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What is biotechnology?

Biotechnology is a scientific field that merges biology and technology to enhance quality of life through the use of living cells and DNA manipulation. It encompasses various applications, including environmental, medical, industrial, plant, molecular, animal, pharmaceutical, and marine biotechnology, each serving distinct purposes. The field is categorized by color, representing different research areas such as red for health, green for agriculture, and blue for marine studies.

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5 views

What is biotechnology?

Biotechnology is a scientific field that merges biology and technology to enhance quality of life through the use of living cells and DNA manipulation. It encompasses various applications, including environmental, medical, industrial, plant, molecular, animal, pharmaceutical, and marine biotechnology, each serving distinct purposes. The field is categorized by color, representing different research areas such as red for health, green for agriculture, and blue for marine studies.

Uploaded by

englishwitherika
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is biotechnology?

Biotechnology is a branch of science that combines biology and technology to improve


people's quality of life. It uses living cells or any of their components to develop products with
specific aims.

There was a scientific breakthrough that was a turning point in biotechnology: the
manipulation of DNA. From then on, two eras of biotechnology are differentiated:

Traditional biotechnology, which doesn’t use DNA manipulation techniques, and


​ Modern biotechnology, which uses genetic engineering to manipulate the DNA of
organisms for different purposes.
Both currently serve our society.

Applications of biotechnology today


Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary area applied to pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food
sciences, and forestry sciences. Its application results in improved medicines, more
productive crops and even more resilient materials. Let’s look at some of its applications:

● Environmental Biotechnology: Environmental biotechnology serves to create more


sustainable crops and to optimize natural resources. Some faculties of
microorganisms, fungi, enzymes, and plants are used to recover contaminated
ecosystems.
● Medical biotechnology: It represents a breakthrough in guiding the prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of diseases based on a person's genes. Medical
biotechnology makes it possible to create medicine, taking into account the
characteristics of each patient and their pathology.
● Industrial biotechnology: It uses enzymes and microorganisms to develop new
materials and biotechnological processes. It can be applied to packaging,
hydrocarbons, chemical products, cosmetics, biofuels, renewable fuels, textiles, etc.
● Plant Biotechnology: A series of techniques are used to improve the varieties of
plants, to avoid insect pests, diseases, and weeds that can destroy crops. It is also
used for phytoremediation, a combination of plant and environmental biotechnology,
which uses plants to decontaminate soils, purify water, and clean indoor air.
● Molecular biotechnology: It modifies biological systems to apply them to other
fields, such as biochemistry, genetics, or cell biology to study the interactions of the
different cell systems, including DNA with RNA, protein synthesis, and metabolism.
● Animal Biotechnology: Animal biotechnology studies three big areas: animal
genomics, the cloning of animals, and transgenic animals. The aim is to promote
human health, improve the health of land animals, develop improved foods, and
contribute to preserving the environment.
● Pharmaceutical Biotechnology: It examines the biological processes of cells,
bacteria, or other microorganisms to create pharmaceutical products such as
antibiotics, genetic therapies, vaccines, and more to research and cure diseases.
● Marine Biotechnology: It is one of the most recent branches that exclusively studies
marine beings to care for species and their ecosystem. The most important areas of
action are ocean pollution and algology, a science that would make it possible to
obtain cosmetic and food ingredients from algae.

Types of biotechnology by color, according to their area of research


The different types of biotechnology are grouped into colors, according to the area of
research:

● Red biotechnology: refers to the health branch which develops vaccines, drugs,
regenerative medicine, gene therapy, and new analysis and diagnosis techniques.
● Green biotechnology: applied to processes from the agricultural sector to nourish
crops, protect them from extreme weather events, and combat pests.
● White biotechnology: linked to the industrial sector. It studies the manufacturing
and development processes of biofuels so that industry is more sustainable and
efficient.
● Yellow biotechnology: researches the production of foods to reduce saturated fat
levels, modify calorie intakes, or supplement vitamins.
● Brown biotechnology: focuses on the treatment of arid and desert soils by studying
species that are highly resistant to saline and dry soils.
● Blue biotechnology: studies all the processes related to the seas and oceans to
obtain cosmetic, health, or aquaculture products.
● Gray biotechnology: focuses on the preservation and recovery of natural
ecosystems that have been altered by contaminants.
● Gold biotechnology: related to bioinformatics: the analysis of data in biological
processes (DNA sequences, amino acids, etc.).
● Black biotechnology: linked with bioterrorism and biological wars. Virulent
microorganisms that could become biological weapons or that counteract their
harmful effects are researched.
● Orange biotechnology: disseminates interesting information about biotechnology to
attract future scientists.
● Purple biotechnology: studies all legal aspects: safety measures, data protection,
patents, etc.).

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