Green Biotechnology aims to optimize and apply plants' versatile capabilities to suit the needs of humanity and the environment. Agronomy is the science of producing and utilizing plants to food, fuel, materials, chemicals, recreation, and land conservation.
Artificial processes outside of biotechnology to produce food, medicine, or clean the environment usually do more harm than good. It has been established that supporting nature to care for itself is more powerful than relying solely on human knowledge and abilities.
Agriculture has developed a humongous dependence on genetic engineering and biotechnology. The science of soil management and crop production is a vital category of agronomy.
Herbicides are plant-killing substances designed to target weeds. Scientists use a variety of processes to craft herbicides which destroy weeds but don't harm other plants. This has enabled farming to keep up with growing human populations due to improved yields and less manual labor.
Biofortification is an objective typically sought from Brown (Desert) Biotechnology. Crops are genetically modified to withstand harsh environmental conditions and diseases. These are known as transgenic crops. This may include defense against herbicides and pests. Along with survivability, crops may be modified to contain more nutrients.
Many poor countries struggle with malnutrition due to a limited assortment of food crops. This results in a condition called hidden hunger because the population has enough food yet remains malnourished. Worldwide, 43% of pre-school children and 38% of pregnant women suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. Over 30% of the world population suffers from anemia resulting from hidden hunger. (Garg)
Plants have served in Red (Medical) Biotechnology for millennia. Plant chemicals not considered essential nutrients may still have medicinal value. These are known as phytochemicals. Their performance remains superior to many artificial medicines.
The use of phytochemical drugs dropped at the turn of the 21st century. Synthetic drugs invaded the market because they are easily mass-produced. Near 2010, scientists decided that synthetic drugs had too many of side-effects which forced several to be withdrawn from the market. Phytochemicals jumped back into the forefront of scientific research. Their relative safety is highlighted by preventative and persistent effectiveness against long-term diseases. (Egbuna)
Plant nanobodies are versatile plant extracts applied in medicine. They are small, resilient, and easy to manipulate.
Working with Gold (Bioinformatics) Biotechnology, plant nanobodies can be designed to attach and detect targeted proteins. This is useful in farming and medicine as early detection of pathogens. Nanobody tests are highly sensitive and widely applied. They are used for:
The tracking of diseases is the most common application of nanobodies in medicine. More recently it has been discovered that nanobodies can be used to discover new pharmaceutical targets. Delivery of pharmaceutical drugs is typically done using antibody-derived ligands and carriers to deliver the drugs to their intended targets. Use of nanobodies in place of ligands can accomplish the task with stronger binding and less toxicity.
Further phytomedicines serve countless purposes from health problems to cosmetics. Scientists around the globe share information on local phytochemicals. Those used in ancient history and endless new discoveries. [Wang et al. 2021]
Gray (Environmental) Biotechnology is intertwined with Green Biotechnology.
Phytoremediation is the use of plants to clean polluted soil, air, or water. Contaminants, both organic and inorganic, are rendered harmless by the right plant.
Mechanical or physiochemical strategies to remove pollutants are inefficient, high cost, and can cause irreversible damage to the soil. This may include secondary pollutants.
Heavy metals such as copper, iron, nickel, zinc, and manganese are toxic when present in excess, but essential to plant life cycles. When the appropriate plants are added to the environment, they will absorb the toxins and stabilize it. This also releases organic matter to improve soil fertility. With light monitoring phytoremediation is an ongoing remedy.
Using plants to renew healthy environments has become popular due to its low cost, sustainability, and environmental harmony. Further research is being done to improve the speed and versatility of phytoremediation. (Yu et al. 2022)
First-generation biofuels are harvested from Food Crops such as corn and sugarcane. These are considered conventional biofuels because technology and science regarding crops is well-established. They are grown and harvested with the efficiency of agricultural techniques.
Ethanol is the target derivative from food crops in biofuel. This can be substituted for the petroleum in gasoline. Currently 97% of gasoline in the United States contains some ethanol. Ethanol is usually created by microorganisms which use fermentation to digest plant sugar or starch.
Non-food plants known as dedicated energy crops are the source of second-generation biofuels. These aren't as thoroughly developed but avoid the negative environmental consequences of farming. This also removes the issue of competing with the food market.
Biodiesel is the most famous second-generation biofuel. This is crafted from plant oil, animal oil, or even recycled cooking oil. Changing a diesel engine to support biodiesel requires minor modifications.
The creation of biodiesel can be an at-home project.
The materials required are:
Equipment necessary for crafting biodiesel is:
Further instructions can be found here.
Blue (Marine) Biotechnology is used for third-generation biofuels. Further innovations in White (Industrial) Biotechnology for potential biofuel sources continue to be explored.
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Egbuna, Chukwuebuka & Ifemeje, Jonathan & Kryeziu, Toskë & Mukherjee, Minakshi & Shah, Hameed & Narasimha Rao, Geddada & Gido, Laurence & Tijjani, Habibu. (2018). INTRODUCTION TO PHYTOCHEMISTRY. 10.13140/RG.2.2.18812.23687.
Garg, M., Sharma, N., Sharma, S., Kapoor, P., Kumar, A., Chunduri, V., & Arora, P. (2018). Biofortified Crops Generated by Breeding, Agronomy, and Transgenic Approaches Are Improving Lives of Millions of People around the World. Frontiers in nutrition, 5, 12th https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2018.00012
Jeswani, H. K., Chilvers, A., & Azapagic, A. (2020). Environmental sustainability of biofuels: a review. Proceedings. Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, 476(2243), 20200351. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2020.0351
Wang, W., Yuan, J., & Jiang, C. (2021). Applications of nanobodies in plant science and biotechnology. Plant molecular biology, 105(1-2), 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-020-01082-z
Yu, Y., Wang, S., Teng, J., Zupanic, A., Guo, S., Tang, X., & Liang, H. (2022). Photocatalytic Material-Microbe Hybrids: Applications in Environmental Remediations. Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology, 9, 815181. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2021.815181