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Role of biotechnology in crop and animal improvement for sustainable

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Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2018; 7(1): 1120-1124

 
 
 
 
 
 

E-ISSN: 2278-4136
P-ISSN: 2349-8234
JPP 2018; 7(1): 1120-1124
Role of biotechnology in crop and animal
Received: 28-11-2017
Accepted: 30-12-2017
improvement for sustainable agriculture
 
Kuldeep Kumar Kuldeep Kumar, Seema Karanwal, Rahul Kumar Meena and Sandeep
NRCPB, Indian Agricultural Jaiswal
Research Institute, New Delhi,
India
Abstract
Seema Karanwal Agriculture now a day is suffering from lots of problems such as changing climate, pressure for large
National Dairy Research scale production of grain, pest out break etc. Plant breeding have come out to mitigate these problems but
Institute, Karnal, Haryana, limitation in variation, cross incompatibility etc limits its success which can be overcome by genetic
India engineering. The potential of gene transfer from any source to a plant and animal is its strength. Besides
increasing the crop production, it has also been exploited in the field of animal biotechnology. The
Rahul Kumar Meena strength of biotechnology is increasing day by day with the advent of new technologies such as
Chaudhary Charan Singh
sequencing methods, transcriptome and proteome analysis techniques. Besides plants animals are also an
Haryana Agricultural
University, Hisar, Haryana,
important component of agriculture. Cloning, artificial insemination, embryo transfer, vaccine and
India pharmaceuticals production, organ development for transplantation etc are some of the applications in the
field of animal biotechnology.
Sandeep Jaiswalx`
NRCPB, Indian Agricultural Keywords: Biotechnology, Totipotency, Somatic embryogenesis, Genetic engineering, Recombinant
Research Institute, New Delhi, DNA Technology, Omics, etc
India
Introduction
Agriculture is the backbone of our country. It does not only involve the raising of crops but
forestry, pisciculture and animal husbandry are also its part. The land and climate of our
country is so much rich and diverse that we are in a position to produce agricultural products
relatively cheaply. The variety of agro climatic region enables India to produce a large array of
products.
The burden on agriculture to feed the population is increasing with the increase in the
population. To meet the ever increasing demand of food grains farmers grows the crop on the
undesirable lands like salt affected areas. Current agriculture practices and technologies are not
able to meet the requirement in a sustainable ways.
Enhancing the agricultural produce, decreasing the post harvest losses, preventing yield losses
due to diseases, pest attack, drought stress, cold stress, salt stress and also enhancing the
nutritional value of the agricultural produce are some of the major target which scientist are
willing to achieve in the modern agriculture.
Agronomy and soil science the core subject of agriculture deals with field-crop production and
their soil management can only exploit the potential of the field and crop but up to a certain
level only. We have already exploited these factors and any further development in these
cannot increase the yield such to meet the current demand. Also, development of new varieties
with increased yield depends on the available variation in the particular crop and almost all of
the variation present in the nature so further improvement in yield by breeding methods is also
a losing battle.
Biotechnology has evolved as a science whose scope is limited by our imagination only.
Extraordinary success in the field of chemistry, molecular biology and plant sciences has
leaded it to a new height. The applications of biotechnology to agriculture have been
persistent, both within the agriculture sector and outside it. The term “biotechnology” was first
use by Karoly Ereky in 1919. 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" (UN Convention on Biological Diversity). Increasing the food grain production and
thereby increasing the profit of farmer is the primary target of the biotechnology.
Correspondence
Rahul Kumar Meena
Applications of agricultural biotechnology
Chaudhary Charan Singh
Haryana Agricultural 1. Marker assisted breeding
University, Hisar, Haryana, Typical breeding programs usually grow hundreds or even thousands of populations, and many
India thousands or millions of individual plants (Witcombe & Virk, 2001) [14].
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Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
 
