Ignoring our traditional knowledge can be prove costly in the area of biological patenting. Justify.
Human communities have always generated, refined and passed on the knowledge from generation to generation. Such knowledge is called traditional knowledge and is often an important part of the cultural identities. A number of cases relating to traditional knowledge have attracted international attention.
As a result, the issue of traditional knowledge has been brought to the general debate surrounding intellectual property. These cases involve, what is often referred to as 'biopiracy'.
The examples of turmeric and neem (Indian traditional herbal medicine) illustrates the issues that can arise when patent protection is granted to inventions relating to traditional knowledge which is already in the public domain. In these cases, invalid patents were issued because the patent examiners were not aware or the relevant traditional knowledge.
e.g., India is one of the country possessing the richest diversity of rice (2000 varieties). Basmati rice is distinct for its unique aroma and flavour and 27 documented varieties of Basmati are grown in India. There is reference to Basmati in ancient texts, folklore and poetry, as it has been grown for centuries.
In 1997, an American company Rice teen. Got patent rights on Basmati rice through the US patent and Trademark Office. This allowed the company to sell a 'new' variety of Basmati, in the US and abroad.
This 'new' variety of Basmati had actually been derived from Indian farmer's varieties. Indian Basmati was crossed with semi-dwarf varieties and claimed as an invention or a novelty. The patent extends to functional equivalents, implying that other people selling Basmati rice could be restricted by the patent.
If we are not vigilant and we do not immediately counter these patent applications, other countries/individuals may encash on our rich legacy and we may not be able to do anything about it.
However, India achieved success in contesting patent for Basmati, rice as on September 2000 Rice teen withdraw the claims contested by India. Therefore, ignoring our traditional knowledge, can be proved costly in the area of biological patenting.
Highlight any four areas where genetic modification of plants has been useful.
Genetically Modified Plants (GMOs) are the plants, whose genes have been altered by manipulation.
Genetic modification of plants is useful in different areas. Because of following reasons
(a) It increases tolerance against abiotic stresses (cold, drought, salt, heat).
(b) It reduces reliance on chemical pesticides (pest-resistant crops).
(c) It reduces post-harvest losses.
(d) It increases the efficiency of minerals used by plants (this prevents early exhaustion of fertility of soil).
(e) It enhances nutritional value of food, e.g., vitamin-A enriched rice (golden rice).
(f) It creates tailor-made plants to supply alternative resources such as starch fuels and pharmaceuticals to industries.
What is a recombinant DNA vaccine? Give two examples.
Recombinant DNA vaccines are produced by using genetically engineered plasmids that have gene inserts possessing the surface proteins of a pathogen. After the binding of pathogens to these surface proteins, a weak immune response is elicited but it do not results in infection.
These plasmids are inserted in bacteria or yeast cells that expresses the viral proteins, which are then injected into the human host as vaccine, where they are recognised as foreign and an immune response is elicited.
Recombinant hepatitis-B vaccine and polio vaccine are the examples.
Why is it that the line of treatment for a genetic disease is different from infectious diseases?
The line of treatment for a genetic disease is different from infectious diseases because genetic diseases cannot be treated with any medication, only the signs and symptoms can be taken care of. The only way to treat them is by the manipulation of genes to correct or replace the faulty genes.
On the other hand, infectious diseases are caused by pathogens and therefore, can be treated by substances that kill the pathogen or hamper its growth.
$$ \text { Discuss briefly how a probe is used in molecular diagnostics. } $$
Early detection of a disease is not possible by conventional diagnostic methods. So, some techniques have been implanted for early diagnosis like PCR, recombinant DNA technology and ELISA.
In recombinant DNA technology, a probe is used. It is allowed to hybridise to its complementary DNA in the clone of cells. The cells are then detected by autoradiography.
The cell with mutated gene will not be observed on the photographic film because, the probe will not have complementarity with the mutated gene.