Encyclopaedia of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics

Biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services. From its inception, biotechnology has maintained a close relationship with society. Although now most often associated with the development of remarkable drugs, historically biotechnology has been principally associated with food, addressing such issues as malnutrition and famine. The discovery of genes as the basic units of inheritance and DNA as the macromolecule carrying genes in all living organisms, with just a few exceptions, has given a tremendous boost for biotechnology to grow and aid the society, in its modern form (mediated by DNA, RNA and Protein) as a highly research intensive and application sector. About five to ten years ago, the focus of agricultural and biomedical research had been generally on a single isolated gene/enzyme/protein/event and many of these efforts led to successful discovery of diagnostic and corrective measures against a few of the challenges mentioned above. However, in recent times, owing to the continuous spectacular developments in the areas of macromolecular chemistry, macromolecule sequencing machines and computational tools to analyse biological data, the focus has shifted from single to multiple gene/protein/enzyme/events to assist rapid discovery of remedies for the prevailing problems. Each chapter in the book is self contained and is consistent with the general aim of the book. No doubt, the chapters given in this book shall help the teachers, students and social scientists to understand and explore more in the subject.