Biotechnology and its Applications NEET Notes 2027: Key Points and PDF

Biotechnology and its Applications is Chapter 10 of NCERT Class 12 Biology and part of Unit 9 of the NEET UG syllabus. These notes cover tissue culture, GM crops, Bt cotton, RNA interference, genetically engineered insulin, gene therapy, molecular diagnosis, transgenic animals, GEAC, patents and biopiracy, with comparison tables, high-yield facts and a free notes PDF.

Biotechnology and Its Applications NEET Notes

Section-wise key points from NCERT Chapter 10, comparison tables, high-yield facts and common mistakes for NEET 2027 revision.

Biotechnology and Its Applications at a Glance

The topic list follows the NEET UG 2026 syllabus released by the National Medical Commission (NMC) on 22 December 2025, which stays the reference until the 2027 syllabus is out. The full list is on the NEET syllabus page.

What does biotechnology deal with?

Biotechnology deals with industrial-scale production of biopharmaceuticals and biologicals using genetically modified microbes, fungi, plants and animals.

• Applications: therapeutics, diagnostics, GM crops for agriculture, processed food, bioremediation, waste treatment and energy production.
• Three critical research areas: (i) the best catalyst as an improved organism (usually a microbe) or pure enzyme; (ii) optimal conditions for the catalyst through engineering; (iii) downstream processing to purify the protein or organic compound.

Biotechnology in Agriculture: Tissue Culture

The three options for more food are agro-chemical based agriculture, organic agriculture and genetically engineered crop-based agriculture. The Green Revolution tripled food supply but was still not enough.

• Tissue culture (from the 1950s): whole plants regenerate from explants grown in sterile nutrient media. The capacity of any cell or explant to form a whole plant is totipotency.
• The medium must supply a carbon source such as sucrose, inorganic salts, vitamins, amino acids and growth regulators like auxins and cytokinins.
• Micropropagation produces thousands of plants in a short time; they are genetically identical somaclones. Tomato, banana and apple have been produced commercially this way.
• Virus-free plants: the apical and axillary meristems stay free of virus even in infected plants, so meristem culture recovers healthy plants (banana, sugarcane, potato).
• Somatic hybridisation: protoplasts of two varieties, obtained by digesting cell walls, are fused into hybrid protoplasts. Tomato + potato gave the pomato, which lacked the desired commercial combination of traits.

GM Crops, Bt Cotton and RNA Interference

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are plants, bacteria, fungi and animals whose genes have been altered by manipulation.

• Benefits of GM plants: tolerance to abiotic stresses (cold, drought, salt, heat); less reliance on chemical pesticides; lower post-harvest losses; more efficient mineral use; better nutritional value, e.g. golden rice (Vitamin A enriched).
• GM is also used to make tailor-made plants supplying starches, fuels and pharmaceuticals to industries.

Bt Crops

• Bt toxin comes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis; its gene has been expressed in plants to make a bio-pesticide. Examples: Bt cotton, Bt corn, rice, tomato, potato and soyabean.
• Some strains kill lepidopterans (tobacco budworm, armyworm), coleopterans (beetles) and dipterans (flies, mosquitoes).
• The toxin is formed as protein crystals of inactive protoxin, so it does not kill the bacterium.
• In the insect gut the alkaline pH solubilises the crystals and activates the toxin; it binds midgut epithelial cells and creates pores, causing swelling, lysis and death.
• The choice of gene depends on the crop and the target pest, as most Bt toxins are insect-group specific.

Pest-resistant Plants Through RNA Interference (RNAi)

• The nematode Meloidogyne incognita (spelt Meloidegyne incognitia in NCERT) infects the roots of tobacco plants and greatly reduces yield.
• RNAi occurs in all eukaryotes as cellular defence: a complementary dsRNA binds a specific mRNA and prevents its translation (silencing).
• Natural sources of the dsRNA: viruses with RNA genomes and transposons that replicate via an RNA intermediate.
• Using Agrobacterium vectors, nematode-specific genes were introduced into the host so that it made both sense and anti-sense RNA; these formed dsRNA, silenced the nematode mRNA, and the parasite could not survive.

Biotechnology in Medicine

Recombinant DNA technology enables mass production of safe and more effective therapeutic drugs that do not induce unwanted immunological responses. About 30 recombinant therapeutics are approved worldwide, and 12 are marketed in India.

Genetically Engineered Insulin

• Insulin for diabetes was earlier extracted from the pancreas of slaughtered cattle and pigs, which caused allergy or other reactions in some patients.
• Insulin has two short polypeptide chains, A and B, linked by disulphide bridges.
• It is made as a pro-hormone with an extra stretch, the C peptide, which is removed during maturation. Getting insulin assembled into its mature form was the main challenge.
• In 1983 Eli Lilly, an American company, prepared two DNA sequences for chains A and B and introduced them into plasmids of E. coli; the chains were produced separately and joined by disulphide bonds.

Gene Therapy

• Gene therapy corrects a gene defect diagnosed in a child or embryo by delivering a normal gene into the person’s cells and tissues.
• The first clinical gene therapy was given in 1990 to a 4-year-old girl with adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency, caused by deletion of the ADA gene. ADA is crucial for the immune system.
• Bone marrow transplantation or enzyme replacement therapy (injected ADA) are not completely curative.
• Lymphocytes from the patient’s blood are grown in culture, a functional ADA cDNA is introduced using a retroviral vector, and the cells are returned. Since these cells are not immortal, periodic infusions are needed.
• Introducing the ADA gene from marrow cells at early embryonic stages could be a permanent cure.

