Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Use of Biotechnology


BIOTECHNOLOGY


CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION


The development of science and technology recently in the fields of communication, transportation, health, agriculture, etc has rapidly advanced. All of them aim to improve the welfare of mankind. Likewise in the field of biology, there is development with the term Biotechnology. The meaning of biotechnology used recently emerged in 1979 by E.F. Hutton when he got his patent for the term ‘biotechnology.’ Biotechnology always means as a branch of biology that learns the use of organism particularly microorganism and its product with the help of technology to serve goods and services for the human interests.

Biotechnology is the use of scientific principals by using live creature (microorganism) to bear product or service for the human interest. The sciences that are used in supporting biotechnology are: microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics and physics, and also other science including economics. In biotechnology, microorganism and its parts are usually used to improve the additional value of a material. The other meaning of biotechnology is the interaction between biotechnology and technology that covers all forms of production by process of biological transformation. The term is used to explain a problem related to Genetic Engineering.

According to the Association of European Biotechnology, that the meaning of biotechnology is defined as the integrated use of biochemistry, microbiology, and chemical engineering that aims to reach the application of technology from the capacity of bred microbes and cells networks. The object of study and application of biotechnology concerns the issues from fermented food production to chemicals such as antibiotics, enzyme, ethanol, acetic acid, citric acid, Vitamin B12, and also the water waste processing, cell development, production of energy such as biogas, Nitrogen fixation, and reinvention of petrol.

The use of integrated biochemistry, microbiology and genetic engineering aims to reach the application of technology from the capacity of microbes and network culture cells.



CHAPTER II


DISCUSSION


A. Biotechnology is developed to improve the additional value of food

Biotechnology is developed to improve the additional value of food by making use the capacity of microorganism and its parts. Biotechnology is used in all fields, so that the object of study/research is very expansive, develops in stages according to the development and technology and also improves the needs of human being.

In broad outline, the development of biotechnology is divided into 4 stages as follows:

1. Biotechnology of food and beverage production.

The products known by the consumers (for example: fermented soybean [tempe], fermented cassava [tape], wine, Balinese brem, vinegar, sake, yogurt, cheese, bread, and fermented beverage from milk (yakult). This kind of biotechnology has expanded for thousands of years such as:

  1. In 6000 BC, yeast was used to make wine and beer.
  2. In 4000 BC, yeast was used to make bread that was expanded.
  3. In 1512, the important chemicals for human being such as acetone, butanes, and glycerol are obtained from bacteria.
  4. In 1926, Alexander Flamming invented antibiotics and it was produced in large scale in 1944.
  5. In 1926, it was found uranium incubation in tube with the help of microbes.

The research of microorganism with fermentation was initiated by Louis Pasteur so that he is called as the Founder of Biotechnology.


2. Biotechnology under a non-sterile condition (contaminated).

In the beginning, biotechnology is developed under the non-sterile condition which means the process of fermentation uses a fermentation opened to the environment so that it enables to be contaminated by other microorganism. The examples of non-sterile fermentation: process of making acetone, butane, acetate acid, ethanol, citric acid, lactate acid and glycerol, waste processing, and the making of solid compost from garbage.


3. Biotechnology under a sterile condition.

It means the process of fermentation uses a fermentation closed to the environment so that it doesn’t enable to be contaminated by any microorganism. Examples: product that is resulted in sterile condition, the making of penicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline, and other antibiotics, Vitamin B12, Cortisone, gibberellins, amino acid, and enzyme.


4. The application of new scientific results in biotechnology.

After doing research for many years, modern biotechnology is eventually developed, that uses biomolecular and control of process by applying genetic engineering.

Some of examples of modern biotechnology are:

a. Insulin hormone in large scale.

This hormone benefits for diabetes mellitus patient.

b. Interferon, i.e. a compound that is useful for healing certain disease caused by virus.

c. Row material for plastic industry by microbes (e.g. Alsaligenes eutripus and Aureum basidium pollutants).

d. Growth hormone (e.g. Bovin Somatropin Hormone), this hormone is used to improve the production of meat, and dairy milk.

e. Variety of plants those are resistant to drought and disease and also able to form fertilizer by theirselves.

f. Monoclonal Antibody (i.e. antibody that is yielded by cloning). This kind of antibody is useful to:

1. diagnose the disease of patient.

2. improve the body resistance toward cancer and other diseases.

g. The introduction of monoclonal antibody is the result of fusion (cell dissolving)

h. Protein resulted by genetic engineering, important to the healing of heart attack, and stroke.

i. Hepatitis vaccine as a result of genetic engineering.

j. The use of microbes in food industry, chemical industry, and waste processing (pollutant) industry.

k. The use of microbes to extract metal from industrial waste (e.g. Thiobaxillus ferroxidans bacteria)


B. Microorganism is able to yield and produce food

The more and more lacking in food resource for human motivates to find new food resources. Biotechnology gives chance for it, microorganism that is capable to multiply itself amazingly (e.g. bacteria, mushroom) makes human gives more attention to that microorganism.