 
The selection in conventional breeding is totally based on the subsequently regenerate into mature plants under appropriate
phenotypic evaluation of the crop. Performance for a culture conditions in a hormone-dependent manner (Skoog
particular trait is also based on its heritability. In conventional and Miller 1957; Steward et al. 1964) [11, 12]. Gottlieb
breeding we cannot go for off season nursery analysis, also Haberlandt was first to initiate the work on tissue culture in
we have to for full crop if we want to take data regarding 1898. The theoretical basis of tissue culture lies in the cell
yield and other maturity traits. Also selection done on the theory given by Schleiden and Schwann (1838–1839).
basis of morphological characters are not accurate, there are Practically, this technique stands on the concept of
chances of error due to environment influence. Along with “totipotency,” i.e., each cell has the ability to regenerate into a
progress in molecular biotechnology, various types of new plant. plant cell cultures have evolved as in vitro
molecular markers in crop plants were developed during the experimental models for studying cell division, differentiation
1980s and 1990s (Xu, 2010) [15]. All these limitation of and morphogenesis, which are important in key
breeding can be overcome by the use of molecular marker developmental processes such as meristem formation and
technology. embryogenesis (Zimmerman, 1993) [16] and stress-related
Marker assisted selection is a process in which a particular genome plasticity in plants. The field finds a wide range of
marker is used for the indirect selection of a plant with trait of applications starting from mass clonal propagation to plant
interest. It has completely replaced the phenotypic evaluation improvement, molecular biology, bio-processing as well as a
and its limitations. The extensive use of molecular markers in basic research tool. It has advanced the production in forestry
various fields of plant science, e.g. germplasm evaluation, and agriculture to many folds.
genetic mapping, map-based gene discovery, characterization With the decreasing arable land Plant tissue culture technique
of traits and crop improvement, has demonstrated that offers an excellent opportunity for mass propagation of plants
molecular technology is a powerful and reliable tool in in laboratory test tubes which can be transferred to the field
genetic manipulation of agronomical important traits in crop later on. It is an in vitro cultivation of plants under artificial
plants (Xu, 2010; Jiang, 2013) [15]. Marker-assisted selection media and aseptic condition. Tissue culture has evoked a path
(MAS) has been widely applied in breeding programs for for crossing between to noncompatible plant species.
targeted transferring and pyramiding resistance loci in Embryos produced by incompatible crosses are rescued and
different crops (Kolmer, 1996; Foolad et al., 2002; Singh et grown to obtain viable plant. This technique is combined with
al., 2005; Liu et al., 2004, Richardson et al., 2006; Asea et genetic engineering to regenerate plants with novel characters
al., 2009 and Moloney et al., 2009) [5, 2, 10, 6, 9, 1, 8]. and combine two or more beneficial characters into a single
Examples of where MAS would be advantageous include plant. Several application of plant tissue culture are listed
selection for traits that are difficult or expensive to measure below.
(e.g., salt tolerance, restorer genes); pyramiding multiple
genes that confer a similar or identical phenotype (e.g., a. Micropropagation
multiple genes for resistance to blast or bacterial blight); or It stands for propagation of any plant part under aseptic
selecting against the donor chromosomal segments in a conditions, rapid clonal propagation is one of type which is
backcrossing scheme. Many rice scientists are now beginning being extensively used in horticultural crop for their
to use markers for these types of applications. Many research propagation. Micropropagation is the application of tissue
groups have pyramided two to four resistance genes against culture technique to the propagation of plants starting with
bacterial blight, Xa4, xa5, xa13, and Xa21, using PCR-based very small parts grown aseptically in a test tube or other
markers in different rice varieties. Molecular markers are suitable containers. Initially, small plant explants is surface
particularly useful for accelerating the backcrossing of a gene sterilized and inoculated into a culture vessel containing a
or QTL into an elite cultivar or breeding line. Markers linked nutrient medium. The inoculated culture vessel is incubated at
to the gene can be used to select plants possessing the desired room temperature. From it a large number of shoots develop
trait, and markers throughout the genome can be used to from the axillary bud in a process known as axillary bud
select plants that are genetically similar to the recurrent parent proliferation. Each growing point is sub-cultured to give rise
(background selection). This approach is thought to be to shoot. This phenomenon is known as adventitious shoot
promising in rice because a number of rice cultivars are formation. Auxin plays an important role in development of
widely grown for their adaptation, stable performance, and root. The new plantlet is transferred to the field.
desirable grain quality. Although, micropropagation has many successfully
Some of the advantages of MAS are:- applications in large number of crop plants but there are still
a) Time saving as selection can be practiced at seedling problems associated with its commercial applications. The
stage so the desirable cross can be made in the same major limitations include high input cost of energy and
season. manpower. These limitations have been circumvented to some
b) Is an effective strategy for selection in early segregating extent in apple with the advent of bioreactor technology.
generations. Further, to obtain clonally uniform healthy plants, few other
c) Threshold characters can be selected without onset of problems need to be addressed while following the
particular environment. micropropagation protocol: a) manipulation and regeneration
d) Recessive traits as well as heterozygote progenies can of woody explants taken from adult trees; b) presence of
also be identified. exogenous and endogenous microbes; c) browning due to the
e) It can be used for the assessment of purity of breeding exudation of phenolics and tannins into the medium as a
material. response to wounding at excision; d) shoot necrosis and
mortality of the explant/cultures due to the absorption of these
2. Plant tissue culture substances; e) hyperhydricity; f) production of
Plant cells are unique because they possess the property of offtypes/somaclones, largely through organogenesis alarms
totipotency and developmental plasticity in the differentiated the use of micropropagated plants by nursery; g) the loss of
state and have the ability to dedifferentiate, proliferate, and
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Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
 
