BIOLOGY 12 Biotechnology

What is Biotechnology? biotechnology is technology based on biology biotechnology harnesses cellular and biomolecular processes to develop technologies and products that help improve our lives and the health of our planet it can involve research with cells, genes, and proteins

Biotechnology Fields bioremediation genomics green biotechnology the use of living microorganisms to transform undesirable and harmful substances into nontoxic compounds genomics the study of genomes of humans and other organisms green biotechnology use of environmentally-friendly solutions as an alternative to traditional agriculture, horticulture, and animal breeding processes diagnostics early detection of disease agricultural biotechnology biotechnology applied to agricultural processes

Biotechnology Fields cont. biotechnology & pharmaceuticals large biological molecules that are developed to address targets that cannot easily be addressed by small molecules fertility treatments treatments to deal with infertility forensics DNA fingerprinting

DNA Technologies recombinant DNA technology biologists use tools and processes that enable them to analyze and alter genes and their respective proteins recombinant DNA contains DNA from at least two different sources plasmid vector compared to viral vector a clone is a large number of molecules, cells, or organisms that are identical to the original bacterial cells take up recombined plasmids if the inserted gene is replicated and expressed, we can recover the cloned gene or protein product

DNA Technologies cont. polymerase chain reaction analyzing DNA the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) uses the enzyme DNA polymerase to carry out multiple replications PCR can create millions of copies of a single gene or a specific piece of DNA analyzing DNA an entire genome of an individual can be subjected to DNA fingerprinting

Products of DNA Technologies genetically engineered organisms can produce biotechnology products free-living organisms that have had a foreign gene inserted into them are transgenic includes: transgenic plants transgenic bacteria transgenic animals

Gene Therapy inserting healthy genes genetic disorders give a patient healthy genes to make up for faulty genes genetic disorders treatment of these disorders cancer treatment making cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy, and regular cells more tolerant to chemotherapy

Epigenetics courteosy of Learn Genetics http://learn. genetics. utah as an organism grows and develops, carefully orchestrated chemical reactions activate and deactivate parts of the genome at strategic times and in specific locations epigenetics is the study of these chemical reactions and the factors that influence them epigenetics