Biotechnology Flashcards
When was the first recombinant organism produced?
E. coli in 1972
What is white biotechnology?
Industrial biotechnology- the use of living organisms or their derivatives to make industrial products Chemicals Amino acids Vitamins Enzymes
History of citric acid production
Produced in the UK from 1826
Calcium citrate produced from lemons and converted to citric acid chemically
1917 - Aspergillus niger (fungus) found to produce copious amounts of citric acid
1923 - large scale production began in New York
Over 1-2 million tonnes produced worldwide
How is acetic acid produced?
Fermentation of ethanol or methanol by microbes
200,000 tonnes produced annually
How is butanol produced?
From petroleum for fermentation of Clostridium acetobutylicum
Used in plastics, paint, resins, etc
1.2 million tonnes produced annually
Byproduct is acetone
How is lactic acid produced?
Half by microbes, the rest is chemical
Used as acidified, preservative and in plastics
Where were enzymes traditionally obtained from?
Microorganisms, plants and animals
How are enzymes produced now?
From fungi Submerged cultures (in liquid) of Aspergillus oryzae used to produce enzymes in large bioreactors
Advantages of obtaining enzymes from fungi
Cheap
High yields
Continuous
Uses of pectinases
Break down peptin in manufacture of fruit juice and baby food
Uses of proteases
Leather tanning
Many other uses
Uses of phytases
Added to animal feed to enable digestion of phosphate
What enzymes are used in detergent?
Modified subtilisin from Bacillus subtilis
Alkaline proteases
Amylase
Lipases
What are the benefits of immobilising enzymes?
Enzymes can be recycled Preserves expensive enzymes - lower production costs Absent from end product Increased stability Bound to gel or membrane
What does glucose isomerase do?
Converts glucose to fructose
High fructose corn syrup went into mass production in the 1960s
How has immobilisation changed the use of glucose isomerase?
Before the syrup only contained 15% fructose because enzyme too expensive to produce
Afterwards fructose yield was 42%
Still cheaper to produce sucrose
Technological advances in 1970s reduced glucose isomerase production costs, and sucrose prices rose, so HFCS now economically viable
How much is the production cost of glucose isomerase reduced by due to immobilisation?
40%
What is the current fructose content of high fructose corn syrup?
55%
What is red biotechnology?
Health-related biotechnology Biopharmaceuticals Recombinant proteins Vaccines Stem cells Animal models Gene therapy
Recombinant proteins
Over 100 in use, on which 50 are antibodies ($50 billion)
Main uses are replacement for missing/defective proteins and inhibition of infectious agents
Examples of recombinant proteins
Insulin
Antibodies
Blood clotting factors
Vaccines
What was the first commercially available GM hormone?
Insulin - lowers blood glucose levels
Produced by E. coli
What methods have overcome problems in insulin production?
Allergic reactions to non-human insulin
Had to tweak sequence using enzymes to modify the protein
Also tweaked DNA sequence to prevent clumping when being injected
How much are vaccines worth?
$40 billion per annum