 
plants during hardening and transplantation as a shift from d. Protoplast culture and fusion
heterotrophic mode of nutrition to autotrophic. In this method protoplast of two different species of plants
have been successfully fused to produce a single protoplast
b. Organogenesis containing the genetic material and the cytoplasm of both
It refers to differentiation of organs, such as shoot and root protoplasts. This fusion is facilitated by some agents (both
from an undifferentiated mass of cells. When an explant is chemical and electrical), known as fusogens e.g. PEG. When
placed in an artificially enriched nutrient medium, it’s de- two protoplasts are fused a cell containing cytoplasm and
differentiate and form a mass of unorganized cells known as nucleus of both parent cell is formed which is also called as
callus. The callus cells then re-differentiate and produced the heterokaryon. Later on the two nuclei fuse forming a
desired tissue and then an organ or organs under the influence synkaryon. This process is also known as somatic
of specific growth regulators. hybridization and the products as somatic hybrids. However,
sometimes, due to cellular incompatibility, two nuclei cannot
c. Somatic embryogenesis co-exist. Consequently, one nucleus is eliminated and a
An zygotic embryo is the result of sexual reproduction. protoplast containing the nucleus of one species and the
However, plant tissue culture technique offers a method of cytoplasm of both results. This type of hybrid is known as a
producing; embryos from somatic cells bypassing sexual cytoplasmic hybrid or cybrid. Somatic hybridization is
reproduction such embryos a known as somatic embryos. The attempted in plant species, which are sexually incompatible.
process of formation of somatic embryos is known as somatic The well known example of a somatic hybrid is 'pomato'
embryogenesis. This method can be used for rescue of zygotic obtained from the protoplasts of potato and tomato.
embryos formed by incompatible crosses and overcoming
seed sterility and dormancy.

Table 1: Applications of tissue culture in crop improvement

S. No. Improvement Approach
1. Homozygous and heterozygous plant Rapid clonal propagation
2. Changing ploidy of plant Anther and ovary culture Endosperm culture
Disease resistance (‘ono’ variety of sugarcane)
3. Novel traits Yield (pusa jaikisan variety of brassica)
Colour (scarlet variety of sweet potato)
4. Secondary metabolites Suspension culture
5. Germplasm conservation Micropropagation and slow culture
6. Distant hybridization Somatic hybridization; protoplast fusion and embryo rescue
7. Molecular breeding DH lines
8. Regeneration and selection of transgenic plants Selection media
9. Basic studies Bioreactors
10. Creation of variation Somaclonal variation

3. Recombinant dna technology or genetic engineering gene gun method, PEG mediated DNA transfer,
Recombinant DNA is produced by joining together of two or microinjection, macroinjection and silicon fiber mediated
more pieces of DNA segment from different organism using transformation. Transgenic plants were first developed around
genetic engineering tools. Organisms that are produced by 1980’s. The first genetically modified crops were soybean and
transfer of a transgene from a distinct organism by non corn, and appeared on the US market in 1996. Since then
breeding methods are called as transgenic organism. Various transgenic plants have been commercialized in many
approaches are used to transfer the transgene from one countries and now a day’s 28 countries are growing
organism to other are used such as Agrobacterium method, transgenic crop including the latest one Bangladesh.

Fig 1: Application of transgenic approach

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Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
 
