TABLE OF CONTENTS The term biotechnology was used before the twentieth century for traditional activities such as making dairy products such as cheese and curd, as well as bread, wine, beer, etc. But none of these could be considered biotechnology in the modern sense. Genetic alteration of organisms through selective breeding, plant cloning by grafting, etc. do not fall under biotechnology. The process of fermentation for the preparation and manufacturing of products such as alcohol, beer, wine, dairy products, various types of organic acids such as vinegar, citric acid, amino acids, and vitamins can be called classical biotechnology or traditional biotechnology. Fermentation is the process by which living organisms such as yeast or bacteria are employed to produce useful compounds or products.
Modern biotechnology is similar to classical biotechnology in utilizing living organisms. So what makes modern biotechnology modern? It is not modern in the sense of using various living organisms, but in the techniques for doing so. The introduction of a large number of new techniques has changed the face of classical biotechnology forever. These modern techniques, applied mainly to cells and molecules, make it possible to take advantage of the biological process in a very precise way. For example, genetic engineering has allowed us to transfer the property of a single gene from one organism to another. But before going into the details of biotechnology and the...
