Biotechnology and achievements of Uzbek scientists

Biotechnology is the technology of obtaining products people need with the help of living cells or from them. Making bread, yoghurt, cheese and wine has long been based on the activity of yeasts and bacteria; in industrial microbiology selected strains give vitamins (B₂, B₁₂), antibiotics, enzymes, amino acids (lysine) and food protein, and sulphide bacteria help to extract copper and other metals from ore. Genetic engineering transfers a gene from one organism to another: restriction enzymes cut DNA at a chosen place, ligase joins it to a plasmid (vector), and the resulting recombinant DNA is put into a bacterial or yeast cell, which then makes the human protein. In this way insulin (from the 1980s) and interferon are produced; other medicines and vaccines are also made this way today. Newer tools of recent years are CRISPR genome editing (E. Charpentier and J. Doudna, Nobel Prize 2020) and mRNA vaccines; their use, on which organisms and for what purpose, is regulated by law and ethics. Making yoghurt or bread at home needs an adult’s help, and no experiments with microbial cultures are done.