Biotechnology seems to be the next big thing in India after information technology. Biotechnologyis a wider term including, means or way of manipulating life forms (organisms) to provide desirable products for man's use. For example, beekeeping and cattle breeding could be considered to be biotechnology-related endeavors. The word biotechnology was coined in 1919 by Karl Ereky, to apply to the interaction of biology with human technology.A list of areas covered by the term biotechnology includes: recombinant DNA, plant tissue culture, r-DNA or gene splicing, plant breeding, cell culture, immunology, molecular biology, fermentation, etc.

The Indian biotechnology sector offers a wide variety of products and services including affordable vaccines, non-vaccine therapeutics, and innovative product development and contract services. All these achievements have been made possible by quality manpower available in the country. India has the third largest scientific and technical manpower in the world; 162 universities award 4,000 doctorates and 35,000 postgraduate degrees and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research runs 40 research laboratories that have made some significant achievements.

Blue Biotechnology refers to environmental improvement applications of genetic engineering. One example would be bioremediation.

Genetic Engineering

Genetic engineering is a technique of manipulating the DNA in cells to endow an organism with qualities it did not naturally possess. The technique is also called gene manipulation.

Steps involved

• It entails a number of steps the first of which is the constitution of DNA segment from nucleic acid molecules in a test tube.
• The length of DNA so made is inserted into a virus or some other suitable vector that can serve as a molecular ferry to carry it into the host organism.
• The crucial factor here is ability of the inserted DNA molecule to express itself and also to multiply. Bacteria and even higher animals may be genetically engineered to produce foreign proteins of interest by inserting a copy or multiple copies of the gene coding for the protein into them. 
• Included in genetic engineering techniques are the selective breeding of plants and animals, hybridization (reproduction between different strains or species), and recombinant DNA.

Applications

• Genetic engineering is used to increase plant and animal food production; e.g. Genetic engineering may be used to boost growth, alter resistance to factors such as drugs. Heat, cold and salinity in both animals and plants.
• To diagnose disease, improve medical treatment, and produce vaccines and other useful drugs; e.g. several important products of medical use such as insulin and the human growth hormone are now being produced commercially using genetically engineered bacteria.
• And to help disposal of industrial wastes.

Hybridization

Hybridization (cross-breeding) may involve different strains of a species (that is, members of the same species with different characteristics) or members of different species in an effort to combine the most desirable characteristics of both. For at least 3000 years, female horses have been bred with male donkeys to produce mules, and male horses have been bred with female donkeys to produce hinnies, for use as work animals.

Controversies associated

Public reaction to the use of recombinant DNA in genetic engineering has been mixed. The production of medicines through the use of genetically altered organisms has generally been welcomed.

However, critics of recombinant DNA fear that the pathogenic, or disease-producing, organisms used in some recombinant DNA experiments might develop extremely infectious forms that could cause worldwide epidemics. In an effort to prevent such an occurrence, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has established regulations restricting the types of recombinant DNA experiments that can be performed using such pathogens.

Transgenic plants also present controversial issues. Environmentalists fear that the transgenic plants could spread and eliminate existing species. In addition, it has now been proved that allergens can be transferred from one food crop to another through genetic engineering. In an attempt to increase the nutritional value of soybeans, a genetic engineering firm experimentally transferred a Brazil nut gene producing a nutritious protein into the soybean plant. However, when a study found that the genetically engineered soybeans caused an allergic reaction in people sensitive to Brazil nuts, the project was canceled.

Questions also have been raised concerning the morality of producing transgenic organisms. In addition, some critics object to the patenting of genetically altered organisms because it makes the organisms the property of particular companies.

The lack of a completely successful gene therapy program has concerned many people, including a number of scientists, who feel that before additional clinical trials are conducted, more must be understood about the factors that control whether a particular vector can enter a given type of cell and become incorporated into its genetic material. However, the wishes of many people awaiting gene therapy, as well as the commercial interests of companies, have created great pressure both to continue existing programs and to begin new ones.

The Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was one of the great feats of exploration in history - an inward voyage of discovery rather than an outward exploration of the planet or the cosmos; an international research effort to sequence and map all of the genes - together known as the genome - of members of our species, Homo sapiens. The Human Genome Project was a 13-year-long, publicly funded projectinitiated in 1990 with the objective of determining the DNA sequence of the entire euchromatic human genome within 15 years. Completed in April 2003, the HGP gave us the ability, for the first time, to read nature's complete genetic blueprint for building a human being.

