Biotechnology turns the science of biology into useful drugs and other products and includes many exciting area such as DNA analysis and Cell Culture. Science Bee will explore some of these areas.
Genetics and DNA Analysis
One of the chief characteristics of life is that it can reproduce itself. Although many animals and plants are quite complex and contain thousands of different kinds of cells, each cell contains a strand of genetic code called deoxyribonucleic acid, or more commonly, DNA.
To study the DNA of an organism, scientists first need to isolate its DNA before they can examine it. DNA is microscopic in size, but is extremely complicated. Fortunately, though, DNA is composed of just a few key types of molecules which can be readily identified.
Scientists use electrophoresis to identify the genes in DNA. Electrophoresis involves using certain chemicals (called restrictive enzymes) to break apart the DNA in predictable ways. Each fragment of DNA then has a characteristic size. In electrophoresis, a voltage is passed through the DNA fragments which sorts out the fragments according to size. Small fragments travel faster through the electrophoresis medium than do larger ones. So by measuring how far a gene fragment travels during electrophoresis, its size can be determined. Different genes can then be identified according to the sizes of their fragments.
Sometimes scientists only have a tiny amount of DNA to study. For example, only a tiny piece of hair or drop of blood might be found at a crime scene. PCR is a way of magnifying DNA by literally duplicating it through chemical reactions in alternate hot and cold cycles.
Cell Culture
Cell culture is life in a test tube. Individual cells are suspended in a nutrient and growth media. These cells divide and multiply, so it is possible to use cell culture to manufacture cells. Cell culture is vital to biotechnology. Genetically altering DNA requires a lot of work and expense. With cell culture, a single genetically modified cell can reprodice itself again and again, producing many instances of that cell.
Cloning
Just as PCR involves duplicating DNA, cloning is a way to duplicate genetically identical cells. Unlike cell culture, though, cloning can sometimes be used to replicate an entire large animal.
Cloning involves taking a cell and making a genetic duplicate of that cell. If that cell is an egg cell, it can be possible to produce genetically identical organisms, such as two genetically identical sheet. Unfortunately, cloning can duplicate DNA, but it can't duplicate the thoughts and life experiences of an individual human.
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- Vedansh Tiwari
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