Subject: Biotech and Medical Sciences

As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues, the health commission has announced this week that a leak in a biopharmaceutical company last year caused an outbreak of brucellosis disease.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Consider the following kinds of organisms:

1. Bacteria
2. Fungi
3. Flowering plants

Some species of which of the above kinds of organisms are employed as bio-pesticides?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

What is Brucellosis?

• Brucellosis is a bacterial disease that mainly infects cattle, swine, goats, sheep and dogs.
• Humans can get infected if they come in direct contact with infected animals or by eating or drinking contaminated animal products or by inhaling airborne agents.
• According to the WHO, most cases of the disease are caused by ingesting unpasteurized milk or cheese from infected goats or sheep.
• Symptoms of the disease include fever, sweats, malaise, anorexia, and headache and muscle pain.
• While some signs and symptoms can last for long periods of time, others may never go away. Human to human transmission of the virus is rare.
• These include recurrent fevers, arthritis, swelling of the testicles and scrotum area, swelling of the heart, neurologic symptoms, chronic fatigue, depression and swelling of the liver or spleen.

The scientists of Indian Council of Agriculture Research or ICAR have found a cure for one of the most dreaded diseases on Banana.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Recently, our scientists have discovered a new and distinct species of banana plant which attains a height of about 11 metres and has orange-coloured fruit pulp. In which part of India has it been discovered?

(a) Andaman Islands

(b) Anamalai Forests

(c) Maikala Hills

(d) Tropical rain forests of northeast

Panama Disease

• The fungal disease, called Fusarium Wilt, is popularly known as the ‘Panama Disease’ and afflicts banana plants.
• For the first time, Indian scientists have brought out a biopesticide that can control the disease. This biopesticide has been made using another fungus.
• For a long time, banana cultivators have been struggling with the Panama Disease.
• This disease affects the Cavendish variety or the G9 Banana cultivar, which is the most widely grown banana in the world.

Spread in India

• In India, more than 60 per cent of bananas are of the G9 variety.
• They go by names like ‘Grand Naine’, ‘Robusta’, ‘Bhusaval’, ‘Basrai’ and ‘Shrimanth’.
• Farmers in at least four Indian states — Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh — have been badly affected by this disease.
• All these are areas where the Cavendish variety is grown.

Why is the disease so deadly?

• Panama Disease is caused by a fungus with a long and complicated name called Fusarium oxysporum f. Sp cubense.
• One of its strains which is called ‘Tropical Race 4’ or ‘TR4’ is creating the most havoc, threatening almost 80 per cent of the global banana production.
• The disease is so deadly that it is sometimes referred to as ‘banana cancer’.
• The fungus resides below ground and infects the plant through its roots. The infection then stops water and essential nutrients from being transported to the rest of the plant.
• The leaves begin to wilt, and the stem of the plant starts turning dark brownish before the plant dies. If one plant gets it, then it is most likely that an entire plantation can be wiped out.

The Drug Controller General of India recently approved Itolizumab as a novel biologic therapy for restricted emergency use.

Various drugs in news these days are:

1) Remdesivir: Ebola

2) Lopinavir: HIV

3) Hydroxychloroquine: Malaria

What is Itolizumab?

• Itolizumab is an existing drug used for psoriasis, a chronic skin disease involving unregulated growth of some skin cells that develop into red patches mostly on knees and elbows, but also on some other parts of the body.
• The drug, developed by Bengaluru-based Biocon, was approved in 2013.
• It is a monoclonal antibody which is used to treat acute psoriasis.

Why it is being used for COVD-19?

• The coronavirus has been observed to induce an overreaction of the immune system, generating a large number of cytokines that can cause severe damage to the lungs and other organs.
• Itolizumab is safe and efficient in preventing cardio-renal complications in Covid-19 patients who also have acute respiratory distress.

What are monoclonal antibodies?

• Monoclonal antibodies are proteins cloned in the lab to mimic antibodies produced by the immune system to counter infection.
• They have their genesis in serum, the colourless constituent of blood that contains antibodies.
• These proteins bind to an antigen, the fragment of an infectious virus in the case of SARS-CoV-2, and either destroy it or block its action.

Indian scientists have found a new process for synthesizing crystalline rubrene for the development of optoelectronic devices and also for preparation of Electronic Skin (E-Skin).

Note the difference between the Pyro-electric/ Piezo-electric/ Pyro-photonic effects. UPSC may shuffle the meaning of such terms in statement based prelims question.

What is crystalline rubrene?

• Crystalline rubrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-based thin film.
• It is a water-free, solvent-free, environmentally friendly one-step plasma process.
• It demonstrated optoelectronic properties (which detect and control light).
• A highly uniform pin-hole-free thin film can be deposited by this process, which is useful for the fabrication of high-end devices.

Working principle

• Devices made of pyro-electric materials (that generate electric charge when they are heated or cooled) and piezo-electric materials (that generate electric charge under the effect of mechanical pressure), can help detect change in temperature and pressure.
• Pyro-electric materials also show pyro-phototronic effect where pyro-electricity is associated with the change in temperature of a material when it absorbs photons.
• Pyro-electric infrared detectors are well known for application in infrared sensing for space research, defense, remote sensing, and household appliances.

Principle application: Human Skin

• These kinds of materials are available in biological systems such as – human skin, plant cellulose leading to their significance in the understanding of basic science of biological systems and also in their huge application prospect.
• The rubrene crystal has a thin amorphous oxide layer formed over the crystalline film.
• This induces surface layer polarization effect leading to pyro-phototronic effect.

Significance of the research

• Since last few years, scientists from around the world are working on the synthesis of organic materials for electronic applications.
• The conventional process for synthesis of organic electronic materials based on chemical processes provides very good quality materials, but the stability of the materials is not very good, and it requires use of solvents.
• Moreover, multiple steps are required for material synthesis and film deposition.

Applications

• This novel process developed by the Indian team is useful for developing advanced optoelectronic devices and preparation of Electronic Skin (E-Skin).
• It may prove to be useful tool for laboratory simulation of different biological systems for probing the organization and dynamics of those systems.