Applications of Biotechnology

This closing section is essentially a consolidated 'so what' for the entire chapter - gathering, in one place, the wide practical footprint biotechnology already has across sectors that were each only touched on individually earlier. On the agricultural side: transgenic crop varieties such as Bt cotton, along with genetically modified rice, tomato, tobacco, cauliflower, potato and banana, bred specifically to be more resistant to pests, environmental stress and disease than their conventional counterparts. On the medical side: the synthesis of human insulin and other blood proteins directly inside E. coli, a genuine breakthrough for treating insulin-deficiency disorders that previously depended on limited, animal-derived insulin supplies; alongside the synthesis of vaccines, therapeutic enzymes and antibiotics. On the industrial and food side: fermentation-derived dairy products and alcoholic beverages, and even biochip-based biological computing, listed here as one of biotechnology's more unusual, cutting-edge successes. Tissue culture technique - the aseptic cultivation of a single totipotent plant cell into a genetically identical plant clone under fully controlled conditions - sits alongside genetic engineering as one of the two core techniques underpinning much of this. And on the resource/sustainability side: single-cell protein from Spirulina used directly in the food industry; secondary metabolites, biofertilisers, b …