BIOLOGY INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

2024-2025
JAWAHAR NAVODAYA VIDYALAYA
PANCHMAHAL
NAME : YASHKUMAR VANKAR
CLASS :- 12 SCIENCE
ROLL.NO :- …………………..
SUBJECT :- BIOLOGY
TOPIC :-BIOTECHNOLOGY & ITS
APPLICATION
GUIDED BY:-……………………
 DECLARATION
I DO HEREBY DECLARE THAT THIS
PROJECT REPORT IN BIOLOGY (044)
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE
COMPLETION OF CENTRAL BOARD OF
SECONDRY EDUCATION (CBSE) 2024-25.
BY :YASHKUMAR VANKAR
CBSE ROLL.NO:-
Under the supervision of
………………….......
PGT-BIOLOGY.
JNV PANCHMAHAL
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my Biology teacher,
………………….for guiding me throughout this
project work. I should also thank our lab
assistant who helped me to line up the project
and helped me with practical work.
A special acknowledgement goes to our
Principal………………………… who gave me the
golden opportunity of this wonderful project,
which also helped me in doing a lot of
research and I came to know about so many
new things.
I wish to thank my parents as well for their
support and encouragement without which I
could not have completed this project in the
limited time frame.
• In the end, I want to thank my friends who
displayed appreciation for my work and
motivated me to continue my work.
 CERTIFICATE
• This is to certify that YashKumar Vankar of
class 12 has successfully completed the
project work on Biology for class XII
practical examination of the Central Board
of Secondary Education in the year 2024-
2025. It is further certified that this project
is the individual work of the candidate.
Internal Examiner External
Examiner Signature:
Signature:
Principal
 INDEX
1.INTRODUCTION
2.HISTORY :-Early Days
3.MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY
4.BIOTECHNOLOGY IN
AGRICULTURE
i) GMO
ii) BT COTTON &MECHANISM
iii) PEST RESISTANT PLANTS (RNAi)!
5. BIOTECHNOLOGY IN MEDICINE
i) GENETICALLY ENGINEERED
INSULIN.
ii) GENE THERAPY.
iii) MOLECULAR DIAGNOSIS
a)PCR
b)ELISA
c) IN-SITU HYD.
6.BIBLIOGRAPHY
 INTRODUCTION
What is Biotechnology?
Biotechnology is the use of living
systems and organisms to develop or
make products, or “any technological
application that uses biological systems,
living organisms or derivatives thereof,
to make or modify products or
processes for specific use. At its
simplest, biotechnology is technology
based on biology biotechnology
harnesses cellular and bio molecular
processes to develop technologies and
products that help improve our lives
and the health of our planet. We have
used the biological processes of
microorganisms for more than 6,000
years to make useful food products,
such as bread and cheese, and to
preserve dairy products.
Biotechnology is widely used in several
fields such as agriculture, medicine,
genetics and the production of various
commercial products such as alcohol,
wine, chemicals, etc. People have been
using biotechnology for ages for
brewing and baking purposes.
• Modern biotechnology provides
breakthrough products and
technologies to combat
debilitating and rare diseases,
reduce our environmental
footprint, feed the hungry, useless
and cleaner energy, and have
safer, cleaner and more efficient
industrial manufacturing
processes.
• Biotech is helping to heal the
world by harnessing nature’s own
toolbox and using:-
•
• -our own genetic makeup to heal
and guide lines of research by:
• Reducing rates of infectious
diseases.
• -Saving millions of children’s lives.
• -Changing the odds of serious, life-
threatening conditions affecting
millions around the world.
-Tailoring treatments to individuals
to minimize health risks and side
effects.
-Creating more precise tools for
disease detection.
-Combating serious illnesses and
everyday threats confronting the
HISTORY:-BIOTECH IN
EARLY DAYS.!
• Biotechnology is not a whole
new concept. People used to
use some techniques even
6000 years ago during the
agricultural revolution. Around
10000 B.C.E. People used the
fermentation process to digest
sugar into simpler substances
and make bread, ale and other
food items in the fertile
crescent of today’s Middle
East. Around 5000 BCE
Sumerians and Egyptians used
the fermentation process to
make bread, wine and beer.
However they did not know
the science behind it and the
exact procedure and the
chemical structure of products
but they knew that something
was happening when milk is
converted into curd and
making it more nutritious.