The hereditary material of all multi-cellular organisms is the famous double helix of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which contains all of our genes. DNA, in turn, is made up of four chemical bases, pairs of which form the "rungs" of the twisted, ladder-shaped DNA molecules. All genes are made up of stretches of these four bases, arranged in different ways and in different lengths. HGP researchers have deciphered the human genome in three major ways: determining the order, or "sequence," of all the bases in our genome's DNA; making maps that show the locations of genes for major sections of all our chromosomes; and producing what are called linkage maps, complex versions of the type originated in early Drosophila research, through which inherited traits (such as those for genetic disease) can be tracked over generations. 

The HGP has revealed that there are probably about20,500 human genes. The completed human sequence can now identify their locations. This ultimate product of the HGP has given the world a resource of detailed information about the structure, organization and function of the complete set of human genes. This information can be thought of as the basic set of inheritable "instructions" for the development and function of a human being.

In its early days, the Human Genome Project was met with skepticism by many people, including scientists and nonscientists alike. One prominent question was whether the huge cost of the project would outweigh the potential benefits. Today, however, the overwhelming success of the Human Genome Project is readily apparent. Not only did the completion of this project usher in a new era in medicine, but it also led to significant advances in the types of technology used to sequence DNA.

Recombinant DNA

Over the past 20 years, genetic engineering has been revolutionized by a new technique known as recombinant DNA, or gene splicing, with which scientists can directly alter genetic material.

Genes consist of the chemical deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). In recombinant DNA, the DNA of one organism is joined to the DNA of a second organism to produce a recombinant (or “recombined”) DNA. When this recombinant DNA is introduced into another organism, it permanently changes the genetic makeup of that organism and all its descendants.

How specific gene affects the characteristics of a person:

Specific genes and their DNA direct an organism’s characteristics through the formation of specific proteins such as enzymes and hormones. Proteins perform vital functions—for example, enzymes initiate many of the chemical reactions that take place within an organism, and hormones regulate various processes such as growth, metabolism, and reproduction. Recombinant DNA technology essentially alters the characteristics of an organism by changing its protein makeup.

Techniques

Recombinant DNA techniques have transformed genetic engineering in plant and animal food production, industry, and medicine. In most cases, DNA cannot be transferred directly from its original organism, known as the donor, to the recipient organism, known as the host. Instead, the donor DNA must be cut and recombined with a matching fragment of DNA from a vector—that is, an organism that can carry the donor DNA into the host. The host organism is often a rapidly multiplying microorganism such as a harmless bacterium, which serves as a factory where the recombined (recombinant) DNA can be cloned (that is, duplicated) in large quantities. The subsequently produced protein can then be removed from the host, purified, and used as a genetically engineered product in humans, other animals, plants, or bacteria or viruses. The naked DNA can be introduced directly into an organism by techniques such as injection through the cell walls of plants or into the fertilized egg of an animal. Plants and animals that develop from a cell into which new DNA has been introduced are called transgenic organisms.

Gene therapy

Gene therapy is a new and as yet largely experimental branch of medicine that incorporates techniques of genetic engineering to correct inherited disorders or inborn errors of metabolism. The idea of curing a genetic disorder by repairing or replacing a faulty gene or gene product (protein) first occurred to Dr. W. French Anderson now recognized as the father of gene therapy.

In gene therapy the flawed gene is identified and copies of its normal version are produced in the laboratory by cloning. Then suitable host cells are selected from the patient's body and genetic engineering is used to transfer copies of the normal version of the gene into it. The doctored cells are then returned to the body by injection. The introduced genes are incorporated into the chromosomes of the patient's cells and propagate with each cell division. Since the introduced genes work normally and produce the protein that was previously either absent or malformed, the error is corrected in the victim who gets cured of the symptom. However, since gene therapy is not approved for genetic manipulation of the germ or reproductive cells, the cure cannot be passed on to future generations of the cured victims.

• Application in genetic disorders e.g. hemophilia, colours blindness etc.
• Tailor made babies – by selecting the gene code as per the desired qualities.

Genome editing

Genome editing (also called gene editing) is a group of technologies that give scientists the ability to change an organism's DNA. These technologies allow genetic material to be added, removed, or altered at particular locations in the genome. Several approaches to genome editing have been developed. A recent one is known as CRISPR-Cas9, which is short for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system has generated a lot of excitement in the scientific community because it is faster, cheaper, more accurate and more efficient than other existing genome editing methods.

