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Ward's World+McGraw Hill Biotechnology_2

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Biotechnology Article by: Milton Zaitlin, Biotechnology Program, Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Key Concepts • Biotechnology is a general term for any technique used to make or modify the products of living organisms. • The earliest practice of biotechnology was in the use of yeast and bacteria to produce various foods, including wine, bread, and cheese. • Modern biotechnology uses cell and tissue culture, cell fusion, molecular biology, and recombinant DNA technology to improve plants or animals or to develop useful microorganisms. • Biotechnology has applications in genetics, microbiology, immunology, agriculture, plant science, medicine, and environmental science. Access to this content is available to Ward's World readers for free from McGraw Hill's AccessScience, an award-winning, digital STEM resource containing exclusive articles written by expert scientists and engineers; biographies of well-known scientific figures; science news, videos, and animations; and much, much more. Instructors can use AccessScience to guide students on their research project journeys, to help students understand scientific concepts, to support distance learning efforts, in flipped classroom approaches, and in countless other ways. Ward's World and AccessScience have partnered to offer educators a no-obligation, free trial subscription to AccessScience. Request your free trial today to discover how valuable AccessScience can be for you and your students! Get your free trial now. Generally, any technique that is used to make or modify the products of living organisms in order to improve plants or animals or to develop useful microorganisms. According to the general definition, biotechnology has actually been practiced for centuries, as exemplified by the use of yeast and bacteria in the production of various foods, including wine, bread, and cheese. However, in modern terms, biotechnology has come to mean the use of cell and tissue culture, cell fusion, molecular biology, and, in particular, recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology (Fig. 1) to generate unique organisms with new traits or organisms that have the potential to produce specific products. The advances and products in the biotechnology arena have been developing at a rapid pace. Still, the manipulation of biological processes for commercial exploitation and benefit has led to controversy. Some examples of products in a number of important disci- plines are described below. Genetics Recombinant DNA technology has opened new horizons in the study of gene function and the regulation of gene action (Fig. 2). In particular, the ability to insert genes and their controlling nucleic acid sequences into new recipient organisms allows for the manipulation of these genes in order to examine their activity in unique environments, away from the constraints posed in their normal host. Trans- formed plants, animals, yeast, and bacterial genes may be examined in this way. + ward ' s science Fig. 1: Recombinant DNA technology is a key tool for many biotechnological applications. As shown here, recombinant DNA technology is used to splice a human gene (in this case, the one for insulin) into a bacterial plasmid; then, by various biotechnological procedures, bacteria that are capable of making human insulin are the final product. (Credit: National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health) Content • Genetics • Microbiology • Immunology • Agricultural science (plant and animal) • Plant science • Medicine • Environment

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