Applications of Biotechnology
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Contents
1) GM Crops
- GM Crops, Advantages and Controversies
- Crops whose DNA has been altered are known as GM crops. This genetic modification of crops can add or remove certain characteristics from the plant and thus can bring many advantages.
- Make crops more tolerant to anti-biotic stresses (cold, drought, salt, heat) etc. E.g., GM Rubber developed by Rubber Research Institute of India
- Make plants Pest Tolerant.
- Reduces reliance on chemical pesticides.
- E.g. BT cotton, BT Brinjal (in Bangladesh)
- Help to reduce post-harvest losses
- Enhance the nutritional value of food, e.g., Golden Rice (Vitamin A enriched rice)
- Tailor-made plants to supply alternative resources to industries, in the form of starches, fuels, and pharmaceuticals.
- Crops whose DNA has been altered are known as GM crops. This genetic modification of crops can add or remove certain characteristics from the plant and thus can bring many advantages.
A) BT Cotton
- Specific BT Toxic gene (cry1Ac) were isolated from Bacillus thuringiensis and incorporated into several crop plants such as cotton. This produces proteins that kill certain insects such as lepidopterans (tobacco budworm, armyworm), beetles, etc.
- It has been grown in India since 2002 and over the years have given increase productivity and area under crop cultivation. It has also led to decrease in insecticide which fought bollworms by 97%.
- But it has also raised concerns like increased water consumption, and emergence of pesticide resistant pests (e.g., pink bullworm), and increased use of insecticide for controlling pests like sucking pests.
B) BT Brinjal
- Transgenic Brinjal created by inserting a crystal protein gene (Cry1Ac) from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into the genome of various brinjal cultivar. It gives resistance against lepidopteron insects in particular the Brinjal fruit and shoot border (BFSB), the most common pest which affects 30-50% of the Brinjal crops.
- The crop also cleared the GEAC’s biosafety test in 2009. But government yielded to anti-GM activists and declared a moratorium in 2010 on the crop.
- But some cases of illegal BT Brinjal cultivation were observed in Haryana in 2019
- Why are some groups calling for allowing of BT Brinjal in India?
- It had cleared the GEAC’s biosafety test in 2009.
- Increased benefit for farmers: Popular all over the world. In Bangladesh studies shows zero borer infestation which has led to cut in input pesticide use by 60%.
- When GM Crops are not officially available, farmers turn to unapproved knock offs that may not conform to accepted biosafety standards.
- Why is BT Brinjal not allowed in India? Why is it opposed by various activists?
- There are fears that it may impact India’s plant biodiversity. India has more than 3,000 natural varities of Brinjal and activists are worried that if BT Brinjal is allowed in India all varieties will be contaminated.
- Further, cross pollination may lead to herbicide resistant super weeds that can further threaten environment and biodiversity.
- Health Impact is something that needs to be studied more.
- Not so obvious benefits: A recent study from surveys of farmers indicate that 2/3rd of the farmers who moved to BT Brinjal have had a ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ experience.
C) GM Mustard
- What is GM Mustard?
- DMH-11 (Dhara Mustard Hybrid) is a genetically modified (GM) mustard Hybrid.
- GM mustard is the country’s first genetically modified food crop.
- It was developed by a team of scientists led by former Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental, of DU at Center for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), Delhi University by crossing Indian mustard cultivars with juncea lines of East European origin like ‘Early Heera’ and Donskaja.
- Claim of higher yield:
- Claims around 30% more yield than the traditional varieties
- What genetic modification was achieved and what are its benefit?
- Barnase gene and Barster gene from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
- Barnase impairs pollen production
- Barster blocks the function of Barnase
- Hybridization becomes possible:
- This method was used to developed DMH-11 by crossing a popular Indian mustard variety ‘Varuna’ (the barnese line) with an East European ‘Early Heera-2’ mutant (barstar).
- Barnase gene and Barster gene from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
- Arguments for and against approval of GM mustard
- For
- Higher Production
- Reducing Import Dependency
- Saving Forex
- Keeping India Scientifically relevant
- Against
- The main contention is that the GM mustard incorporates three alien genes – barnase, barstar, and bar – rendering it inherently unsafe for human and animal health.
- But these genes have already been deployed in Canola, and we import it freely.
- Mustard is a food crop unlike cotton, so both should not be compared
- All health effects not properly known yet
- Environmental damages should be studied properly first.
- Yield claims have been challenged by many organizations=
- The main contention is that the GM mustard incorporates three alien genes – barnase, barstar, and bar – rendering it inherently unsafe for human and animal health.
