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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
crops—with 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 gene’s 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. It’s 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:
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 hazards
due to rare use of
insecticides.

 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 the agri-

biotechnology company, Mahyco, as the distributor.

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.

India’s 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 India’s
cotton, yields have dropped steadily.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.genewatch.org/sub-568238
http://en.wikipedia.org/humulin
http://www.biotecharticles.com/Others-Article/Human-

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)