Read the following statements about biotechnology and its applications:
A. Biotechnology essentially deals with industrial scale production of biopharmaceuticals and biologicals using genetically modified microbes, fungi, plants and animals.
B. Providing the best catalyst in the form of an improved organism, usually a microbe, or a pure enzyme is one of the critical research areas of biotechnology.
C. In biotechnology, downstream processing technologies are used to create optimal conditions for a catalyst to act.
D. The applications of biotechnology include bioremediation, waste treatment and energy production.
Choose the correct statements from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → A, B and D only
Biotechnology uses living organisms or their enzymes as the “catalyst” to make a product on a large scale. Work in this field has three parts: a good catalyst, the right conditions for it to work, and purification of the product at the end.
A. Biotechnology essentially deals with industrial scale production of biopharmaceuticals and biologicals using genetically modified microbes, fungi, plants and animals. — True. This is how the chapter opens; the key words are industrial scale and genetically modified organisms.
B. Providing the best catalyst in the form of an improved organism, usually a microbe, or a pure enzyme is one of the critical research areas of biotechnology. — True. It is the first of the three critical research areas.
C. In biotechnology, downstream processing technologies are used to create optimal conditions for a catalyst to act. — False. Optimal conditions for the catalyst are created through engineering, for example inside a bioreactor. Downstream processing comes after the reaction is over and is used to purify the protein/organic compound.
D. The applications of biotechnology include bioremediation, waste treatment and energy production. — True. The list of applications also has therapeutics, diagnostics, GM crops and processed food.
NCERT Extract:
Biotechnology and its Applications – “… Biotechnology, as you would have learnt from the previous chapter, essentially deals with industrial scale production of biopharmaceuticals and biologicals using genetically modified microbes, fungi, plants and animals. The applications of biotechnology include therapeutics, diagnostics, genetically modified crops for agriculture, processed food, bioremediation, waste treatment, and energy production. Three critical research areas of biotechnology are: (i) Providing the best catalyst in the form of improved organism usually a microbe or pure enzyme. (ii) Creating optimal conditions through engineering for a catalyst to act, and (iii) Downstream processing technologies to purify the protein/organic compound.”