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Biology - Module 6 > 6.2.1 - Cloning and Biotechnology > Flashcards

6.2.1 - Cloning and Biotechnology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is biotechnology?

A

The use of living organisms such as microorganisms to make products for humans

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2
Q

Why are microorganisms used in biotechnological processes?

A
  • Microorganisms have a short life cycle so food production is much faster than waiting for animals to grow
  • Their growth requirements are basic reducing the cost and making it easier to grow them
  • There is an economical advantage as they are very small so can be grown in smaller spaces than animals, their nutrient requirement is cheaper than animals and the temperature they can grow at are low which makes harvesting them cheaper
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3
Q

What are 3 uses of microorganisms in biotechnological processes?

A
  • Make food - bacteria used to make cheese and yoghurt and yeast used to make bread and ethanol
  • Make medicine such as penicillin and insulin
  • Bioremediation where microorganisms break down contaminants in land and water
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4
Q

What are the advantages of using microorganisms to make food?

A
  • Microorganisms reproduce very quickly so we can grow large numbers in a small amount of time
  • Microorganisms can be grown using waste materials such as whey which reduces costs
  • Microorganisms can produce healthier high protein, low cholesterol products such as mycoprotein
  • Many microorganisms can grow in low temperature environments which reduces costs
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5
Q

What are the disadvantages of using microorganisms to make food?

A
  • Any contamination in the batch of microorganisms can cause food to spoil and result in health risks
  • People may not want to eat food made using waste products
  • Food produced by microorganisms often has little flavour so chemicals need to be added
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6
Q

What are the 4 requirements for culturing microorganisms?

A
  • Nutrients
  • Oxygen
  • Optimum temperature
  • Optimum pH
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7
Q

How are microorganisms cultured?

A
  • Take a sample of microorganisms from a culture broth
  • Add this sample to an agar plate
  • Wait for the sample to reproduce and form colonies
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8
Q

What are aseptic techniques?

A

Working in sterile conditions to prevent contamination and infection of others

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9
Q

Which aseptic techniques are used when culturing microorganisms?

A
  • Wear gloves
  • Keep the agar covered as much as possible
  • Use fire to kill microorganisms
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10
Q

What formula is used to calculate the number of bacteria in a sample?

A

N = initial number of bacteria X 2^ number of divisions

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11
Q

What happens during the lag phase?

A

The bacteria take in nutrients to create substances for growth and reproduction

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12
Q

What happens during the exponential phase?

A

The bacteria grow exponentially

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13
Q

What happens during the stationary phase?

A

The number of bacteria growing equals the number of bacteria dying

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14
Q

What happens during the death phase?

A

The number of bacteria dying exceeds the number of bacteria growing

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15
Q

What are primary metabolites?

A

Directly involved in growth and reproduction

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16
Q

When are primary metabolites made?

A
  • Lag phase
  • Exponential phase
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17
Q

What are secondary metabolites?

A

Not directly involved in growth and reproduction

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18
Q

When are secondary metabolites made?

A
  • Stationary phase
  • Death phase
19
Q

What are the 2 types of fermentation?

A
  • Batch fermentation
  • Continuous fermentation
20
Q

What is batch fermentation used for?

A

Microorganisms are left to reach the death phase so its most appropriate for collecting secondary metabolites

21
Q

What is continuous fermentation used for?

A

Microorganisms are kept in the exponential phase so its most appropriate for collecting primary metabolites

22
Q

What are immobilised enzymes?

A

When the enzyme required is fixed to an inert substance and the substrate is passed over it

23
Q

What are the 4 methods of immobilising enzymes?

A
  • Adsorption
  • Covalent bonding
  • Entrapment in a matrix
  • Membrane separation
24
Q

What is adsorption?

A

The enzyme is bonded to a surface such as clay through ionic bonds and hydrophobic interactions

25
Q

How are enzymes immobilised through covalent bonding?

A

The enzyme is bonded to a surface such as clay through covalent bonding

26
Q

How are enzymes immobilised through entrapment in a matrix?

A

The enzyme is trapped in a material such as collagen to prevent the enzyme moving

27
Q

How are enzymes immobilised through membrane separation?

A

The enzyme is separated from the reaction mixture with a partially permeable membrane. The substrate diffuses through the membrane to the enzyme and the products diffuse out.

28
Q

What are the advantages of using immobilised enzymes?

A
  • Reduces downstream processing which means it is easier to separate the enzyme from the product
  • Enzyme can be recovered and reused reducing costs
  • Increases the enzymes temperature tolerance meaning the reaction vessel can be heated to higher temperatures which increases yield
29
Q

What are the disadvantages of using immobilised enzymes?