- For
- GEAC Approval (Oct 2022)
- In Oct 2022, GEAC approved commercial cultivation of genetically modified mustard yet again. The approval allowed environmental release of two varieties of genetically engineered mustard, so that it can be used for developing new parental lines and hybrids under the supervision of ICAR. The environmental release of DMH-11 will allow for its seed production and testing as per existing ICAR guidelines and other extant rules/ regulations prior to commercial release. The field demonstration studies on the effect of GE mustard on honeybees and other pollinators was also allowed to be conducted.
D) GM RUBBER – Developed by Kerala based – Rubber Research Institute of India
- Rubber Research Institute of India have developed a plant tailored for the climatic conditions in the Northeast.
- Rubber board research farm at Sarutari on the outskirts of Guwhati now sports world’s first GM rubber plant, tailored for climatic condition in the north-east.
- Genetic Modification: The GM rubber has additional copies of the gene MnSOD, or manganese-containing superoxide dismutase, inserted in the plant, which is expected to tide over the severe cold conditions during winter – a major factor affecting the growth of young rubber plants in the region.
E) INCREASING THE NUTRIENT CONTENT – GOLDEN RICE
- Golden Rice
- What is Golden Rice?
- The IRRI and its national research partners have developed golden rice to complement existing interventions to address vitamin A deficiency (VAD). It is a serious public health problem affecting millions of children and pregnant women globally.
- Golden rice is variety of rice produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesize beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is a nutrient similar to what is found in orange colored fruits and vegetables and is converted into Vitamin-A as needed by the body.
- Thus, golden rice can help south and south-east Asian countries, where two-thirds or more of daily calorific intake is obtained from rice. Research has indicated that the golden rice can provide upto 50% of the daily requirement of an adult for vitamin A.
Goldenricewasoneofthe 7winnersofthe2015Patentsfor Humanity Awardsby the United States Patent and Trademark Office
- What is Golden Rice?
- Safety Evaluation by International Rice Research Institute
- The safety evaluation of Golden rice has shown that it is as safe and nutritious as conventional rice but comes with added benefit of beta-carotene.
- About International Rice Research Institute:
- IRRI is the world’s premiere research organization dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger through rice science; improving the health and welfare of rice farmers and consumers; and protecting the rice growing environment for future generation.
- It is an independent, non-profit, research and educational institute, founded in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefellar foundations with support from the Phillipines government.
- The institute is headquartered in Los Banos, Philippines and has offices in 17 rice-growing countries in Asia and Africa.
- It works with in-country partners to develop advanced rice varieties that yield more grain and better withstand pests and disease as well as flooding, drought, and other harmful effects of climate change.
F) Issue of Illegal cultivation of GM Crops:
- BT Brinjal Illegal cultivation in Haryana Rajasthan etc
- Sale of Illegal HTBt (Herbicide tolerant Bt) cotton seeds has doubled this year(June 2021)
- The HTBt cotton variant adds another layer of modification to BT cotton, making the plant resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, but has not been approved by regulators.
- Support for HTBt: Groups like Shetkari Sangathan are demanding the legalization of HTbt cotton.
- Saves cost: Weeding labour cost reduces, only one round of glyphosate spraying is needed to deal with the weed.
- Illegal sales reduce accountability, hampers government revenue and farmers are at risk of getting wrong information.
- Concerns/Fears:
- Glyphosate have carcinogenic effect
- Unchecked spread of herbicide resistance to nearby plants through pollination, creating a variety of superweeds etc.
G) SCIENTISTS ARE ENGINEERING PLANTS TO PRODUCE INSECT ‘SEX PERFUME’ TO REPLACE PESTICIDES (APRIL 2023)
- Researchers areengineering tobacco plantstoproduce mothpheromonesthat couldpotentially be used to create traps that can lure insects as a replacement for harmful pesticides.
- Note: Pheromones are chemicals that are produced and released by animals. When they are released by an individual of a species, they effect the behaviour of other individuals. Animals secrete these pheromones to trigger different kinds of behaviour. The pheromones that trigger sexual arousal can be thought of as a kind of ‘sex perfume’, attracting other individuals of the same species.
- The researchers engineered plants to produce chemicals that mimic these pheromones.
- Note:
- Chemically produced insect pheromones are already used for pest control and have been for some decades. Some insect traps contain pheromones to attract the insect to them, for use in the house garden, and in food production systems.
- Disadvantages of these chemically produced pheromones: It is not possible to make complex pheromones by this mechanism. Moreover, chemical manufacturing process produces a number of other pollutants.
- GM Crop Route:
- Researchers used Nocotiana benthamiana, a species of tobacco.
- Note: The same plant has been engineered to produce ebola antibodies and even coronavirus like particles for use in COVID vaccine.
- Here, scientists built a sequence of DNA in the lab that mimic moth’s genes and also put in place a few molecular switches that can precisely regulate how the molecules are formed. The switches can turn the manufacturing process on and off.
