Biotechnology from Microbiology Perspective

Biotechnology has scaled many hurdles of advancement into a science that now covers all realms of human endeavours. It has been elevated into a pedestal of solving many of man's intractable problems of survival in this planet. Researches in biotech has now been intensified in medical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, biological and environmental sciences. The prying into the cells interior as in molecular biology and biochemistry has provided succour in forms of new drugs and chemicals, which have been found to alleviate difficult health problems such as cancer, heart disease and hypertension. Insulin, homones and growth factors, which hitherto were obtained from animal cells, are now being produced by fermentation of yeasts and bacteria. Monoclonal antibodies are now being produced from tissue cultures. These and other newer drugs obtained through biotech are now huge commercial success making them readily available and affordable. Advances in DNA recombinant technology and genetic engineering have created novel cell forms with improved characteristics which have impacted positively on human lives. However, the applications of cloning to humans have been resented by many governments due to ethical issues involved. Other microbiological dimensions of biotech will need to cover such areas as biopesticides, biofertilizer and environmental controls, etc. Indeed, microbiologists must exploit these advances to understand more of the molecular intricacies of cells; and to harvest the immense potentials of microorganisms in sustaining man's survival on earth. KEY WORDS: Biotechnology, cloning, microbiology, genomics. [Nig. Jnl Health & Biomedical Sciences Vol.1(1) 2002: 22-25