TSPSC Group – I Mains,2024 Material useful for Paper - I : General Essay & Paper V : Science and Technology ‘Stem Cell Research’ :Concept of Biotechnology and application of genetic engineering

 

TSPSC Group – I Mains,2024

Material useful for Paper - I : General Essay

&

Paper V : Science and Technology

 

Concept of Biotechnology and application of genetic engineering and

‘Stem Cell Research’

 

For  Examination guidance purpose only

For any clarification please refer to the prescribed text books

Time : 3 Hours                                                                                      Marks : 150 

 

Note : Answer all questions. Answer ONE question from each section.

Answer to each question should be limited to around 1000 words. All questions carry equal marks .

For GENERAL ESSAY PAPER :

Syllabus :

Section-I 1. Contemporary Social Issues and Social Problems. 2. Issues of Economic Growth and Justice.

Section-II 1. Dynamics of Indian Politics. 2. Historical and Cultural Heritage of India.

Section-III 1. Developments in Science and Technology. 2. Education and Human Resource Development

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 Paper V : Science and Technology :

Syllabus:

II. Modern Trends in application of knowledge of Science:

1. Crop Science in India; Characteristics of Plants - Crop plants, Forest species, Medicinal Aromatic plants, Useful and Harmful plants and utility for mankind.

2. Concept of Biotechnology and application of genetic engineering and Stem Cell Research.

Biotechnology in Agriculture (bio-fertilizers, bio - pesticides, bio- fuels, tissue culture, cloning) and Environment (Biotechnology in Environmental cleanup process)

3. Food bio-technology, Food safety and Food quality standards, Food Laws and Regulations. Recent trends in organic farming and farm mechanization. Safe Drinking Water – Defluoridation and other Techniques.

4. Microbial infections; Introduction to bacterial, viral, protozoal and fungal infections. Basic knowledge of infections caused by different groups of micro organisms- diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, tuberculosis, malaria, viral infections like HIV, encephalitis, chikungunya, bird flu- preventive measures during out breaks.

 5. Vaccines: Introduction to immunity, Fundamental concepts in vaccination and traditional methods of vaccine production ( production of DPT and Rabies vaccine), Production of modern vaccines (production of Hepatitis Vaccine).

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What is Genetic Engineering ?

Ans : Genetic Engineering is the term applied to the techniques that alter the genes (hereditary material) or combination of genes in an organism. By changing an organism’s genes, scientists can give the organisms and its descendants different traits.  

 

Application of Genetic Engineering :

Genetic engineering allows for a more precise and accelerated manipulation of an organism’s genetic material to introduce specifc traits. In the context of nutrition, genetic engineering enables scientists to fortify crops with targeted nutrients, enhance their resistance to pests and diseases, and optimize their growth under varying environmental conditions.

This approach holds great promise in creating crops that not only provide sustenance but also contribute signifcantly to addressing widespread malnutrition. One of the prominent examples of biofortifcation is the Golden Rice, a genetically engineered variety of rice enriched with vitamin A precursor, beta-carotene.  Defciency of vitamin A is a vital public health issue in several developing countries, leading to impaired immune function, vision problems, and increased susceptibility to infectious diseases. Golden Rice, with its enhanced vitamin A content, offers a sustainable and cost-effective solution to combat this defciency, potentially benefting millions of people who rely heavily on rice as a dietary staple

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MATERIAL FOR GENERAL ESSAY ON ‘BIOTECHNOLOGY’?

Concept of Biotechnology and application of genetic engineering and ‘Stem Cell Research’

 

 

What is Biotechnology ?

Ans : The use of biology to develop technologies and products for the welfare of human beings is known as Biotechnology. It is a broad discipline in which biological processes, organisms, cells or cellular components are exploited to develop new technologies. New tools and products developed by biotechnologists are useful in research, agriculture, industry and the medicinal , environmental areas.

 

 

What are the applications of Biotechnology ?

Ans : Biotechnology has applications in four major areas including medical, agriculture, industrial and environmental domain.