- Advantages of using pheromones: They are highly species specific and unlike broad spectrum pesticides don’t kill other species of pollinators.
2) REDUCED HEIGHT GENES (RHT): ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS
Introduction
- Since the 1960s and the Green Revolution, reduced height (Rht) genes have increased global yields because the short-stemmed wheat they produce puts more investment into the grains rather than into the stems and has improved standing ability. It leads to reduced risk of lodging, increase in partitioning and assimilation of grains, more fertile florets per spriklet and higher harvest index (the proportion of plant weight in grains).
- The high yielding wheat variety developed by Borlaug, which required higher use of fertilizers and pesticides, produced bigger grains. However, the heavier grains caused the plants to become unstable and prone to lodging. Therefore, Borlaug introduced dwarfing genes into wheat giving plants a stronger, shorter stem that resisted lodging.
- 21 reduced height genes in wheat Rht1 – Rht21, have been described so far.
- In India, the presently available semi-dwarf varieties, which were explored during the Green Revolution, carry conventional Rht1 dwarfing alleles (variant form of a given gene) and produce optimum yields under high-fertility irrigated conditions.
- Limitations of Dwarf wheats:
- Dwarf wheats are not well adapted to deeper sowing condition This is due to shorter coleoptiles, and low early vigor often results into reduced seedling emergence. Further shorter coleoptiles lead to crop residue posing a problem for seedling emergence.
- These wheats also don’t work in drought conditions they can’t be planted deep inside the soil to access moisture. They will fail to reach the surface of the soil.
- Key Research to solve the issue:
- Scientists at Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), an autonomous institute of DST, have mapped to alternative dwarfing genes of Rht14 and Rht18. These genes are associated with better seedling vigor and longer coleoptiles (sheath protecting the young shoot tip).
- Advantages:
- The new wheat variety will be suitable for sowing under rice stubble retained condition and in dry environments. It would thus reduce the need of water and also contribute to reduction in crop stubble burning.
- It also diversifies the genetic base of dwarfing genes considering diverse wheat growing zones in India.
- Recent research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal on 23rd Nov 2022 says that Scientists at the John Innes Centre, in collaboration with an international team of researchers, have discovered the new “reduced height” or semi dwarf gene called Rht13. The varieties of wheat with Rht13 gene could be rapidly bred into wheat varities to enable farmers to grow reduced-height wheat in drier soil conditions.
Rht13 overcome this problem of seedling emergence because the gene acts in tissues higher-up in the wheat stem. So, the dwarfing mechanism only takes effects once the seedling has fully emerged. This gives farmers a significant advantage when planting deeper in dry conditions.
3) BIOTECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATION IN MEDICINES
The recombinant DNA technological processes have had a great impact in the area of health care by enabling mass production of safe and more effective therapeutic drugs.
- Further, the recombinant therapeutics do not induce unwanted immunological responses as is common in case of similar products isolated from non-human sources.
- At present, more than 30 recombinant therapeutics have been approved for human-use the world over.
- In India, around 12 of these are presently being marketed.
A) VACCINES (COVERED SEPARATELY WITH HEALTH SECTION)
- For e.g.,various vaccinesfor COVID-19weredeveloped with thehelp of biotechnology –mRNA vaccines, vaccines with attenuated virus
B) MASS PRODUCTION OF EFFECTIVE THERAPEUTICS
- The recombinant DNA technological processes have had a great impact in the area of health care by enabling mass production of safe and more effective therapeutic drugs.
- Advantages of recombinant therapeutics: Further, the recombinant therapeutics do not induce unwanted immunological responses as is common in case of similar products isolated from non-human sources.
- At present, more than 30 recombinant therapeutics have been approved for human-use the world over.
- In India, around 12 of these are presently being marketed
C) GENETICALLY ENGINEERED INSULIN
- Earlier, Insulin used for diabetes was extracted from pancreas of slaughtered cattle and pigs.
- Caused patients to develop some kind of allergies or other kinds of reactions to the foreign protein.
- Structure of Insulin
- Insulin consists of two short polypeptide chains: Chain A and Chain B, that are linked together by disulphide bridges.
- In Mammals, including humans, insulin is synthesized as a pro-hormone (like a pro-enzyme, pro hormone also needs to be processed before it becomes a fully mature and functional hormone) which contains an extra stretch called C peptide.
- This C peptide is not present in the mature insulin and is removed during maturation into insulin.
- The main challenge for production of insulin using rDNA technique was getting insulin assembled into a mature form.
- How this was achieved through Biotechnology
- In1983,Eli Lillyan American company prepared two DNA sequences corresponding to A and B, chains of human insulin and introduced them in plasmids of E. coli to produce insulin chains.
