How is Biotechnology Used in Medicine and Agriculture? - ARTICLE GATE

 

In the medical context, biotechnology has many applications. Our knowledge of the genetic makeup of our species , the genetic basis of inherited diseases, and technologies for manipulating and correcting mutant genes create methods for the treatment of many diseases. In the context of agriculture, biotechnology can improve both crop yield and quality by increasing the resistance of plants to diseases, pests and environmental stress.

Genetic Diagnosis and Gene Therapy

Genetic diagnosis refers to the process of detecting disorders through genetic testing before any treatment is administered. If an individual has a genetic disease in their family, family members may be advised to have genetic testing. For example , mutations in the BRCA genes may increase the likelihood of developing some cancers , especially breast and ovarian cancer , in women. These mutations can be screened in a woman with breast cancer ; If a high-risk mutation is encountered as a result of the screening, their relatives will also have the mutation in question. They can get a screening for cancer or increase their cancer control frequency. Genetic testing can also be applied to fetuses or in-vitro fertilized embryos to determine whether disease-causing genes are passed on to babies in families with certain debilitating diseases .

Gene therapy is a highly promising genetic engineering technique used to treat certain genetic diseases. The technique basically involves inserting an unmutated gene at a random point in the genome to replace a protein that is not encoded by a genetic mutation, thus causing a disease.

The unmutated gene is delivered to diseased cells as part of a vector , usually by a virus such as adenovirus , which can infect the host cell and transfer foreign DNA to the genome of the targeted cell . Gene therapies applied in humans to date have been limited to experimental procedures; few of these attempts have been successful. However, the methods that form the basis of gene therapy will gain importance and momentum as the factors that limit the level of success are overcome with technology and science.

Production of Vaccines, Antibiotics and Hormones

Traditional vaccination methods use weakened or inactive forms of microorganisms or viruses to stimulate the immune system . In modern techniques, certain genes of microorganisms are produced in large quantities by bacteria and cloned into vectors , and vaccines are obtained in this way. In some examples, such as the H1N1 flu vaccine , genes cloned directly from the virus itself are used to cope with the constant changes that the virus undergoes .

Antibiotics , the best known example of which is perhaps the penile villi , are produced naturally by microorganisms and kill bacteria. However, fungal cells used in antibiotics are typically cells that have been manipulated to increase the yield of the antibiotic compound and are manufactured on a large scale.

Recombinant DNA technology, on the other hand, was used as early as 1978 to produce insulin hormone suitable for humans in E. coli . Before this breakthrough, diabetes was only treated with porcine insulin , and the differences in this insulin molecule caused allergic reactions in many people . In addition, human growth hormone or soma totropin (HGH) is used in the treatment of growth disorders observed in children. The basis of this treatment is a complementary DNA (c DNA) of the HGH gene. ) library and cloned into a bacterial vector, then inserted into E. coli cells.

Transgenic Animals

Many recombinant proteins used in medicine can be produced in bacteria; however, some proteins require a eukaryotic host to be produced. Animals such as sheep, goats, chickens and mice were also cloned and expressed. Animals provided to express recombinant DNA in this way are called transgenic animals .

Gene transfer studies were carried out in some sheep and goat species, and some human proteins were expressed in the milk of these species. For example, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the production of an anticoagulant protein in the milk of transgenic goats. Mice are also frequently used in research on the effects of recombinant genes and mutations.

Transgenic (GMO) Plants

Plants are the most important food source for the human population. Farmers have chosen the desired traits through artificial selection for generations long before today's biotechnology applications, and in a way , they have played with the genes of the plants. Changing the DNA of plants with modern technologies, in other words genetically modified organisms (GMO), makes plants more resistant to diseases, herbicides and pests; It increases the nutritional value and extends the shelf life.

Transgenic plants are plants that have received DNA from another species. These plants and other GMO products, which have unique gene combinations compared to species encountered in nature, are not limited in the laboratory environment; It is closely followed by state institutions due to its production in the fields; It is tightly controlled to ensure that it is suitable for human consumption and does not harm other plant/animal species.

Plant Transformation by Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Plant cell walls are thicker; This thickness makes it much more difficult to artificially add DNA to plant cells compared to animal cells. However, artificially adding DNA to plants is of course not impossible!

Agrobacterium tumeficiens has a set of plasmids containing genes that integrate into the genome of the plant cell it infects . This bacterium, which can transfer its own DNA to plants in this way, causes tumor formation. Using this DNA transfer method that occurs naturally in Agrobacterium , researchers can insert any gene they want into the host plant genome by manipulating the bacterial plasmids to transfer the DNA fragment they want.

An Organic Insecticide: Bacillus thuringiensis

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a bacterium that produces protein crystals that are toxic to many plant-feeding insect species. Insects that digest the Bt toxin cease to feed on plants within a few hours. Death occurs within a few days after the toxin becomes active in the intestines of insects.

These protein crystals were also cloned from bacteria and added to plants; Thus, it is ensured that plants can produce these crystals, which are highly effective against insects. Safe for the environment, harmless to all mammals, including humans, these Bt toxins have been approved for use as a natural pesticide; but there are no worries in this regard. Because insects can develop resistance to Bt toxin, similar to bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics.

Flavr Savr Tomato

The first genetically modified crop to be marketed was Flavr Savr tomatoes, produced in 1994. In these tomatoes , the softening and rotting process caused by fungal infections was slowed down by making use of the technologies made possible by molecular biology and genetics; The shelf life of tomatoes is extended. Unfortunately, these tomatoes, which have been applied gene modifications to increase the taste as well as their shelf life, have not been able to hold on to the market due to the problems related to the care and transportation of the crop.