Biotechnology Flashcards
Biotechnology
This is the industrial use of living organisms to produce food, drugs and other products for human use and consumption
Why are microorganisms used to produce these?
- Ideal growth conditions can be easily replicated
- Short life cycle so they grow rapidly
- Inexpensive and can be grown at any time of the year
Advantages of using microorganisms for human consumption
- Can use many different organic substrates including waste materials and can be used as a way to get rid of waste products
- They can be grown quickly, easily and cheaply cheap as it is easy to replicate conditions
- Healthier alternative for protein
Disadvantages of using microorganisms
- Conditions can promote other harmful bacteria to grow which will spoil the human food for consumption
- People may not like the idea of using waste products
- Doesnt have the same texture or taste
Ways enzymes are immobilised
Enzymes are capsuled in jelly like alginate beads which act as a semi permeable membrane
- Trapped in silica gel matrix
- Covalently bonded to cellulose or collagen fibres
Ads of using immobilised enzymes in industry
Columns of immobilised enzymes can be washed and reused which reduces the cost of running an reaction on an industrial scale because you dont have to keep buying enzymes
- Product is not mixed with the enzymes
Disadvantages of using immobilised enzymes
- Extra equipment is required which may be expensive to buy
- Immobilised enzymes are more expensive than free enzymes so not always the most economical
How is lactose free milk made
Some people cant digest lactose as they do not have enough of the enzyme lactase. Fresh milk can be passed over immobilised lactase enzymes to produce lactose free milk.
Production of semi synthetic penicillin
Similar properties to penicillin but are effective against penicillin resistant organisms
- Immobilised penicillin acylase enzyme is used in its production
Conversion from glucose to fructose
Using fructose rather than glucose means that less sugar is needed to obtain the same level sweetness
- Immobilised glucose isomerase is used to convert glucose to fructose on an industrial scale
Cloning
Process of producing genetically identical cells or organisms from the cells of an existing organism
Rhizomes
- Stem structures that grow horizontally underground away from the parent plant- Nodes which new roots and shoots can develop from
Stolons
They grow above the ground on the surface of the soil
Suckers
Shoots which grow from sucker buds present on the shallow rooots of the parent plant
Tubers
Large underground plant structures that act as a food store for the plant there covered in eyes. Each eye is able to sprout and form a new plant
