Computer Sciences and Information Technology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a combination of biology and technology. It involves organisms and living systems which are part of developing a product or a technological application that requires living organism, biological systems or derivatives. They help in modifying or making products or processes required for a particular use. Biotechnology’s application involves agriculture which includes the cropping system, animal husbandry, plant physiology, seed technology, and crop management. It also includes nutrition, medicine, cell biology, environmental conservation and industry like pharmaceutical, food, and byproducts.
Products and technologies as a result of biotechnology help in combating rare diseases, feeding the hungry, reducing the environmental footprint, using less and cleaner energy and providing cleaner, safer and efficient processes of industrial manufacturing (William, 2009). The commonly known biotechnological fields are genetic engineering which is also referred to as genetic modification. It involves direct manipulation of the genome of an organism using biotechnology. The other one is tissue culture where tissue fragments from plants or animals are transferred to an artificial environment for survival and cloning which is the process used to create a genetic replica of an organism, cell or tissue.
The difference between science and technology is that science begins with a question and uses proof or evidence to give answers or an explanation about the nature of the world (Constantinou, Hadjilouca & Papadouris, 2010). These questions are such as how some organisms which belong to the same species show variations. The proposed scientific explanation is tentative. The explanation is subject to change which means it does not give a conclusive answer. Technology goes further ahead to explain the ability of humans to change the world. the impulse of that change comes from the need for these humans to adapt to the world. Humans require food, air, water, and safety. The development and use of weapons, tools, and agriculture are examples of technology that Helps humans to acquire food and safety.
Chloroplast Formation
The type of biotechnology that I prefer to discuss is the chloroplast transformation in plants for the production of vaccines. Plants are very useful in the production of vaccines. They have several advantages such as low production cost, ease of scalability, reduced contamination risk with bacterial pathogens, complex protein modification machinery and ease of genetic manipulation (Pen̋a, Garcia, Bustillos, Luis, 2013). It is easy to control the spread of genes since transgenes are not transmitted through pollen and achieve high levels of expression when the production of genes is done through genetic manipulation of the chloroplast. several diseases such as HIV and diabetes have benefited from these vaccines.
Before the chloroplast transformation in plants for the production of vaccines was developed, people had to use natural herbs. The herbs such as the leaves or stems from specific types of plants were to be boiled then drink the soup or just chewed to suck the “juice”. The other method was the use of natural remedies such as garlic, ginger, lemon and juices from fruits. These were not very effective because one had to wait until a disease struck for the remedies to be taken. The vaccines were introduced much later but before that, many children and adults had been affected by the viral diseases which led to their death.
Chloroplast is a member of the plastid family. It is the most prominent among other members. Plastid genes in most angiosperm plant species are inherited uniparentally. Transgenic chloroplasts can be present in pollen. Plastid DNA is eliminated from the male germline at varying points during the development of a sperm cell. This depends on the species of the plant. It reduces the toxicity of transgenic pollen to insects that are not on target. The primary role of the chloroplast is photosynthesis. Chloroplast also gives a signal to communicate the organelle’s state to the nucleus and regulate the gene expression controlled by light.
Tobacco was the first plastid genome transformation of a higher plant. The transformation of plastid involves transgene insertion into a few or just one mtDNA copy. This is followed by simultaneous dilution of plastids carrying non-transformed copies on a selective medium. Lastly, the plant is sub-cultured 2-3 times using an antibiotic that helps in the selection of transformants (McCullers & Dunn, 2008). The transformants use two flanking sequences which include homologous recombination and insertion of foreign DNA into the spacer region between genes of the chloroplast genome that are functional. That helps in locating foreign genes to a specific part.
The two biotechnologies that existed before the chloroplast transformation in plants for the production of vaccines were the expression of proteins in plasmids and the ability to sequence DNA. These two ushered in the era of genetic engineering where chloroplast transformation came in. Biotechnology has some disadvantages. One of them include genetically modified plants or microorganisms which could cause harm by spreading their genetic information into the ecosystem (Daniell, Kumar & Dufourmantel, 2005). The harm caused could be such as reduced biodiversity.
Generally, biotechnology has helped in acquiring treatments to humans which reduces the health risks and side effects and has created that help in detecting diseases that threaten the world now and then. The difference between science and technology is that science begins with a question and uses proof or evidence to give answers or an explanation about the nature of the world. Technology goes further ahead to explain the ability of humans to change the world. The transformants use two flanking sequences which include homologous recombination and insertion of foreign DNA into the spacer region between genes of the chloroplast genome that are functional. That helps in locating foreign genes to a specific part.
References
William, T. (2009). Introduction to biotechnology. Pearson Education India.
Constantinou, C., Hadjilouca, R., & Papadouris, N. (2010). Students’ epistemological awareness concerning the distinction between science and technology. International Journal of Science Education, 32(2), 143-172.
Authentication Required. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://eds-a-ebscohost- com.libauth.purdueglobal.edu/eds/viewarticle/render?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2%2fdV0%2b njisfk5Ie45PFIr6%2buT7ak63nn5Kx94um%2bSa2prUquqK44sLCvUbiorji%2fw6SM8N fsi9%2fZ8oHt5Od8u6OvSrOmsku0qrVRpOLfhuWz44ak2uBV7OLjeumc8nnls79mpNfs VbOqr0qur6R%2b7ejrefKz5I3q4vJ99uoA&vid=0&sid=ae3ce378-2425-40b0-b7dd- 31d8b484c631@sdc-v-sessmgr01
Daniell, H., Kumar, S., & Dufourmantel, N. (2005). Breakthrough in chloroplast genetic engineering of agronomically important crops. Trends in Biotechnology, 23(5), 238-245.
McCullers, J. A., & Dunn, J. D. (2008). Advances in vaccine technology and their impact on managed care. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 33(1), 35.
