesticide input, but lifted the ban in 2013.

India approved Bt cotton in 2002; now it accounts for 92% of all Indian
cotton. Average nationwide cotton yields went from 302 kg/ha in the
2002/3 season to a projected 481 kg/ha in 2011/12 up 59.3% overall.
This chart shows the trends in yields, which took off after Bt was
introduced in 2002. The graphs also show that and here comes ugly
fact in the last 4 years, as Bt has risen from 67% to 92% of Indias
cotton, yields have dropped steadily.

Biotechnology in
Medicine

Genetically Engineered Insulin (Humulin)

Insulin is a peptide hormone produced
by beta cells in the pancreas of various
organisms including human beings. It
regulates
the metabolism of carbohydrates an
d fats by promoting the absorption
of glucose from the blood to skeletal
muscles and fat tissue and by causing
fat to be stored rather than used for energy. Insulin also inhibits the
production of glucose by the liver.
Except in the presence of the metabolic disorder diabetes
mellitus and metabolic syndrome, insulin is provided within the body in
a constant proportion to remove excess glucose from the blood, which
otherwise would be toxic. When blood glucose levels fall below a certain
level, the body begins to use stored glucose as an energy source
through glycogenolysis, which breaks down the glycogen stored in the
liver and muscles into glucose, which can then be utilized as an energy
source. As a central metabolic control mechanism, its status is also used
as a control signal to other body systems (such as amino acid uptake by
body cells). In addition, it has several other anabolic effects throughout
the body. When control of insulin levels fails, diabetes
mellitus can result.

Structure:
Insulin is composed of two
different
types
of
peptide
chains. Chain A has 21 amino
acids and Chain B has 30 amino
acids. Both chains contain alpha
helices but no beta strands.
There are 3 conserved disulfide
bridges which help keep the
two chains together. Insulin can
also form dimers in solution due
to the hydrogen bonding between the B chains. The dimers can further
interact to form hexamers due to interaction between hydrophobic

surfaces. This scene highlights the hydrophobic and polar parts of an

insulin monomer at a pH of 7.

A number of insulin variants have been made to favor either the

monomeric or hexameric form. Deletion of the five C terminal residues
of the B chain creates a monomer only form. This portion of the B chain
is involved in hydrogen bonds between the B chain of one monomer and
the A and B chain of another monomer.

Need of Genetically Engineered Insulin:

The original form of the wonder cure for diabetes, these were once the
only type of insulin available, but are now rarely used. Animal insulin
was originally made
from
ground-up
animal
pancreas
tissue, and then later
was extracted from
healthy
animals
(slaughtered pigs &
cows).
The
metabolism of cows and pigs was close enough to human metabolism
that their animal insulin also worked well in human bodies. Beef insulin
has 3 differences from human; pork insulin has 1 difference from
human. The use of a mixture of beef and pork insulin was also possible.
It has been shown that human insulin is less immunogenic than animal
insulin. Porcine insulin is most similar to human insulin. The primary
amino acid sequences of bovine and porcine insulin differ from that of
human insulin by three and one amino acid, respectively. This greater
dissimilarity between human and bovine insulin has been postulated to
be the explanation for the greater antigenicity of bovine insulin as
compared with porcine insulin
One of the problems with animal insulin was antibody issues. The
body identifies them and tries to reject them. Pork insulin differs by 1
amino acid and beef insulin by 3 amino acids, so the body's immune
system can sometimes recognize them as foreign. Immunological
complications of insulin therapy have been evident since animal insulin
became available for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in 1922. In
insulin-allergic patients treated with conventional insulin preparations,

the insulin-specific IgE values are often 10- to 20-fold higher than in
patients without allergy. It has been shown that human insulin is less
immunogenic than animal insulin. Porcine
insulin is most similar to human insulin. Crossreactivity between human insulin and insulin
of animal origin has been reported. A major
problem is the cross-reactivity that occurs
between anti-insulin antibodies and the
various animal and human insulin preparations
in patients presenting with allergy to animal
insulin.
The usage of animal insulin has so greatly declined in modern
times that they have largely been withdrawn from the market. Newly
diagnosed diabetics are typically given synthesized or Genetically
Engineered human insulin.

What is Proinsulin?
Proinsulin is the prohormone precursor to insulin made in the beta
cells of the islets of Langerhans, specialized regions of the pancreas.
Proinsulin is synthesized on
membrane
associated
ribosomes found on the rough
endoplasmic reticulum, where it
is
folded
and
its disulfide
bonds are oxidized. It is then
transported
to
the Golgi
apparatus where it is packaged
into secretory vesicles, and
where it is processed by a series
of
proteases
to
form
mature insulin. Mature insulin has 35 fewer amino acids; 4 are removed
altogether, and the remaining 31 form the C-peptide. The C-peptide is
abstracted from the center of the proinsulin sequence; the two other
ends (the B chain and A chain) remain connected by disulfide bonds.
When insulin was originally purified from bovine or porcine pancreata,
all the proinsulin was not fully removed. [3][4] When some people used
these insulins, the proinsulin may have caused the body to react with a

rash, to resist the insulin, or even to make dents or lumps in the skin at
the place where the insulin was injected. This can be described as
an iatrogenic injury due to slight differences between the proinsulin of
different
species.
Since
the
late
1970s,
when
highly
purified porcine insulin was introduced, and the level of insulin purity
reached 99%, this ceased to be a significant clinical issue. The main
challenge for production of insulin using rDNA techniques was
getting insulin assembled into mature form.