1)Application of Biotechnology in Agriculture : GM plants Mats, Micro progation, Tissue Culture, Bio-fertilizers & Bio-pesticides, Animal improvement

 

2)Application of Biotechnology in Industry : Enzymes, Fermentation based products & Food, Biotech Instruments & Equipment, Bio-energy and Bio-fuel, Bioinformatics, Bio-mining

 

3)Application of Biotechnology in Health Care : r-DNA products, Vaccines & Diagnostics Monoclonal Antibodies , Stem Cells, Tissue Specific delivery methods

 

4)Application of Biotechnology in Environment : Soil and water remediation, Bio-safety and GMOs

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MATERIAL FOR GENERAL ESSAY ON ‘STEM CELL RESEARCH’

(Concept of Biotechnology and application of genetic engineering and Stem Cell Research)

 

 

 

 

 

Stem cells are defined as cells that have clonogenic and self-renewing capabilities and differentiate into multiple cell lineages. Stem cells are found in all of us, from the early stages of human development to the end of life. Stem cells are unspecialized cells that develop into the specialized cells that make up the different types of tissue in the human body. They are characterized by the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and differentiating into a diverse range of specialized cell types. They are vital to the development, growth, maintenance, and repair of our brains, bones, muscles, nerves, blood, skin, and other organs. While stem cell- based treatments have been established as a clinical standard of care for some conditions, such as hematopoietic stem cell transplants for leukemia and epithelial stem cell-based treatments for burns and corneal disorders, the scope of potential stem cell-based therapies has expanded in recent years due to advances in stem cell research. It has been only recently that scientists have understood stem cells well enough to consider the possibilities of growing them outside the body for long periods of time. With that advance, rigorous experiments can be conducted, and the possibility of manipulating these cells in such a way that specific tissues can be grown is real

 

Stem Cells  are divided into two groups being embryonic and non-embryonic (known as ‘adult stem cells’). According to differentiation potential stem cells are divided into 5 types: totipotent, pluripotent, multipotent, oligopotent and unipotent embryonic as well as to extraembryonic cell types.

 

Pluripotent stem cells give rise to any cell types of endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm, whereas multipotent stem cells differentiate to any cell type of mainly closely related cell family.

 

 Oligopotent and unipotent stem cells have differentiation potential towards few cell types and only one type of the cells, respectively.

 

 

The easiest way to categorize stem cells is by dividing them into two types: Early or embryonic and mature or adult. Early stem cells, often called embryonic stem cells, are found in the inner cell mass of a blastocyst after approximately five days of development. Mature stem cells are found in specific mature body tissues as well as the umbilical cord and placenta after birth

 

The goal of any stem cell therapy is to repair a damaged tissue that can't heal itself. Ongoing research on stem cell therapies gives hope to patients who would normally not receive treatment to cure their disease but just to alleviate the symptoms of their chronic illness. Stem cell therapies involve more than simply transplanting cells into the body and directing them to grow new, healthy tissue. It may also be possible to coax stem cells already in the body to work overtime and produce new tissue

 

In conclusion, stem cell therapy is the future of regenerative medicine and more research is needed to understand the exact biology and the therapeutic potential of stem cells. Stem cell-based treatment is exciting, that most likely benefit the human health. In this rapidly growing field, the potential to develop innovative stem cell-based therapies is indeed very attractive. Although such therapies evolve in a scientific and ethical manner, unregulated stem cell treatments are already being offered by many hospitals around the world. Therapeutics in the form of Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT), Skin replacement, Organ development, replacement of lost tissues such as hair, tooth, retina & cochlear cells much more needed

 

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I)What are Stem Cells (Example: relating to animal body or human body)?

Ans :  Stem cells are undifferentiated cells with a capacity for self-renewal, proliferation and differentiation into many different types of functional cell.

 

II)Where is the starting Cell Source?

Ans:

 The starting cell source is bone marrow/Wharton’s jelly/UCB/lipoaspirate/ peripheral blood mobilized stem cells/embryos or other appropriate cell sources from healthy donors.

 

III)What is Somatic Cell ?

Ans : Somatic cell is a   cell of the body other than gamete

IV)What is Pluripotent Stem Cell ?

