Biotechnology is a broad term generally used to describe the use of biology in industrial processes such as agriculture, brewing and drug development. The term also refers to the production of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the manufacture of products from them. Much of the newer activity in biotechnology involves directly modifying the genetic material of living things. This is referred to as recombinant DNA technology (or, sometimes, genetic engineering).

Biotechnology existed long before there was a special word for it. Many of the principles and some of the techniques involved in biotechnology are ancient. For example, fermentation, in which microbes are used, has been practised for thousands of years to produce beer, wine, cheese, bread and yoghurt. .

A farmer would deliberately select plants and animals with desirable characteristics, and breed only from the selected individuals. In this way, our ancestors domesticated wild plants to create crop varieties that produced higher yields or were easier to harvest. Wild animals were bred into domesticated varieties that were often more docile or yielded more meat or milk. All the many different breeds of dog that exist today were created by humans carrying out selective breeding, starting from wild dogs.