Solution:
Biotechnology deals with techniques of using live organisms or enzymes from organisms to produce products and processes useful to humans.
In this sense, making curd, bread, or wine, which are all microbe-mediated processes , could also be thought of as a form of biotechnology .
However, it is used in a restricted sense today, to refer to such processes that use genetically modified organisms to achieve the same on a larger scale.
Further, many other processes/techniques are also included under biotechnology .
For example, in vitro fertilization leading to a ‘test-tube’ baby , synthesizing a gene and using it, developing a DNA vaccine , or correcting a defective gene, are all part of biotechnology.
Among many, the two core techniques that enabled the birth of modern biotechnology are :
1. Genetic engineering : Techniques to alter the chemistry of genetic material (DNA and RNA) , to introduce these into host organisms and thus change the phenotype of the host organism.
Hence, Statement 1 is correct.
2. Bioprocess engineering : Maintenance of sterile ( microbial contamination-free ) ambience in chemical engineering processes to enable the growth of only the desired microbe/eukaryotic cell in large quantities for the manufacture of biotechnological products like antibiotics,vaccines, enzymes, etc. Hence, Statement 2 is correct.
The techniques of genetic engineering which include the creation of recombinant DNA , use of gene cloning, and gene transfer, overcome this limitation and allows us to isolate and introduce only one or a set of desirable genes without introducing undesirable genes into the target organism.
The piece of DNA would not be able to multiply itself in the progeny cells of the organism . But, when it gets integrated into the genome of the recipient , it may multiply and be inherited along with the host DNA .
This is because the alien piece of DNA has become part of a chromosome , which has the ability to replicate .
In a chromosome , there is a specific DNA sequence called the origin of replication , which is responsible for initiating replication .
Therefore, for the multiplication of any alien piece of DNA in an organism , it needs to be a part of a chromosome (s) that has a specific sequence known as the ‘ origin of replication ’.
Thus, an alien DNA is linked with the origin of replication , so that, this alien piece of DNA can replicate and multiply itself in the host organism.
This can also be called cloning or making multiple identical copies of any template DNA.
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