Ans : Pluripotent stem cell is defined as  having the ability to give rise to all of the various cell types of the body. Pluripotent cells cannot make extra-embryonic tissues such as the amnion, chorion, and other components of the placenta. Scientists demonstrate pluripotency by providing evidence of stable developmental potential, even after prolonged culture, to form derivatives of all three embryonic germ layers from the progeny of a single cell. They are capable of generating chimeric embryo/offspring and can generate a teratoma after injection into an immune-suppressed mouse.

 

V)What is Gamete ?

Ans : Gamete is a   mature male or female reproductive cell usually possessing a haploid set of chromosomes and capable of initiating formation of a new diploid individual by fusion with a gamete of the opposite sex. An egg (in the female) and a sperm (in the male).

VI)What are Germ Cells ?

Ans : Germ cells are Ova and sperm, and their precursors.

 

VII)What is Human Embryo ?

Ans : Human Embryo is a  developing stage from time of fertilization until the end of the eighth week of gestation, after which it is known as a fetus.

 

VIII)What is fetus ?

Ans: Fetus: In humans, it is a developing stage from eight weeks, post fertilization, till birth.

 

IX)What is Blastocyst ?

Ans :

Blastocyst: A hollow ball of 50-100 cells reached after about 5 days of embryonic development. It consists of an outer layer of differentiated cells (the trophoectoderm), a fluid-filled cavity (the blastocoel), and a cluster of undifferentiated cells in the interior (the inner cell mass or inner stem cells)

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STEM CELLS

 

Based on the cell type/tissue of origin, stem cells are classified as ‘Somatic Stem Cells’ (SSCs), and ‘Embryonic Stem Cells’ (ESCs). SSCs may have a limited capacity of differentiation and may be multipotent or unipotent, whereas ESCs are pluripotent. The pluripotent stem cells can also be generated in the laboratory by reprogramming somatic cells, and the products thus generated are referred to as ‘Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs)’. The regulatory requirements for research on each of these stem cells depend on their origin and potency.

 

Embryonic stem cell: Cells derived from the inner cell mass up to the stage of blastocysts. These cells can be cultured indefinitely under in vitro conditions that allow proliferation without differentiation, but have the potential of differentiating into any cell of the three embryonic germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm)

 

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC): These are adult differentiated cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to become an embryonic stem cell–like cell by being forced to express genes and factors important for maintaining the properties of pluripotent stem cells.

 

Pluripotent stem cell: Having the ability to give rise to all of the various cell types of the body. Pluripotent cells cannot make extra-embryonic tissues such as the amnion, chorion, and other components of the placenta. Scientists demonstrate pluripotency by providing evidence of stable developmental potential, even after prolonged culture, to form derivatives of all three embryonic germ layers from the progeny of a single cell. They are capable of generating chimeric embryo/offspring and can generate a teratoma after injection into an immune-suppressed mouse.

 

 

 

 

Stem cells are classified and defined as (1)Somatic Stem Cells (SSCs) and (2)Pluripotent Stem Cells.

 

1)Somatic Stem Cells (SSCs):-

Somatic Stem Cells (SSCs) are the resident, self-renewable population of cells that are present virtually in all organs/tissues of the body. They are essentially undifferentiated resident in differentiated tissues and are committed to the lineage of that organ

 

2)Pluripotent Stem Cells:-

 Pluripotent Stem Cells have the ability to differentiate into derivatives of all three germ layers, viz., ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm, but not placenta.

  a)Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs):-

 Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs) are derived from pre-implantation embryos (blastocysts). Those derived from embryos before differentiation of trophoectoderm and inner cell mass (i.e. morula stage) are truly totipotent, capable of giving rise to the entire organism including extra-embryonic tissues. ESCs derived from the inner cell mass (ICM) are pluripotent (not totipotent)

 

b) Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs):

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs), as the name suggests are pluripotent in nature, quite similar to the ESCs. They are capable of indefinite expansion and differentiation into ectodermal, mesodermal and endodermal cells. The iPSCs can be generated from somatic cells by a variety of genetic and epigenetic methods

 

 

Research on human ESCs has led to new knowledge about embryo development. Breakthrough in iPSC technology has revolutionized the field of stem cell biology and has led to the generation of human disease specific models to understand the underlying pathophysiology. These technologies have provided a basis for developing possible novel cell based therapies.