 
Many successful examples of the use of recombinant DNA and in some cases lead to significant visible effects e.g.
technologies are there. diseases such as cancer. In contrast to genetics, which is the
a) Flavr Savr is a classical example of genetic engineering study of genes and their roles in inheritance, genomics is the
scientists target to slow down the ripening process of the study of genes, their functions and related techniques
tomato and thus prevent it from softening, while still (applications of recombinant DNA, DNA sequencing methods
allowing the tomato to retain its natural colour and flavor. and bioinformatics) to sequence, assemble and analyze the
This was done by adding an antisense gene which function and structure of genome.
interferes with the production of
the enzyme polygalacturonase. The enzyme normally b) Transcriptomics
degrades pectin in the cell walls and results in the It is the study of the complete set of RNAs (transcriptome)
softening of fruit which makes them more susceptible to encoded by the genome of a specific cell of an organism at a
damaged. The intended effect of slowing down the specific time under a specific set of conditions. Different
softening of Flavr Savr tomatoes would allow the vine- subsets of genes are expressed at different time and condition
ripe fruits to be harvested like green tomatoes without in a particular cell. So, if we compare the transcriptome of
greater damage to the tomato itself. cell in two different condition say control and salt stress, we
b) Golden rice produced through genetic will get two different set of RNA expressing. These RNA
engineering to biosynthesize beta-carotene, a precursor which are only found in salt stressed cell may be hypothesized
of vitamin A, in the endosperm of rice. Golden rice was to involve in survival of cell under salt stress. Likewise we
created by transforming rice with two beta-carotene can isolate RNA expressing at any particular condition, using
biosynthesis genes i.e. psy (phytoene synthase) which we can isolate the gene behind it and go for its
from daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) and exploitation through transgenic technology.
crtI (carotene desaturase) from the soil
bacterium Erwinia uredovora. The psy and crtI genes c) Proteomics
were transferred into the rice nuclear genome and placed It is the study of complete set of proteins encoded by a cell at
under the control of an endosperm-specific promoter, so a specific time under specific conditions. Concept behind
that they are only expressed in the endosperm. The end proteomics in finding the causal protein is same as
product of the engineered pathway is lycopene. Transcriptomics. It involves the systematic study of proteins
c) Bt cotton was created through the addition of genes in order to provide a comprehensive view of the structure,
encoding endotoxin (called as cry toxins) for a particular function and role in the regulation of a biological system.
group of organism. When insects attack and eat the Understanding the transcriptome and proteome is essential for
cotton plant the endotoxins are dissolved due to the high interpreting the functional elements behind any particular
pH level of the insect's midgut. Interaction between this trait. These may helps in understanding the mechanism of cell
protein with receptor opens cation selective pores which differentiation and understanding the mechanism of disease.
allow the flow of potassium. Osmolytic lysis occurs in
the midgut of the insect. Also, regulation of potassium Application of animal biotechnology
concentration is essential and, if left unchecked, causes Impressive strides have been developed in the area of plant
death of cells. Due to the formation of Cry ion channels biotechnology by enhancing production, defense mechanism
sufficient regulation of potassium ions is lost and results against various deceases and adaptation to various stresses.
in the death of epithelial cells. Septicemia caused by Livestock’s are been used as a source for production of
enteric bacteria ilso contributes to this. medicines since long time. Production of insulin for diabetic
patient, heparin as anti coagulant, various serum, antiserum
4. OMICS organs for human transplantation are some of the core
Genome encodes the complete set of genetic information in example of this feild. By using recombinant DNA technology
an organism i.e. provides necessary information vital for the many animals are genetically engineered to produce various
organism to function. It includes both chromosomal as well as pharmaceuticals.
orgenalle DNA. Gene is a set of nucleotide sequence 1. Artificial insemination
containing coding sequences along with its regulatory units, it Artificial insemination leads to a mode of selective breeding
codes for the RNA and protein molecules required by the in case of animals also. Embryo transfer is another excellent
organism. In eukaryotes, each cell's genome is enclosed example of animal biotechnology to enhance selective
within a membrane-bound structure called the nucleus. breeding. Progress in semen collection and dilution and cryo
Prokaryotes lacking inner membranes, store their genome in a preservation techniques now enables a bull to be used
region of the cytoplasm called the nucleoid. The full range of simultaneously in several countries for up to 100,000
RNA molecules expressed by a genome is known as its insemination a year (Gibson and Smith, 1989. In this method
transcriptome, and the full assortment of proteins produced by a superior breeding female is first chemically induced to super
the genome is called its proteome. ovulate. The egg is then fertilized within the donor which
later on developed into embryo. Embryo is then transplanted
a) Genomics into recipient female.
Its a branch of bioinformatics which focus on genome. It aims
in the characterization and quantification of genes, which 2. Cloning
direct the production of proteins with the help of enzymes and Cloning i.e. production of genetically identical cells, animals
mRNA. Proteins in turn make up the body structures like etc are another fascinating example of this field. Creation of a
organs and tissues as well as control chemical reactions (as an clone is doneby inserting a donor cell into an egg which is
enzyme) and carry signals (as signaling molecules) between already enucleated. The egg developed into an embryo which
cells. If mutation occurs in DNA it leads to formation of is then transferred into a surrogated mother for gestation.
abnormal protein which can disrupt the body's usual processes
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Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
 
 
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farmers and dairy industry. Crossbreeding is mating of Bradshaw JE et al. Development of diagnostic markers
animals from different established breeds. The progeny for use in breeding potatoes resistant to
produced is called crossbred. Crossbreeding programmes Globoderapallidapathotype Pa2/3 using germplasm
initiated during the 1950s in India between indigenous and derived from Solanum tuberosum sp. andigena CPC
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into a vector ant transformed into a production system such as
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peptides and gene deleted vaccines are some of the examples
of recombinant DNA vaccines.

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