Q.Highlight five areas where biotechnology has influenced our lives.

Biotechnology has touched nearly every corner of modern life, and the NCERT textbook highlights five key areas where its influence is most visible.

First, healthcare and medicine — this is the most dramatic area. We now have genetically engineered insulin (humulin) for diabetes, gene therapy for immune disorders like SCID, and molecular diagnostics (e.g., PCR and ELISA) for early disease detection. Second, agriculture — genetically modified crops (e.g., Bt cotton, Bt brinjal) are engineered for pest resistance, reducing pesticide use, while other GM crops are developed for enhanced nutrition (e.g., golden rice with beta-carotene). Third, food processing and industry — enzymes produced by genetically modified microbes (e.g., rennet for cheese, lipases for detergents) are used on a massive scale, making processes cheaper and more efficient. …

The story of biotechnology is not just a scientific one — it is a deeply human one. It begins with the ancient practice of fermenting grapes into wine or curdling milk into cheese, long before anyone knew what a microbe was. Today, however, biotechnology means something far more deliberate: the use of living organisms, or parts of them, to make or modify products, to improve plants or animals, or to develop microorganisms for specific uses. The NCERT textbook defines it as “the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products.” And because this power now lets us cut and paste genes across species — even across kingdoms — it forces us to ask: just because we can, does it mean we should?

Let us look at five concrete areas where biotechnology has already touched your life, often without you noticing.

1. Medicine and Healthcare

This is the most visible arena. Insulin for diabetes used to be extracted from the pancreases of pigs and cows — expensive, scarce, and sometimes allergenic. In 1978, scientists inserted the human insulin gene into E. coli bacteria, turning these microbes into living insulin factories. The result? Humulin, the first genetically engineered drug approved for human use. Today, the same principle gives us human growth hormone, blood-clotting factors for haemophilia, and vaccines produced in yeast or animal cells. The NCERT highlights that “recombinant DNA technology” has made it possible to produce therapeutic proteins in large quantities, safely and affordably. Gene therapy, though still experimental, aims to fix faulty genes directly — a breathtaking leap from treating symptoms to curing causes.

2. Agriculture and Food Production

If you have eaten a modern tomato, you have likely tasted biotechnology. Genetically modified (GM) crops are engineered for traits that traditional breeding could never achieve: resistance to pests (Bt cotton, which carries a bacterial gene that kills bollworms), tolerance to herbicides (soybeans that survive glyphosate spray), or enhanced nutrition (Golden Rice, fortified with beta-carotene to prevent blindness in children). The NCERT notes that Bt cotton is the only GM crop approved for commercial cultivation in India. Beyond GM, biotechnology gives us tissue culture — cloning a prize orchid or a disease-free banana plant from a single cell. And then there are the microbes: cheese, yoghurt, bread, and idli all depend on controlled fermentation, the oldest biotechnology of all.

3. Industrial and Environmental Applications

Biotechnology has quietly revolutionised manufacturing. Enzymes — biological catalysts — are now used in detergents to break down stains at low temperatures, in leather processing to replace harsh chemicals, and in paper production to bleach pulp without chlorine. The NCERT mentions that “bioreactors” are used to grow microorganisms that produce these enzymes on an industrial scale. On the environmental front, microbes are deployed to clean up oil spills (bioremediation), to treat sewage, and to degrade plastic waste. Genetically engineered bacteria can even be designed to accumulate heavy metals from contaminated soil — a kind of living sponge for pollution.

4. Forensic Science and Criminal Justice …

Method — one sentence per domain, five domains

Health: molecular diagnostics (PCR/ELISA) + gene therapy + recombinant drugs (insulin).

Agriculture: GM crops (Bt cotton, Golden Rice) for pest resistance/nutrition.

Industry: enzymes from GM microbes (detergents, cheese-making).

Environment: bioremediation using engineered microbes. …