 

 

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CLONING

 

 

What is Cloning ?

Cloning: The process of creating genetically identical copy of a biological unit (e.g. a DNA sequence, cell, or organism) from which it was derived, especially by way of bio-technological methods.

 

 

Cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer: involves replacing an oocyte’s nucleus with the nucleus of the adult cell to be cloned (or from an embryo or fetus) and then activating reconstituted oocyte for further development. The oocyte genetically reprograms the transferred nucleus, enabling it to direct development of a whole new organism

 

Reproductive cloning: The embryo developed after Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) is implanted into the uterus (of the donor of the ovum or a surrogate recipient) and allowed to develop into a fetus and whole organism. The organism so developed is genetically identical to the donor of the somatic cell nucleus.

 

Therapeutic cloning: The development of the embryo after donor-sourced Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) until the blastocyst stage and embryonic stem cells are derived from the inner cell mass. These stem cells could be differentiated into desired tissue using a cocktail of growth and differentiation factors. The generated tissue/cells could then be transplanted into the original donor of the nucleus avoiding rejection

 

Cloning the production of identical animals, plants or microorganisms from a single individual. A clone is an organism that is derived from a single parent through non-sexual activities.

 

Natural cloning is common in plants, microorganisms and simple animals such as corals. Many organisms which produce asexually produce their own clones.

 

 

Natural clones in mammals are confined to the production of identical twins.

 

Cloning of animals have been based on a technique known as ‘nuclear transfer’. This involves fusing two cells together, a donor cell containing all of its DNA (containing all the genetic information of a cell) and an egg cell from which DNA has been removed.

Once the two cells are fused with the help of an electric pulse, the resultant ‘enucleated ‘ egg is implanted in the mother.

 

Cloning is the production of an exact copy of a cell, any other living part, or a complete organism. Cloning of an animal was successfully performed for the first time by Ian Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland. They successfully cloned a sheep named Dolly, from the udder cell of an adult sheep

 

 Dolly was born on 5th July 1996 and was the first mammal to be cloned.

 

During the process of cloning Dolly, a cell was collected from the mammary gland of a female Finn Dorsett sheep. Simultaneously, an egg was obtained from a Scottish blackface ewe. The nucleus was removed from the egg. Then, the nucleus of the mammary gland cell from the Finn Dorsett sheep was inserted into the egg of the Scottish blackface ewe whose nucleus had been removed. The egg thus produced was implanted into the Scottish blackface ewe. Development of this egg followed normally and finally Dolly was born. Though Dolly was given birth by the Scottish blackface ewe, it was found to be absolutely identical to the Finn Dorsett sheep from which the nucleus was taken. Since the nucleus from the egg of the Scottish blackface ewe was removed, Dolly did not show any character of the Scottish blackface ewe. Dolly was a healthy clone of the Finn Dorsett sheep and produced several offspring of her own through normal sexual means. Unfortunately, Dolly died on 14th February 2003 due to a certain lung disease

 

 

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Genetically Modified Organisms  (GMOs) :

Agricultural plants are one of the most frequently cited examples of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

 

Some benefits of genetic engineering in agriculture are increased crop yields, reduced costs for food or drug  production, reduced need for pesticides, enhanced nutrient composition and food quality, resistance to pests and disease,   greater food security, and medical benefits to the world's growing population .

 

 

Many industries stand to benefit from additional GMO research. For instance, a number of microorganisms are being considered as future clean fuel producers and bio degraders.

 

 In addition, genetically modified plants may someday be used to produce recombinant vaccines. In fact, the concept of an oral vaccine expressed in plants (fruits and vegetables) for direct consumption by individuals is being examined as a possible solution to the spread of disease in underdeveloped countries, one that would greatly reduce the costs associated with conducting large-scale vaccination campaigns.

 

 

. The saga of success includes the creation of Golden Rice, a genetically modifed rice variety combating vitamin A defciency in developing countries. This exemplifes the potential of genetic engineering to address specifc nutrient defciencies and enhance overall agricultural productivity, contributing to global food security amid unpredictable growing conditions