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What is the difference between biotechnology and genetic engineering?
People have been using biotechnology for millennia. This technology is based on the use of microorganisms, which e.g. ferment the sugar in barley to alcohol during beer production. Other examples of everyday products that undergo biotechnological processing are cheese, yogurt, vinegar, wine, yeast, and sourdough. Without knowledge of the exact backgrounds, our ancestors used these methods to discover and improve a range of applications that made their life easier. Genetic engineering is a modern subspecialty of biotechnology. It is concerned with the targeted modification of the genetic material of bacteria or plants, for example to stimulate them to biosynthesize desired products. Today genetic engineering is primarily used in the field of medicine, but is also applied in industry and agriculture.
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The language of the genes - the basis for genetic engineering
A fundamental prerequisite for targeted gene modification is that the cells of organisms, such as animals and plants, are more similar to each other than the actual organisms themselves appear to be. The cell is the smallest unit of life in a biological organism. There are various types of cells with different tasks. Despite many differences in function and structure, all cells are built according to the same basic pattern. The main constituents of cells are proteins, lipids (fats) and carbohydrates (sugars). A cell’s genetic information is stored in chromosomes in the cells interior. Chromosomes comprise proteins and a chemical substance called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA is composed of many combinations of the four basic building blocks adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T); the four letters that go to make up the genetic alphabet. Certain segments of the DNA contain the “building instructions”, called genes, which describe specific functions of the organism. With a few exceptions the chemical structure of the genetic material is identical in all cells and organisms. The same alphabet and the same language, as it were, are used throughout. Biotechnology is only possible because the genetic code is nearly universal. For example, the genetic information containing, for example, the building instructions for a plant protein can be integrated into a bacterium. The bacterium is then able to produce that protein.
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DNA transfer
Genetic engineering is used for the targeted transfer of a gene from one cell to another one. In the process special proteins are used as biological "scissors" and "glues". The scissors are restriction enzymes and the glues are ligases. Simply put, gene transfer occurs as follows. The genetic engineer takes cells and isolates their total genetic material in the form of DNA. Using a restriction enzyme, he cuts the desired gene out of the DNA. This gene is, for example, to be inserted into a bacterium. To achieve this, a circular piece of genetic material, a so-called plasmid, must be removed from the bacterium and cut. Then the gene and plasmid are placed in a test tube and the "glue", a ligase, is added. In this manner the two pieces of DNA are “glued” together. The recombined plasmid is then reinserted in the bacterium, where it is replicated. The detailed process involves many steps. The Xplore online lab provides a description and a game allowing you to reproduce the process.
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Applications for biotechnology
In the last decade biotechnology has developed in three directions which can be assigned the colors red, white and green. Red biotechnology designates the medical/pharmaceutical branch of biotechnology. Bacteria, fungi, or cell cultures are used to produce drugs such as insulin. Red biotechnology is also becoming increasingly more important in modern diagnostics. In white or industrial biotechnology, industrial products are produced with the aid of living microorganisms or cellular components. In this manner classical production procedures are improved or new products created.
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Biotechnology and BASF
BASF is active in the field of white biotechnology and in plant biotechnology. We use white biotechnological methods in the field of fine chemistry and intermediates, in order to produce, for example, enzymes and chiral intermediates. In plant biotechnology we focus on the development of crop plants. For example, the plants should make more healthy nutrition possible due to improved ingredients.
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