EARLY DAYS
MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY
• “Modern biotechnology” is
used to distinguish newer
applications of
biotechnology, such as
genetic engineering and cell
fusion from more
conventional methods such
as breeding, or
fermentation.
•
Most often the term
“biotechnology” is used
interchangeably with
“modern biotechnology”.
Modern biotechnology is
highly dependent on genetic
engineering and bioprocess
engineering.
BIOTECHNOLOGY IN
AGRICULTURE
• Genetically Modified Crops.
•
Genetically modified crops or
“GM crops” or “biotech crops”
are plants used in agriculture,
the DNA of which has been
modified with genetic
engineering techniques. In most
cases the aim is to introduce a
new trait to the plant which
does not occur naturally in the
species.
• Examples in food crops include
resistance to certain pests, diseases,
stressful environmental conditions,
resistance to chemical treatments,
reduction of spoilage, or improving
the nutrient profile of the crop.
Examples in non-food crops include
production of pharmaceutical agents,
bio fuels, and other industrially useful
goods, as well as for bioremediation.
• Genetic modification has
-(i) made crops more tolerant to
abiotic stresses (cold, drought, salt,
heat).
-(ii) reduced reliance on chemical
pesticides (pest-resistant crops).
-(iii) helped to reduce post harvest
losses.
-(iv) increased efficiency of mineral
usage by plants (this prevents early
exhaustion of fertility of soil).
-(v) enhanced nutritional value of food,
e.g., golden rice, i.e., Vitamin ‘A’
enriched rice.
 BT COTTON
• Bt cotton is a genetically
modified organism (GMO)
cotton variety, which produces
an insecticide to bollworm.
Strains of the bacterium
Bacillus thuringiensis produce
over 200 different Bt toxins,
cach harmful to different
insects. Most notably, Bt toxins
are insecticidal to the larvae of
moths and butterflies, beetles.
Cotton bollworms and ghtu flies
but are harmless to other forms
of life. The gene coding for Bt
toxin has been inserted into
cotton as a transgene, causing
it to produce this natural
insecticide in its tissues. In
many regions, the main pests in
commercial cotton are
lepidopteran larvae, which are
killed by the Bt protein in
thegenetically modified cotton
they eat. This eliminates the
need to use largeamounts of
broad-spectrum insecticides to
kill lepidopteran pests. This
spares natural insect predators
in the farm ecology and further
contributes to non
insecticidepest management.
• Bt cotton is ineffective
against many cotton
pests such as plant bugs,
stink bugs, and aphids;
depending on
circumstances it may be
desirable to use
insecticides in
prevention,
 Mechanism
The Bt toxin gene produces protein crystals
containing a toxic insecticidal protein.
This Bt toxin exists within the plant as inactive
Pro-toxins and thus has no effect on the plant.
When an insect feeds on a plant, the toxin is
consumed by the insect.
Once in the gut, the toxin is converted into an
active form by the alkaline pH of the gut,
which solubilizes the crystals.
The activated toxin binds to the surface of the
midgut epithelial cells, causing pores to form.
• This causes swelling and lysis, which
eventually leads to the insect’s death.
• Advantages of Bt-cotton
• • Yield superiority
• More profit
• Lesser need of pesticide
• Better quality
• Suitability for early sowing
• Disadvantages of Bt-cotton
• • Higher cost of seeds
• • Higher fertilizer and irrigation cost
• Higher harvest cost
 Pest Resistant Plants:
Several nematodes parasitise a wide variety of
plants and animals including human beings. A
nematode Meloidegyne incognitia infects the
roots of tobacco plants and causes a great
reduction in yield. A novel strategy was adopted
to prevent this infestation which was based on
the process of RNA interference (RNAI). RNAI
takes place in all eukaryotic organisms as a
method of cellular defense. This method Involves
silencing of a specific mRNA due to a
complementary daRNA molecule that binds to
and prevents translation of the mRNA (silencing).
The source of this complementary RNA could be
from an infection by viruses having RNA genomes
or mobile genetic elements (transposons) thai
replicate via an RNA intermediate.
• Using Agrobactertum vectors, nematode-
specific genes were introduced into the host
plant. The introduction of DNA was such that it
produced both sense and anti-sense RNA in the
host cells. These two RNA’s being
complementary to each other formed a double
stranded (dsRNA) that initiated RNAi and thus,
silenced the specific mRNA of the nematode.