- Chains A and B were produced separately, extracted and combined by creating disulphide bonds to form human insulin.
D) GENE THERAPY
Introduction
If a person is born with a hereditary disease, can a corrective therapy be taken for such disease? Gene therapy is an attempt to do this.
Gene therapy refers to the process of introduction, removal or change in the content of an individual’s genetic material with the goal of treating the disease and a possibility of achieving long term cure.
Gene Therapy Products (GTPs) include the mechanisms to deliver nucleic acid components by various means for therapeutic benefit to patients. They include entities that are used for things like gene augmentation, gene editing, gene silencing, synthetic or chimeric gene augmentation etc.
Note: Not all medical procedures that introduce alterations to a patient’s genetic makeup can be considered a gene therapy. For e.g.: Bone Marrow transplantation and organ transplants in general have been found to introduce foreign DNA into patients.
Advantages of promoting gene therapy
- Permanent treatment for genetic diseases: the therapeutic approach earns the advantage of being long lasting, sometimes permanent result.
- High burden of rare genetic diseases in India: Around 7 core of India’s population suffers from rare genetic diseases. Gene therapy can prove to be a turning point in treatment of such genetic diseases.
- Worldwide market of upto $250 billion by 2025; continuous scope of medical tourism.
- In USA and Europe, the approval of several gene therapy products in USA and EU have paved the way for development of therapies for a variety of previously untreatable disorders. The guidelines should help in development and fast tracking of approval of such GTPs in India too.
Concerns/Limitations
- Promotion of development of gene therapy also brings along with it unique technical risks and ethical challenges.
Technical Challenges
- The gene therapy may be associated with unwanted immune system reactions. For e.g. when vectors (viruses) are attacked by the immune system of the body.
- Current gene therapy mechanisms can sometimes target the wrong cells.
- The delivery viruses may mutate and become harmful.
Ethical Challenges
- For e.g. creation of GM babies using germline gene editing by a Chinese scientist attracted global criticism and fuelled debate on ethical concerns regarding applications of gene therapy technologies.
- Playing god debate
National Guidelines for Gene Therapy Product Development and Clinical Trials – Released by ICMR in Dec 2019: Key Highlights
- The guidelines are aimed at ensuring that gene therapies are introduced in India and clinical trials for gene therapy can be performed in an ethical, scientific and safe manner.
- They provide the general principles for developing gene therapy products (GTPs) for any human ailment and provide a framework for all areas of GTP production including pre-clinical testing, clinical administration, human clinical trials, as well as long term follow up. These must follow the established general principles of biomedical research.
- They apply to all stakeholders involved in the field of gene therapy including researchers, clinicians, oversight/regulatory committees, industry, patient support groups and any other involved in GTP development or their application in humans and their derivatives.
- The guidelines will serve as a roadmap for those in the field trying to develop gene and cell therapies and will thus contribute to accelerating the development of advanced therapeutic options
- ICMR has also proposed setting up of task force to promote gene technology research in the country.
Conclusion:
- Gene therapy will create more choices for patients who currently live in challenging, or with incurable diseases.
- The guidelines should only be the first step towards promoting the development of GTP in the country. It should be accompanied by increased investment in the sector, R&D support avenues, and education and awareness amongst the clinical community.
- All the stakeholders need to work on this field on priority for not only ensuring better life for 7 crore Indians living with various genetic diseases but to also ensure that India remains at the forefront of providing cost effective and high quality health services.
Example Questions
- Gene therapy is gaining popularity in developed countries to treat various types of rare genetic disorders. Describe briefly what gene therapy is and what advantages it has over other treatments? [250 words, 15 marks]
- How are National Guidelines for Gene Therapy Product development and Clinical Trials, 2019 going to contribute to the gene therapy development in the country. [250 words, 15 marks]
C) Biotechnology and Environment
- GM algae, crops etc. can provide more biomass for biofuel
- Fighting plant and animal diseases
- Waste Treatment / Bio-Remediation
- Biodiversity Conservation
- E.g. -> De-extinction of species; Colossal is a new bioscience and genetics company, with the idea of bringing many extinct species back to life. Scientists at Harvard University in the USA would insert the Giant Woolly mammoth’s (extinct 4,000 years ago) genes responsible for tiny ears, subcutaneous fat and hair length and Color into living elephant skin cells. Once they are successful in bringing these hybrids back to life, Colossal will proceed with the ultimate goal of reviving the ancient extinct animals by producing more such hybrids.
Criticism: Immoral; revival of these species may threaten the existing ecosystem and disturb the food chain which has evolved over the years; Rather than focusing on revival of long extinct species, biotechnology should focus on protecting the existing ones.