Q.Explain the beneficial role of the following, produced as a result of the processes of biotechnology, to mankind :
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Both Rosie the cow and alpha-1-antitrypsin are landmark achievements of biotechnology — Rosie was engineered to produce human-like milk for infant nutrition, while alpha-1-antitrypsin is a therapeutic protein made in transgenic sheep to treat a fatal lung disease.
Let us begin with the cow named Rosie, because her story is a beautiful example of how biotechnology can improve everyday life. Rosie was a transgenic cow — meaning her DNA had been altered by inserting a human gene. The specific gene she carried was for the human protein alpha-lactalbumin. Why does that matter? Because alpha-lactalbumin is a major protein found in human breast milk, and it is crucial for infant nutrition. Normal cow's milk has very little of this protein, making it less ideal for human babies. By engineering Rosie to produce milk rich in alpha-lactalbumin, scientists created a product that is much closer to human milk in composition. The NCERT textbook highlights this as a clear success: Rosie's milk was more nutritious for human infants and also had better balance of amino acids than ordinary cow's milk. So Rosie's beneficial role was in the field of nutrition — providing a healthier, more human-like milk for babies who cannot be breastfed.
Rosie was not the first transgenic cow, but she was the first to produce a human protein in her milk. This technique — using animals as "bioreactors" — is now a standard method in biotechnology.
Now, alpha-1-antitrypsin (often abbreviated as AAT) is a different kind of product, but it comes from the same basic idea: using transgenic animals to make human therapeutic proteins. AAT is a protein that protects the lungs from damage caused by enzymes like neutrophil elastase. In people who lack this protein — a genetic condition called alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency — the lungs are slowly destroyed, leading to emphysema and other serious breathing problems. The standard treatment is to inject purified AAT from human blood donors, but that supply is limited and carries risks of infection. Biotechnology offered a solution: insert the human gene for AAT into the DNA of sheep, so that the sheep produce the protein in their milk. The NCERT textbook specifically mentions that this was done successfully — transgenic sheep were created that secreted alpha-1-antitrypsin in their milk, and the protein could then be extracted and purified for medical use. The beneficial role here is therapeutic — it provides a safe, abundant, and cost-effective source of a life-saving drug for patients with a debilitating lung disease. …
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