Humulin:
Humulin was the first medication produced using modern genetic
engineering techniques in which actual human DNA is inserted into a
host cell (E. coli in this case). Biosynthetic "human" insulin is now
manufactured for widespread clinical use using genetic engineering
techniques
using recombinant
DNA technology,
which
the
manufacturers claim reduces the presence of many impurities, although
there is no clinical evidence to substantiate this claim. Eli
Lilly marketed the first artificial insulin, Humulin, in 1982.
Humulin production method is as follows:
1. DNA coding for A and B polypeptide chains of insulin are
chemically synthesised a in the lab. Sixty three nucleotides are
sequenced to produce A chain of insulin and ninety nucleotide long
DNA designed to produce B chain of insulin, plus terminator codon
is added at the end of each chain sequence. Anti-codon for
methionine is added at the beginning of the sequence to
distinguish humulin from the other bacterial proteins.
2. Chemically synthesized A and B chain DNA sequence are inserted
into one of the marker gene which are present in the plasmid
vector. Genes are inserted into the plasmid with the help of
enzymes known as endonuclease and ligase.
3. The vector plasmids with the insulin gene are then introduced into
the E. coli bacterial cell. These cells are then allowed to replicate
by mitosis, along with the bacterial cell recombinant plasmid also
gets replicated producing the human insulin.
4. A and B polypeptide chains of insulin are then extracted and
purified from the fomenters in the lab. High-Performance Liquid

Chromatography (HPLC) is used to get 100% pure humulin from

the mixture of proteins.
5. The A and B polypeptide chains of insulin are mixed together and
connected with each other by disulphide bond, forming the
Humulin or synthetic human insulin.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Humulin:

Humulin is the one and only human protein produced in the bacteria
with identical chemical structure to that of the natural human insulin.
Administration of humulin reduces the possibility of antibody production
and inflammatory response
in diabetic patients. Major
difficulty is the extraction of
humulin from a mixture of
host proteins present in the
fermentation
broth.
Now days to overcome this
extraction problem synthetic
human insulin are produced
in the yeast cell instead of E. coli using the same procedure. As yeast is
Eukaryotes they secrete the whole humulin molecule with perfect three
dimensional structures, reducing the need for complex and time
consuming
purification
methods.
Now most of the diabetic patients are treated with synthetic human
insulin. Small group of patients claim that episodes of hyperglycaemic
complications have been increased after shifting from animal origin
insulin to humulin. No study till date shows the difference between the
frequency of hyperglycaemic complications in patient using humulin
(synthetic human insulin) and animal origin insulin.

Gene Therapy
Gene therapy is the therapeutic delivery of nucleic acid polymers into
a patient's cells as a drug to treat disease. Gene therapy is an
experimental technique that uses genes to treat or prevent disease. In
the future, this technique
may allow doctors to treat a
disorder by inserting a gene
into a patients cells instead
of using drugs or surgery.
Researchers
are
testing
several approaches to gene
therapy, including:
Replacing a mutated
gene
that
causes
disease with a healthy
copy of the gene.
Inactivating, or knocking out, a mutated gene that is functioning
improperly.
Introducing a new gene into the body to help fight a disease.
Although gene therapy is a promising treatment option for a number of
diseases (including inherited disorders, some types of cancer, and
certain viral infections), the technique remains risky and is still under
study to make sure that it will be safe and effective. Gene therapy is
currently only being tested for the treatment of diseases that have no
other cures. It should be noted that not all medical procedures that
introduce alterations to a patient's genetic makeup can be considered
gene therapy. Bone marrow transplantation, and organ transplants in
general have been found to introduce foreign DNA into patients. Gene
therapy is defined by the precision of the procedure and the intention of
direct therapeutic effects.
Gene therapy was conceptualized in 1972, by authors who urged
caution before commencing human gene therapy studies.
The first attempt, albeit an unsuccessful one, at gene therapy (as well
as the first case of medical transfer of foreign genes into humans not
counting organ transplantation) was performed by Martin Cline on 10
July 1980. Cline claimed that one of the genes in his patients was active
six months later, though he never published this data or had it