Genome editing is of great interest in the prevention and treatment of human diseases. Currently, most research on genome editing is done to understand diseases using cells and animal models. Scientists are still working to determine whether this approach is safe and effective for use in people. It is being explored in research on a wide variety of diseases, including single-gene disorders such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, and sickle cell disease. It also holds promise for the treatment and prevention of more complex diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, mental illness, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.

Ethical concerns arise when genome editing, using technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9, is used to alter human genomes. Most of the changes introduced with genome editing are limited to somatic cells, which are cells other than egg and sperm cells. These changes affect only certain tissues and are not passed from one generation to the next. However, changes made to genes in egg or sperm cells (germline cells) or in the genes of an embryo could be passed to future generations. Germline cell and embryo genome editing bring up a number of ethical challenges, including whether it would be permissible to use this technology to enhance normal human traits (such as height or intelligence).

Tissue Culture

The growth and maintenance of cells from higher organisms in vitro, (e.g. that is, in a sterile test tube) which contains the nutrients necessary for cell growth.

One use of tissue culture is to produce disease free offspring from certain crop plants. Another use of tissue culture methods is for "embryo rescue" to enable "wide crosses" between two different species of plants.

India: Tissue culture pilot plant at the NCL, Pune produces plantlets. At TERI, New Delhi, also plantlets are produced e.g. the survival percentage is 92% to 95% Greater height and root collar diameter have been reported in tissue culture raised eucalyptus plants. The cardamom plantations raised through the tissue cultured technique gave 40% higher yield.

Cloning

In simple terms cloning means making an identical copy. A clone is an organism or a group of organisms created from a single parent. The term 'clone' has been derived from the Greek word 'klon' meaning a twig. Twigs or cuttings from plants have often been used for propagating plants. This is actually cloning the parent plant.

With in genetic engineering it is now possible to produce an entire organism from just a single somatic cell taken plant or animal. Since cells have two sets of somes, they congenetic infor-from a body chromotain all the motion necessary for the organism. Cloning is now a standard biotechnological tool for growing superior plants of uniform quality in large numbers from parental cells taken from one good-quality plant. The first experimental cloning of animals was done in 1952 by American scientists Robert Briggs and Thomas J. King.Therapeutic cloning is allowed , human cloning is banned. It involves regeneration of organs like Kidneys, pancreas etc from stem cells for organ transplantatiuon

Human Cloning

• Biotechnologists have been cloning genes and micro-organism since long. Cloning a higher organism like a mammal, came with a surprise to the scientific world came with a surprise to scientific world by the birth of ‘Dolly’ a sheep, at the Roslin institute, Edinburgh under the supervision of Dr. Ian Wilmut, a British Scientist. This proved to be an appetizer for the scientists. And thus began their thirst for human cloning.
• The American assembly has declared a ban over any move towards human cloning. Whereas, Britian became the first nation who had allowed cloning of 14 days old human embryo.
• Cloning is all about copying the human gene to produce child identical to its progenitor. The Scientists are planning to opt the ‘Nuclear Transfer cloning’ process in which a cell is taken from anywhere in the human body and its nucleus is removed. Then this nucleus is replaced with the nucleus of an unfertilized egg. Finally this egg is transferred into the uterus of a surrogate mother. Like a normal baby, the human clone develops in a process that last nine months.
• The proponents of cloning assert that only the human cloning can give a chance to an infertile couple to have children. Human cloning can help in other ways too. If one’s Kidneys fail, he can take the spares from his clone. It can lead us to a breakthrough in the treatment of many serious diseases like Parkinson’s disease, diabetics, heart disease and so on.
• These cloned human beings might have various health and genetics related problems. They could have faster growth rate, as happened in the Doly case. Besides, a cloned child can be greatest threat to the parenthood. It can distort the existing family set up. The misuse of human cloning can promote eugenics, which is completely against the human rights. Religious fundamentalists are also opposing human cloning because they take it as a dissected interference in the God’s work.

Cloning in India

Scientists at the Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) in Hisar, Haryana have successfully produced a cloned buffalo offspring named ‘Cirb Gaurav’. CIRB scientists have achieved this feat under the project entitled- Cloning for conservation and multiplication of superior buffalo germplasm.With this achievement, CIRB becomes India’s second institute to produce cloned buffalo.National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal was the first to produce a cloned calf (Samrupa) in India.