The consequence was that the parasite could
not survive In a transgente host expressing
specific interfering RNA. The transgenic plant
therefore got itself protected from the parasite.
BIOTECHNOLOGY IN
MEDICINE.!
This biotechnology
application is very
important in healthcare
because it allows for the
mass production of safe
and more effective
medicines. It also
prevents undesirable
immune responses which
are common with
medical products from
non-human sources.
Currently, about 30
recombinant therapeutics
have been approved for
human use worldwide,
and 12 of these are
presently being marketed
in India. Let’s take a look
at some of the
applications.
1) Genetically Engineered In
• Earlier, diabetes was treated
using insulin from the
pancreas of slaughtered pigs
and cattle. BUT THE PROBLEM
WAS Insulin from animal
sources induces allergies and
other unwanted immune
reactions in humans. This is
why there was a need to
isolate human insulin.
• Is there a way to do this?
What if we can use bacteria
to produce human insulin?
Not only can we grow
bacteria in large amounts, but
we can also mass-produce
human insulin!
Insulin consists of two
short, polypeptide chains
– chain A and B, linked
via disulfide bridges.
Insulin is produced as a
‘prohormone’ in
mammals (including
humans). This
prohormone has an extra
peptide, the C peptide,
which needs to be
removed to give rise to
mature insulin.
• The major challenge while generating
human insulin is to assemble insulin
into its mature form. An American
company called ‘Eli Lilly’ overcame this
hurdle in 1983. They prepared two DNA
sequences that correspond to the A and
B chains of human insulin. They then
incorporated these sequences into
plasmids of E. Coli to generate insulin
chains. Further, they produced the
chains separately, extracted and
combined them by creating disulfide
bonds to give rise to human insulin.
 2) Gene Therapy
• If a child is born with a genetic defect,there is way to tackle
it, with gene therapy!
• Gene therapy is a biotechnology application involving a
collection of methods that can correct a gene defect in a child
or an embryo. It involves inserting a normal gene into the
person’s cells or tissues to compensate for the non-functional
gene.
• In 1990, the first clinical gene therapy was applied to treat a
4-year old girl with a deficiency in the enzyme adenosine
deaminase (ADA). This disorder is due to the lack of the gene
for ADA, which is an enzyme important for the function of the
immune system. Bone marrow transplantation helps cure this
disorder in some cases. Enzyme replacement therapy, which
involves injecting the patient with functional ADA, is also
effective in some cases. However, both these procedures are
not completely curative.
• In gene therapy, blood lymphocytes of the patient are grown
in a culture outside the body. Subsequently, a functional ADA
cDNA is incorporated into these lymphocytes and re-
introduced into the patient. This alleviates the symptoms of
the disorder. However, the patient requires periodic infusions
of these genetically-engineered lymphocytes, since these
cells are not immortal. A permanent cure for this could be to
introduce the gene producing ADA from marrow cells into
cells at early embryonic stages of life.
 3) Molecular Diagnosis
• We all know that early diagnosis
of a disease is important to
effectively treat the disease.
Early detection is not possible
using conventional methods like
serum and urine analysis. BUT
some biotechnology applications
that help in early diagnosis of
diseases.
i) Polymerase Chain Reaction
Normally, we can detect a pathogen
(bacteria, virus etc.) only when the disease
symptoms start to appear. However, by this
time, the pathogen concentration in the body
is very high! Is there a way to detect
pathogens at initial stages of the disease
when their concentrations are low?
Yes, using a technique called PCR. PCR
involves amplification of the nucleic acid in
the pathogen allowing us to detect the
pathogen at very low concentration. Today,
we use PCR routinely to detect HIV in
suspected AIDS patients and to detect gene
mutations in suspected cancer patients.
ii) Enzyme-Linked
Immunosorbent Assay
(ELISA)
The basic principle of ELISA is
antigen-antibody reactions.
ELISA can diagnose infections
by detecting the presence of
antigens (proteins of the
pathogen) in the patient
serum or by detecting the
antibodies produced against
the pathogen.
iii) In Situ Hybridisation This technique
involves tagging a single-stranded DNA or
RNA with a radioactive molecule (probe).
This then hybridizes with its
complementary DNA in a clone of cells. On
detection using autoradiography, the clone
with the mutated gene will not appear on
the photographic film because the probe is
not complementary to the mutated gene.