Biotechnology and Agriculture

Biotechnology can be defined as “the commercial application of living organisms or their products which involves the deliberate manipulation of their DNA molecules”. Biotechnology has been practiced by human society since the beginning of recorded history in some activities such as baking bread, brewing alcoholic beverages, breeding food crops and domestic animals etc. but with the advancement of science and technology, human knew to use biotechnology for other commercial purposes. Biotechnology finds its application in medicines, therapeutics, diagnosis, bioremediation, generally modified crops for agriculture, waste treatment, processed food and energy production.

BIOTECHNOLOGOICAL APPLICATION IN AGRICULTURE:

Food Production can be enhanced by the following ways

i)                    Agro-chemical based agriculture

ii)                  Organic agriculture

iii)                Genetically engineered crop-based agriculture.

Green revolution resulted in increasing the food supply almost three times. Green revolution is the great increase in food grains especially wheat and rice that resulted in large part from the introduction of new high yielding varieties in the mid 20^th century. Its early dramatic success was in Mexico and Indian subcontinent. The new varieties required large amount of chemicals fertilizers and pesticides to produce high yields, raising concern about cost and potentially harmful environmental effects. This demanded an alternate pathway that could result in maximum yield from the fields but the chemicals and fertilizers use is minimum i.e. harmful effects on the environment could be reduced. This thirst in human being forced them to explore more in biotechnology and a new era began in science by the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). GMO can be the plants, bacteria, fungi and animals whose genes have been altered by genetic manipulation. GMO can be used in agriculture to get better production in the following ways:

a.    

  Genetically Modified Crops or GM Crops: A genetically modified crop or a transgenic crop is that crop which contain and express a transgene. A transgene is a foreign gene which is introduced in the plant body. When a transgene is introduced into the genome of an organism, it can benefits us in following ways: i) It produces a protein that is the product benefits us, ii) it produces a protein that on its own produces the desired phenotype, iii) It modifies an existing biosynthetic pathway so that a new end-product is obtained and iv) it prevents the expression of an existing native gene. Hirudin is a protein that prevents blood clotting. The gene encoding hirudin was chemically synthesised and transferred into Brassica napus where hirudin accumulates in seeds. This is purified and used as medicine to store blood. In this case, the transgene product itself is the product of interest. The tomato variety ‘Flavr Savr’ is an example where the expression of a native tomato gene is blocked and now this tomato remains fresh and retain flavour much longer than the normal tomato varieties.

b.    

  Genetically Modified Food: The food that is prepared from the produce of genetically modified (Transgenic) crops is called genetically modified food or GM Food. GM food differ from the food prepared from the produce of conventionally developed varieties mainly in two aspects. Firstly, it contains the protein produced by transgene. Secondly, it contains the enzyme produced by the antibiotic resistance gene that was used during gene transfer by genetic engineering. It has been argued that the above features of GM Foods could lead to following problems when they are consumed. The transgene product may cause toxicity and the enzyme produced by antibiotic resistance gene could cause allergy since it is a foreign protein. Finally, the bacteria present in the alimentary canal of humans could take up the antibiotic resistance gene that is present in GM Foods. These would then become resistance to the concern antibiotic. As a result these bacteria could become difficult to manage. So, efforts are being made to use other genes in place of antibiotic resistance genes.

GM PRODUCTS: BENEFITS AND CONTROVERSIES

BENEFITS

Benefits in crops:

ü  Enhance taste and quality

ü  Reduce maturation time

ü  Increase nutrients, yield and stress tolerance

ü  Improve resistance to pests, diseases and herbicides

Benefits in animals:

ü  Increase resistance, productivity, hardiness and feed efficiency

ü  Better yield of meat, eggs and milk

ü  Improve animal health and diagnosis methods

Benefits in Environment:

ü  Friendly bioherbicides and bioinsecticides

ü  Conserve soil, water and energy

ü  Bioprecessing for forestry products

ü  Better natural waste management

Benefits in society:

ü  Increase food security for growing population.

CONTROVERSIES

Potential human health impact:

ü  Allergens, transfer of antibiotic resistance markers, unknown effects.

Potential environmental impact

ü  Unintended transfer of transgenes through cross pollination, unknown effects on other organisms (e.g. soil microbes) and loss of flora and fauna biodiversity.

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