Molecular Diagnosis

Why are transgenic animals produced?

Transgenic animals have had their DNA manipulated to possess and express an extra (foreign) gene. Rats, rabbits, pigs, sheep, cows and fish have been produced, but over 95 per cent of all transgenic animals are mice.

Ethical Issues: GEAC, Patents and Biopiracy

Genetic modification can have unpredictable results when such organisms enter the ecosystem, so it needs regulation.

• The Indian Government has set up GEAC (Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) to decide on the validity of GM research and the safety of introducing GM organisms for public services.
• India has an estimated 200,000 varieties of rice, and 27 documented varieties of Basmati are grown in India.
• In 1997 an American company got patent rights on Basmati rice through the US Patent and Trademark Office; the ‘new’ variety had been derived from Indian farmers’ varieties crossed with semi-dwarf varieties.
• Attempts have also been made to patent uses of Indian traditional herbal medicines such as turmeric and neem.
• Biopiracy: use of bio-resources by multinational companies and other organisations without proper authorisation from, or compensatory payment to, the countries and people concerned.
• Industrialised nations are rich financially but poor in biodiversity and traditional knowledge; developing nations are the reverse.
• The Indian Parliament has cleared the second amendment of the Indian Patents Bill, which takes such issues into consideration.

Most-asked Facts for NEET: Biotechnology and Its Applications

Revise these one-line facts from the NCERT chapter just before the exam.

• Totipotency: capacity of any plant cell or explant to form a whole plant.
• Micropropagated plants are somaclones, genetically identical to the parent.
• Meristem (apical and axillary) culture gives virus-free plants.
• Pomato came from somatic hybridisation of tomato and potato protoplasts.
• Golden rice is Vitamin A enriched rice.
• Bt toxin is an inactive protoxin activated by the alkaline pH of the insect gut.
• cryIAc and cryIIAb control cotton bollworms; cryIAb controls corn borer.
• RNAi silences a specific mRNA with complementary dsRNA; used against the nematode Meloidogyne incognita in tobacco.
• Agrobacterium vectors introduced nematode-specific genes into the host plant.
• About 30 recombinant therapeutics approved worldwide; 12 marketed in India.
• Insulin: chains A and B linked by disulphide bridges; C peptide removed in maturation.
• Eli Lilly (1983) produced insulin chains A and B separately in E. coli.
• First clinical gene therapy: 1990, 4-year-old girl with ADA deficiency.
• PCR detects HIV in suspected AIDS patients; ELISA works on antigen-antibody interaction.
• Over 95 per cent of transgenic animals are mice.
• Rosie (1997), first transgenic cow: milk with human alpha-lactalbumin, 2.4 g per litre.
• Alpha-1-antitrypsin from transgenic animals is used to treat emphysema.
• GEAC: Genetic Engineering Approval Committee; Basmati patent: 1997, US Patent and Trademark Office.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Watch for these mix-ups when you answer questions on this chapter.

• Saying Bt toxin does not kill the bacterium because the bacterium is resistant. It exists as an inactive protoxin.
• Writing that the toxin is activated by acidic gut pH. It is the alkaline pH of the insect gut that solubilises and activates it.
• Saying Eli Lilly made pro-insulin with the C peptide in E. coli. Chains A and B were made separately and then joined by disulphide bonds.
• Calling the 1990 ADA gene therapy a permanent cure. Engineered lymphocytes are not immortal, so periodic infusion is needed.
• Mixing up the cry genes: cryIAb targets corn borer, while cryIAc and cryIIAb target cotton bollworms.
• Saying RNAi uses single-stranded RNA. Silencing needs double-stranded RNA formed from sense and anti-sense RNA.
• Thinking the most common transgenic animal is the cow or sheep. Over 95 per cent are mice.
• Expanding GEAC wrongly. It is the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee.
• Treating biopiracy as any use of bio-resources. It is use without proper authorisation and compensatory payment.
• Saying virus-free plants come from leaf culture. They come from meristem culture.

Biotechnology and Its Applications Notes PDF and Related Pages

Download the AglaSem notes for Biotechnology and its Applications (key notes and important questions with answers) free: View PDF

• All chapters: NEET Biology notes
• Full topic list: NEET syllabus
• Practice: NEET question papers
• Source text: NCERT Chapter 10 (NCERT, Class 12 Biology)

NEET Biology Notes: All Chapters

Botany

• The Living World
• Biological Classification
• Plant Kingdom
• Cell: The Unit of Life
• Plant Growth and Development
• Anatomy of Flowering Plants
• Cell Cycle and Cell Division
• Respiration in Plants
• Photosynthesis in Higher Plants
• Morphology of Flowering Plants
• Principles of Inheritance and Variation
• Microbes in Human Welfare
• Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants
• Molecular Basis of Inheritance
• Organisms and Populations
• Ecosystem
• Biodiversity and Conservation

Zoology

• Animal Kingdom
• Biomolecules
• Breathing and Exchange of Gases
• Excretory Products and their Elimination
• Body Fluids and Circulation
• Structural Organisation in Animals
• Locomotion and Movement
• Reproductive Health
• Chemical Coordination and Integration
• Neural Control and Coordination
• Evolution
• Human Health and Disease
• Human Reproduction
• Biotechnology and its Applications
• Biotechnology: Principles and Processes

All chapters with their notes PDFs are on the NEET Biology notes page.

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