A
  • Expensive to immobilise enzymes
  • Enzyme can detach and leak into the reaction mixture
  • May change the shape of the enzymes active site reducing the rate of reaction
30
Q

What is an example of a use of immobilised enzymes in biotechnology?

A

Lactase for the hydrolysis of lactose to glucose and galactose

31
Q

What is a clone?

A

A genetically identical group of cells or organisms that arise from a single parent through asexual reproduction or artifically

32
Q

What is the method plants use to produce natural clones?

A
  • Vegetative propagation
  • Plants use meristem which is found in shoots, roots and between the xylem and phloem
  • A miniature plant called a plantlet is able to grow from these areas and once it has grown enough to survive on its own it detaches
33
Q

What are the 4 methods of vegetative propagation in plants?

A
  • Using horizontal stems called runners
  • Using swollen underground parts of stem called tubers and buds form on the surface of the tubers which then develop into clones
  • Using bulbs which are underground stems enclosed by layers of leaves and buds form in between these layers which then develop into clones
  • Using an underground horizontal stem called a rhizome
34
Q

How can farmers and gardeners encourage plants to naturally clone?

A
  • Using a technique called cutting
  • They cut off a part of the stem of a healthy plant
  • Dip the cut stem into growth hormones such as auxin
  • Put the plant in soil and cover it with a plastic bag to create a moist warm environment
35
Q

What are the 3 main benefits of using cutting to grow plants?

A
  • It doesn’t involve any expensive equipment
  • It doesn’t require much skill
  • It’s much quicker to grow plants from cutting than from seeds
36
Q

What are the 3 main disadvantages of using cutting to grow plants?

A
  • All of the clones produced are genetically identical so they can all be killed by a single disease or by a change in their environment such as the soil
  • A limited number of clones can be produced from one plant
  • Some plants don’t respond well to natural cloning
37
Q

How can plants be artifically cloned?

A
  • Using micropropagation
  • Cut off a small sample of meristem tissue containing totipotent cells from a healthy plant
  • This sample is called an explant
  • Sterilise the sample to reduce the chances of contamination
  • Place the sample in a sterile liquid containing growth hormones which stimulate the cells to undergo mitosis creating a mass of cells called a callus
  • The callus is then split up with each group of cells placed into new liquids containing hormones and nutrients
  • These cells form plantlets which are then potted
38
Q

What are the advantages of micropropagation?

A
  • It rapidly produces a large number of clones
  • It is used to grow plants that are difficult to grow from seeds
  • It means plants can be grown at any time of the year
39
Q

What are the disadvantages of micropropagation?

A
  • All of the clones can be killed by a single disease or by changes in the environment
  • Compared to cutting this process is much more expensive
  • Compared to cutting this process requires much more skill to carry out
40
Q

What is an example of natural cloning in animals?

A
  • Identical twins
  • When sperm fertilises an egg it forms a single embryo which results in a single birth
  • But sometimes the embryo splits forming twins
41
Q

How can twins be produced artificially?

A
  • Artificial embryo twinning
  • Scientists extract an egg cell from a female animal and fertilise it in a lab
  • As the embryo develops the scientists split it into single cells
  • These single cells then form new identical embryos which are then placed into different surrogate animals
  • These surrogates then give birth to offspring that are 100% genetically identical
42
Q

How can adult animals be cloned artifically?

A
  • Using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)
  • Scientists extract a somatic body cell and extract its nucleus
  • From a different animal of that species they extract an unfertilised egg
  • They also extract the nucleus from the egg which is called enucleation
  • They insert the somatic cell nucleus into the enucleated egg and apply an electric shock which fuses the nucleus into the egg so this process is called electrofusion
  • The transformed egg divides and forms an embryo
  • They transfer the embryo into the uterus of a surrogate animal who gives birth to the clone
43
Q

What are the arguments for artificial cloning in animals?

A
  • It can be used to clone animals with desirable characteristics such as high milk yield
  • It can be used to clone genetically modified animals that produce useful proteins for human medicine
  • We can harvest stem cells from embryos grown in this method and these stem cells can then grow tissues and organs which have uses in medical treatments
44
Q

What are the arguments against artificial cloning in animals?

A
  • Many cloned embryos fail to develop
  • Clones that are born using this method often die early and have genetic abnormalities
  • There are ethical issues with harvesting stem cells from embryos as the process of harvesting destroys the embryo which otherwise could’ve grown into an organism

Biology - Module 6 (6 decks)

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