verified and even if he is correct, it's unlikely it produced any significant

beneficial effects treating beta-thalassemia.
The first germ line gene therapy consisted of producing a genetically
engineered embryo in October 1996. The baby was born on July 21,
1997 and was produced by taking a donor's egg with healthy
mitochondria, removing its nuclear DNA and filling it with the nuclear
DNA of the biological mother - a procedure known as cytoplasmic
transfer.
This procedure was referred to sensationally and somewhat inaccurately
in the media as a "three parent baby", though mtDNA is not the primary
human genome and has little effect on an organism's individual
characteristics beyond powering their cells.
Gene therapy is a way to fix a genetic problem at its source. The
polymers are either expressed as proteins, interfere with protein
expression, or possibly correct genetic mutations.
The most common form uses DNA that encodes a functional,
therapeutic gene to replace a mutated gene. The polymer molecule is
packaged within a "vector", which carries the molecule inside cells.
The first commercial gene therapy, Gendicine, was approved in China in
2003 for the treatment of certain cancers. In 2011 Neovasculgen was
registered in Russia as the first-in-class gene-therapy drug for treatment
of peripheral artery disease, including critical limb ischemia. In
2012 Glybera, a treatment for a rare inherited disorder, became the first
treatment to be approved for clinical use in either Europe or the United
States after its endorsement by the European Commission.
ADA deficiency is one form of SCID (severe combined
immunodeficiency), a disorder that affects the immune system. ADA
deficiency is very rare, but very dangerous, because a malfunctioning
immune system leaves the body open to infection from bacteria and
viruses.

The disease is caused by a

mutation in a gene on
chromosome
20.
ADA
deficiency is inherited in
an autosomal recessive
manner. The gene codes for
the
enzyme
adenosine
deaminase (ADA). Without
this enzyme, the body is
unable to break down a toxic
substance
called
deoxyadenosine. The toxin
builds
up
and
destroys
infection-fighting
immune
cells
called
T
and
B
lymphocytes. Because ADA
deficiency
affects
the
immune system, people who have the disorder are more susceptible to
all kinds of infections, particularly those of the skin, respiratory system,
and gastrointestinal tract. They may also be shorter than normal. Sadly,
most babies who are born with the disorder die within a few months.
Treatments of ADA Deficiency includes:

bone marrow transplant

gene therapy

ADA enzyme in PEG vehicle

On September 14, 1990, the first gene therapy to combat this

disease was performed by Dr. William French Anderson on a four-yearold girl, Ashanti DeSilva, at the National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.

Conclusion
Biotechnology is the new wonder of science. It 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 microorganisms and cells,
their downstream processing are based on them. It comes to us as a
great blessing...

Biotechnology utilizes the technique called genetic engineering or

recombinant DNA technology where a microorganism is isolated; its
genetic material is cut, manipulated, sealed, again inserted in an
organism and allowed to grow in a suitable environment under
controlled conditions to get the desired product. It looks easy but is a
very tedious job and it takes years for a research to achieve its goal.
Like every other thing, biotechnology too has some harmful
impacts:
1. Genetic engineering is a very vital part of biotechnology and the
cost of transferring genes from one species to another is very
expensive, which requires a huge amount of capital investment.
The cost of producing genetically- modified plants and
animals are sky- rocketing and the duration of return are also
not predictable.
2. Genetic engineering crosses boundaries of reproduction by
crossing genes of species that are completely unrelated; hence
giving rise to hazardous results as well as also increasing the risk
of harming multiple species.
3. When genetic material from certain viruses is used in the
production of transgenic crops, there are chances that these virus
genes will combine with crop genes to produce more destructive
viruses. The consumption of such crops is hazardous to human
health and can cause several life- threatening ailments. It can also
result in cancer, often malignant as well.
4. Biotechnology also poses a number of environmental threats.
Genetically modifies crops often infect monarch butteries and
other insect species.
The applications of biotechnology are so broad, and the advantages so
compelling, that virtually every industry is using this technology.
Developments are underway in areas as diverse as pharmaceuticals,
diagnostics, textiles, aquaculture, forestry, chemicals, household
products, environmental cleanup, food processing and forensics to name
a few. Biotechnology is enabling these industries to make new or better
products, often with greater speed, efficiency and flexibility.
Biotechnology must continue to be carefully regulated so that
the maximum benefits are received with the least risk.

Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/biotechnology
http://en.wikipedia.org/insulin

http://www.genewatch.org/sub-568238
http://en.wikipedia.org/humulin
http://www.biotecharticles.com/Others-Article/HumanInsulin-and-Recombinant-DNA-Technology-70.html
https://isaaa.org/resources/publications/pocketk/34/default.
asp
http://www.sciencedirect.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_therapy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_deaminase_deficie
ncy
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/insulin/animal-insulin.html
Biology textbook (N.C.E.R.T) Class 12th

Contents
Introduction
History
Biotechnology in Agriculture
Genetically Modified Crops
RNA Interference (RNAi)

 Bt toxin
Bt cotton
Biotechnology in Medicine
Genetically engineered insulin
(Humulin)
Gene therapy
Conclusion
Bibliography