Biotechnology as science fiction as it sounds it is more than meets the eyes about it. A ton of things about Biotechnology that is considered as facts that you even never heard of. But Worry no more! we gather the source around the globe so you can take a scoop on these interestingly fun facts about biotechnology.
First stop, we go back where it all begins. Did you know that Biotechnology’s humble beginning can be traced back as far back as 1919? As quoted from Explore Biotech by Steve Minchin “Roughly 50 years later (After 1919), researchers used bacterial genes to perform the first successful recombinant-DNA experiment. The field of biotechnology has since reached an astounding height in producing sophisticated medicines, medical devices, diagnostics, biomaterials, and more.”
DNA’s nickname is “Information Molecule” because of its ability to pass on genetic information from one cell (or cells) to another. According to computational biologist Nick Goldman. “Researchers have stored as much as 700 terabytes of data in a single gram of DNA, while others have produced read-write DNA technology. If scaled properly, all of the information in the entire world – videos, photos, scientific papers, the Internet, and would fit in the back of a single van.” It’s almost as if DNA is just like your typical hard drives. and here are some more facts :
1. That About 99.9% of human DNA is the same. It is the other 0.1% that codes for all of the differences that make each person unique. Humans shares about 98% of their genes with chimpanzees, 92% with mice, 76% with zebrafish, 51% with fruit flies, and 18% with coli bacteria.
2. Each cell in your body contains about two meters of DNA. If laid end-to-end, it would measure 200 billion kilometers. That’s long enough to stretch from Earth to the sun 1,333 times. To put that in perspective, it would take 7.4 days for sunlight to travel the same distance. It’s like we’re infinite, pretty cool huh!
3. DNA fingerprinting can be used for paternity testing, identify criminals or exonerate falsely accused, even with the smallest amount of genetic material thanks to Polymerase Chain Reaction
Biotechnology has its greatest contribution to make in agriculture as in an environmental context. The most common is in improving crop yields. As it quotes from Sustainable Development and Biotechnology Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2009 “Biotechnology offers opportunities to design crops for specific environments and to make crops more efficient producers of food-energy than otherwise. Biotechnology can thus manipulate primary energy-flows; it can also reduce fossil-fuel energy inputs into agricultural systems. It could also contribute to the mitigation of environmental problems such as deforestation and soil erosion. Both food- and fuel-energy resources are key components of sustainability.” and here are some more facts about it :
Farmers can use biotechnology to help plants survive, warding off insects and better tolerance to herbicides. This allows a better harvest from these hardier plants.
PT Smart TBK succeeded create Dami Mas. This high-yielding seed was developing by bioengineering process. They use Biotechnology to improve the enzyme, It is a mutation or genetic engineering for traits improvement. Dami Mas will produce more Fresh Fruit Bunch, with the same exact land area.
Scientists have made some crops more resistant to disease. Several varieties of important crops have been given genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a natural insecticide. These new breed crops need less chemical spray to protect them from harmful insects or viruses, which is better for water, soil, and wildlife.
Biotech crops allow farmers to control weeds without plowing, leaving the carbon in the ground. Because when farmers plow their fields to kill weeds, it disturbs the soil and can release carbon into the atmosphere.
We know we just cover a small portion of the facts about Biotechnology. There are still so many more about it, like Biotechnology gives the greatest contribution to the advancement of healthcare. Boost up the food technology. You can live all those facts yourself by joining Us, i3L Biotechnology’s bachelor Program.
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