Traditionally, microorganism is developed and used more as basic food of food changer through fermentation process.


1. The use of microbes for the production of protein.

Protein is a food material that is absolute for human. However, the success of Green Revolution has condemned the land that for long time yielding plants that produce protein (nut). To deal with the decrease of protein yielding, now it is developed a single cell protein (PSP : SCP = Single Cell Protein) by using microorganism. PSP is a food material with high level of protein coming from microbe. This microbe has a short enough period of generation changing and has protein level of 80%, far more then soybean or yeast.

Some of microorganisms that are effective for making are:

a. Metylophilus metylothropus, that is bred on methanol and tropina coming from khamir bred on petrol, or from residue of meat wrapper, residual paper of agriculture. SCP is commonly used as food for cattle (cow, sheep, and horse) so that those cattle produce milk and meat with high quality.

b. Fusarium mushroom, which is bred on KH medium from flour and potato. This kind of mushroom is able to produce microorganism that is SCP which is specially developed for human. This microprotein contains nutrient (food substance) with high value of nutrient, i.e. 45% of protein, 13% of fat, 42% of KH.

c. Alga Spirulina, yeast fungus (Saccaromyces cereviceae) and Candida Utilis fungus are microorganisms that can produce SCP. The SCP is not good enough for human body, because it has a high level of nucleate acid. In that case, if SCP is consumed by human, then it can cause a body upset (e.g. rheumatic).


2. The alteration of food using microorganism.

We don’t realize that most foods and beverages we often consume so far are the result of microorganism’s merit. Through fermentation done by microorganism, a certain food is altered into other food so that the flavor becomes more interesting or contains higher value of nutrient. The examples of that kind of food are:

* Cheese

Cheese is made from the result of fermentation of lactate acid bacteria (Lactobacillus bulgaris). And to increase the aroma and flavor, it is assisted by Pinicillium camemberti and Pinicillium roqueforti fungus. Types of cheese are as follows:

  1. Very hard cheese, e.g. Romano and Parmesan cheese.
  2. Hard cheese, e.g Cheddar and Swiss cheese. These kind of cheese is fermented by lactate acid bacteria, and under anaerobe condition so that it yields CO2 that will make holes on Swiss cheese during fermentation.
  3. Semi-soft cheese, e.g. blue cheese/roqueforti cheese. This cheese is a result of fermentation by Pinicillium Roqueforti fungus.
  4. Soft cheese, e.g. Camemberti cheese. This cheese is fermented by Pinicillium Camemberti fungus.

* Butter

Butter is made by mixing the cream (skim) so that it made fatty drops of butter separated from the butter milk. Butter milk is liquid of milk left after making butter. Today, butter milk is a liquid of milk (skim) which is cultivated with bacteria that is capable to form lactate acid. Such butter comes from the result of fermentation of lactobacillus bulgaris bacteria.

* Yogurt

Yogurt is made from sour cream, which is cultivated with lactate acid microorganism/bacteria. Yogurt is made from milk with low level of fat, in which a part of the water has been evaporated. To increase the acidity, the resulted thick milk is cultivated with Streptococcus thermophilus culture-bacteria, while to increase its flavor and aroma, it is cultivated with bacteria too, but the bacteria used here are Lactobasillus bulgaris.


3. Fermentation of Non-milk Food

Microorganism that helps to ferment non-milk food is yeast (Saccaromyces cereviseae). Yeast is mostly used to make bread, salted vegetable, alcoholic beverage (e.g. wine, sake, Balinese brem).

The making of bread, salted vegetable, and ketchup:

* In making bread, the batter of cake will be cultivated with yeast, the culture-spore will grow and ferment sugar in the batter so that it forms a CO2 bubbles. This fermentation under aerobe condition will motivate the production of CO2.

* In making salted cabbage (sauerkraut), and pickles, yeast is also used.

* In making ketchup, it uses Aspergillus wentii fungus. This fungus is able to ferment soybean long enough so that ketchup is yielded.

Some kind of microbes that are used to alter food into other form, for example:

  1. Rhizophus Oligophorus: to make tempe (fermented soybean) with soybean as the substrate/basic material.
  2. Neurospora sitophila: to make oncom, with peanut as the substrate.
  3. Saccaromyces cereviseae: to make tape (fermented cassava), with cassava or sticky rice as its substrate.
  4. Acetobacter xillinum: to make Nata de coco with coconut water as its substrate.


4. The making of alcohol and acetic acid

Almost all makings of alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, ale, wine, Balinese brem) need the use of yeast (Saccaromyces cereviceae). Beer and ale are made from seeds butter (e.g. paddy) which are fermented with yeast into ethanol and CO2.


