Biotechnology: An Overview

Contents: Preface. 1. Quorum sensing: microbial communication system. 2. Micro-algae: a potent candidate for carbon sequestration and biofuel production. 3. A brief introduction to ecosystem: its structure and functions. 4. Microbial diversity: a review of different approaches for its study. 5. Bioinformatics resources for plant science. 6. Nanotechnology and its applications. 7. Genetically modified foods: harmful or helpful? 8. Role of biofertilizers in agriculture. 9. Biochemical Approaches for Next Generation Biofuel Production. 10. Azotobacter: a plant growth promoting rhizobacteria as biofertilizer in organic farming. 11. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: the geo-engineers. 12. Phytoremediation: an ecofriendly approach for environmental cleanup. 13. Biotechnological production of promising anticancerous drug taxol. 14. Application of genetic engineering in fungal biotechnology. 15. An overview on the transformation and gene manipulation in filamentous fungi. 16. Plant cell factory for molecular farming of therapeutic proteins. 17. Soil remediation and disposal. 18. Application of oxygen-vectors in improving the performance of submerged aerobic fermentation for the production of industrially important molecules in bioreactors. 19. Pesticides and their degradation. 20. Microbial megacell in advanced biological processes. 21. Study on bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil. 22. Risks associated with the use of transgenic plants. 23. Biosensors: a commercial aspect. 24. Biochemical and molecular mechanisms that decipher drought stress tolerance in plants. 25. Biotechnology for discovery of new drugs from medicinal and aromatic plants. 26. Role of nanotechnology in materials science. 27. Applications of nanoparticles in the field of medicine. 28. Nanotechnology as clean energy and resources for the future. Index. Biotechnology is a diverse field dealing with the application of biological discoveries to transform industry, agriculture and medicine in a new dimension. This biotechnological application is much hyped created by overzealous promotion of biotechnology companies gravitated by press and media to cure diseases, develop new drugs, and feed the world’s hunger through genetically modified organisms, resulting in confusion over what is real and what is fanciful speculation. Biotechnology is variably portrayed as either the next dot-com ride for those with excess capital to invest or as simply not worth following as an investment vehicle.…