Biotechnology Flashcards
What is Biotechnology ?
- Is the use of living organisms in industry to produce food, drugs and other products.
What are the living organisms that are mostly used ?
- Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi
Why are microrganisms used ?
- The ideal growth conditions are easily created- microrganisms generally grow sucessfully as long as they have the right nutrients , temperature, pH,moisture levels and availibility of gases
- Because of their short-life cycle , they grow rapidly under the right conditions so products can be made quickly.
- They can be grown on a range of inexpensive materials - inexpensive
- can be grown at any time of year
What part of living organisms is also used ?
- Enzymes are used to make products
- Can be contained within cells of organims - called intracellular enzymes
- Enzymes that arent contained within cells are used - isolated enzymes.Some are secreted naturally by microrganims - extracellular enzymes.
What type of enzyme is better ?
- Naturalluy secrteed enzymes are cheaper to use because it can be expensive to extract enzymes from cells
- Cheaper to use naturally.
What are different processes ?
- Brewing- to make beer, yeast is added to a type of grain and other ingredients. The yeast respires anareobically using glucose form the grain and produces ethanol and Co2.
- Baking- yeast makes bread rise , Co2 produced by fermentation of sugar means it doesnt stay flat. Tortilla no yeast = flat bread
- Cheese making - Bacteria feed on lactose in milk (changing its taste and texture). They also inhibit the growth of bacteria that would make milk go off.
- Yogurt Production - Involves use of lactic acid bacteria to clot the milk causig it to thicken. This creates a basic yoghurt production , then any flavours are added.
- Pencillin production - In times of stress , fungi from Penicillium genus produce an antibiotic,penicillin to stop bacteria from growing and competing for resources .Created for a massive cale and is collected and processed to be used in medicine.
- Insulin production - Hormone crucial for people with Type 1 d . Insulin is made by genetically modified bacteria, which have had the gene for human insulin production inserted into their DNA. These are grown in industrial fermenter on a massive scale and are collected and purified.
- Bioremedidation- using organisms, oil and pesticides into less harmful prodcucts , cleaning up the area . For example oremediaition using bacteria has been used to clean oil spills at sea.
What are the advantages of using micororganisms in food ?
- Used to make single-cell protein can be grown using many different organic subsrates include waste matrials such as mollasses.Can be used in a way to get rid of waste products
- Can be grown quickly easily cheaply . Prodcution costs are low as they have simple growth requirments
- Less land is required
- Can be cultured anywhere
- Could be cultured anywhere with right equipment can be used in countries with malnutrition in developing countries
- Single cell protein is often considered a healthy alternative to animal protein
What are the disadvantages of microorganisms in food.
-Lot of effort is put in making sure the food isnt contaminated with bacteria which could be dangerous to humans and spoil the food.
- People may not like the idea of eating food made of waste products
- Doesnt have same texture or flavour as real meat
- If consumed in high quanitites , health problems could be caused due to the high levels of uric acid relseased when the large amounts of amino acids are broken down.
What is a culture ?
- A culture is a population of one type of microorganism thats been grown under controlled conditions
What are cultures grown in ?
- Large containers
What are the two methods for cultruring microorganisms?
- Batch fermentation
- Continous fermentation
What is batch fermentation ?
Microorganisms are grown in batches in the fermentation vessel
Once the culture cycle is complete, the product is removed, the fermenter is cleaned and a new batch of microorganisms is grown
This is known as a closed culture
What is continous fermentation ?
- Microorganisms are continually grown and the products harvested
- Nutrients are added and waste is removed throughout the culturing process
- This is a open culture
What are the factors affecting fermentation ?
- pH- constantly monitored by pH probe and kept at optimum level. So enzymes work efficiently , highest rate of reaction.
- Temperature- Kept constant by a water jacket that surrounds entire vessel. Ensure that the microorganism always have access to their required nutrients.
- Access to nutrients - paddles constantly circulate fresh nutrient medium around the vessel. Make sure. To always have oxygen for respiration.
- Volume of oxygen - Sterile air is pumped into the vessel when needed. Kills any unwanted organisms that may compete with ones being cultured.
What is a closed culture ?
- When growth takes place in a vessel that’s isolated from the external environment.
- Extra nutrients aren’t added and waste products aren’t removed from the vessel during growth.