5. The use of microbe in industry

Besides its important role in food and beverage industry, actually microbe also gives a big expectation in non-food industry. In the field of health, pharmacy, energy, etc the role of microbe absolutely provides a bright expectation. Some of industries that uses microorganism are as follows:

a. Citric acid industry

Citric acid which usually gives a bitter taste on the flavor of food is a basic element in various kinds of orange. Citric acid is initially known as metabolism product of Aspergilus niger fungus, but apparently it can be synthesized chemically, however it costs expensive enough if compared with fermentation with Aspergillus niger fungus. The benefit of citric acid is to help the making of milk and the making of detergent.

b. Enzyme industry

Some kinds of enzyme which are important for food industry are:

1. Amylase

Amylase enzyme is mostly used in syrup production from cornmeal, glue (starch) production, and glucose production from flour. This enzyme is yielded through microbe, i.e. Aspergillus niger fungus.

2. Protease Enzyme

Protease is a protein-controlling enzyme. The benefit of protease is to soften meat, as an additional agent in detergent to remove spot of protein.

3. Lipase Enzyme

Lipase is an enzyme for hydrolyzing fat. The benefit of lipase is to increase the flavor (aroma) of milk in milk industry. Lipase enzyme is yielded by Aspergillus niger fungus.

4. Vitamin Industry

Vitamin is a nutrient that is absolutely needed by our body; however our body doesn’t make it by itself. To deal with the increasing need of vitamin, today it has been found microbes that yield vitamin such as:

a. Pseudomonas sp. bacteria, and Propionibacterium sp.: able to help the making of vitamin B12.

b. Ashbya gossipi: able to yield vitamin Riboflavin.


C. Microorganism as a medicine producer or the role of microbe in the field of health.

Several kinds of microorganism have been long time used by human, as medicine producer because they are capable in yielding antibiotics. Such antibiotics can inhibit the growth of other microorganism, particularly parasite microbe on animal, human, or vegetation/cultivated plants so that it can heal a lot of diseases caused by germ infection.

An antibiotic that is initially yielded by microorganism is Penicillin which is yielded by Pinicillium notanum and Pinicillium chrysogenum. Such antibiotic was initially found by Alexander Flemming in 1928. Microorganisms which are able to make antibiotic are fungus (fungi), class of Aspergillus, and Actinomycetes and also bacterium.

By the invention of new technology, new antibiotic is also yielded through process of fusion (cell dissolving) by activating gene which is initially inactive. The new antibiotic is Interferon, a substance resulted by process of fusion or some antivirus compound that can heal some kinds of cancers.

The benefits of Inferon are:

1. to fight against infection caused by virus.

2. to improve the system of body resistance.

3. to fight against melanoma (skin cancer).

4. to fight against leukemia.

5. to heal bone rheumatic.


D. Microorganism as eradicator of plant disease or the role of microorganism in the field of agriculture.

In the nature, there are a lot of bacteria that only live as parasite on typical organism, and do not disturb other organism. The nature of this organism can be used in biotechnology of plant disease eradication or known as Biological control. For example: bacteria resulted by genetic engineering, i.e. bacterium minus ice (-4°C). It is sprayed into the body of plant, so that the bacterium will compete with other bacterium which is not yet engineered (e.g. Pseudomonas sp. bacterium). Then, the engineered bacterium will remove and change the normal bacterium (non-engineered). Thus, the destruction of body part that causes the decrease of crops can be minimized. After being applied in the field, the spraying of bacterium minus ice apparently can increase the crops/harvest.

The way bacterium destructs plant is: under condition of cold environment, bacterium is a seed crystal. It is because the water surrounding plant is frozen forming ice, then it expands forming sharp crystal that can destroy cell of plant, and tears the cell membrane, kills cell or entire parts of plant/crop.

By genetic engineering, that is AND recombinant technology, it is developed bacterium that is decreased in ice-forming gene. By the disappearance of such gene, that engineered bacterium fails to form ice; even tough the surrounding temperature reaches -4°C. Other examples of microbes that have a role in eradicating the plant disease are as follows:

1. Baellovibrio bacteriovirus: producer of pesticide and plant disease eradicator medicine.

2. Baculovirus virus: to kill insect by spraying to the insect so that the insect will be infected by that virus and then contaminating its partner.

3. Agrobacterium tumefaeiens: is developed and helping in genetic engineering. This bacterium can eradicate plant disease.


E. Microorganism plays its role in dealing with pollution.

One of the impacts of explosion in the amount of population and the development of technology is the emergence of pollution on the environment. Until certain limits, actually our environment is still able to clean up by itself from all kind of pollutants. However, if the amount exceeds the capacity of environment in cleaning up, then orderliness of the human is needed to overcome.

In the framework of dealing with environmental pollution, the experts have tried to engineer microbe to obtain strain microbe which can help to overcome the environmental pollution. One of their efforts is the handling of waste by microorganism which is able to produce H2 (hydrogen).


CHAPTER III


CLOSING



A. CONCLUSION

From the development of science, we can do anything easily and in every field. One of them is the use of biotechnology in the field of biology.


B. SUGGESTION

There are still a lot of things that have not been included by the author in this paper. It is all because of the limited time and the limited knowledge of the author. Therefore, the author is expecting any suggestion from the readers in order to make perfect of this paper.


Keywords: biotechnology, foods alteration, fermentation, microorganism











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