WHAT IS BIOTECHNOLOGY The simple definition of biotechnology

WHAT IS BIOTECHNOLOGY? ? The simple definition of biotechnology, is the use of living organisms by humans. United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as: "Any technological application that uses biological systems, dead organisms, or derivatives, to make or modify products or processes for specific use. "

BIOTECHNOLOGY TODAY: A BROAD SPECTRUM OF APPLICATIONS Today, the known applications for biotechnology can be seen as a spectrum.

WHITE (GREY) BIOTECHNOLOGY: White biotechnology is applied to industrial processes. An important example is bioremediation by microbes, where microbes are utilized to clean up toxic or hazardous industrial wastes in the environments.

A second example is the use of microbes to produce products for industrial use, such as the subtilisin enzymes now widely used in laundry detergents.

RED BIOTECHNOLOGY: Red biotechnology refers to medical applications of biotechnology, such as antibiotics and pharmaceuticals that are based on recombinant DNA technology.

GREEN BIOTECHNOLOGY: Green biotechnology refers to agricultural applications, such as production of diseaseresistant or UV-resistant plants, or plants that have superior qualities, by means of genetic modification.

BLUE BIOTECHNOLOGY: Blue Biotechnology applies to marine or aquatic applications, such as restoring or preserving various aquatic species, such as blue crabs.

MULTICOLORED BIOTECHNOLOGY: Biotechnology is often interdisciplinary, and so many applications may be classified in more than one color category. For example, production of biodiesel fuel from agricultural or waste materials could be considered to be both white and green, or white and blue, biotechnology.

BIOINFORMATICS, GENOMICS, AND STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY: Recent advances in computer science has a great impact on the development in biotechnology, that rely on rapid microprocessors, massive databases, and clever algorithms for analysis and interpretation of large amounts of information.

Biotechnology also proves its immense applications at every step of human life such as, health care, crop improvement, development of valuable products and to solve some of environmental problems.