BIOTECHNOLOGY - V. H. Herasymenko - 2006

Part I. General Biotechnology

CHAPTER 5. FUNDAMENTALS OF GENETIC ENGINEERING

5.1. BIOTECHNOLOGY OF RECOMBINANT DNA CONSTRUCTION

Biological science has achieved its greatest breakthroughs over the past forty years, as researchers found ways to penetrate the living Cell to study biological processes at the level of molecular interactions. It became evident that the mechanisms underlying many biological phenomena are ultimately determined by the functioning of specialized molecules both inside and outside The Cell, while unraveling the MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF biological processes and studying molecular interactions forms the core subject of molecular biology.

In a relatively short period, molecular biologists mastered techniques that allow them to manipulate biological molecules, study them, and introduce alterations into their Primary Structure. The Study of life as the ultimate product of evolution has ceased to be the sole and ultimate goal of biological research. Thanks to new technologies and innovative approaches, it has become possible to create variants of living systems that could never have emerged through natural evolution by introducing targeted modifications into key biological molecules.

The successful advancement of molecular biology paved the way for Introduction/32.html">Genetic Engineering, a biotechnological approach for the directed construction of recombinant DNA molecules using DNA derived from various sources (Alikhanian S.I., 1980; Ovchinnikov Yu.A., 1982). Biotechnology is defined as the utilization of biological processes and agents for industrial purposes (Ovchinnikov Yu.A., 1982).

The Development of Recombinant DNA technology and Gene cloning was preceded by the establishment of molecular biology Methods that enable scientists to cleave DNA molecules into fragments, modify them, reassemble them into a single whole, amplify macromolecules, and obtain A large number of their copies. Using a recombinant DNA molecule, one can synthesize RNA molecules and subsequently produce Proteins of the desired size, structure, and properties. Protein production is one of the primary goals of biotechnology.

It is impossible to pinpoint precisely where molecular biology ends and genetic engineering begins, nor to draw a strict line determining which methodological approaches are exclusive to genetic engineering or biotechnology alone.