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Life Processes > Biotechnology > Flashcards

Biotechnology Flashcards

1
Q

White biotech

A

Use of living organisms or their derivatives to make industrial products

Chemicals

AAs

Vitamins

Enzymes

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2
Q

Industrial chemical production

A

Acetic acid - fermentation of ethanol or methanol by microbes - 200,000 tonnes produced annually

Butanol - From petroleum or fermentation - used in plastics, paint, resins and brake fluid

Lactic acid - Half of lactic acid in Europe is made by microbes - rest is chemical - used as acidifier - preservative in plastics

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3
Q

Enzymes

A

traditionally obtained from microorganisms, plants and animals (amylase/pepsin/rennet/trypsin/lipases/proteases)

Enzymes from fungi - Aspergillus oryzae was grown on straw to obtain amylases and proteases - ‘emersed culture’

Produced in large bioreactors after 1950s - submerged culture - high yields/cheap/continuous

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4
Q

Uses of enzymes

A

Pectinases - break down pectin in manufacture of fruit juice and baby food

Proteases - many uses including in leather tanning

Phytases - added to animal feed to enable digestion of phosphate

Substillsin - detergent

Alkaline proteases, amylases and lipases - detergent

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5
Q

Immobilised enzymes

A

Enzymes that are fixed in a gel or to a membrane

recyclable

Increased stability

Absent from end product

Lower production costs

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6
Q

Glucose isomerase

A

Immobilised enzyme

converts glucose into fructose

isolated from streptomyces

Immobilisation successfully increased fructose yield by 42% and reduced production cost by 40%

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7
Q

Red biotechnology

A

Health related

Biopharmaceuticals

Recombinant proteins

Vaccines

Stem cells

Animal models

Gene therapy

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8
Q

Recombinant proteins

A

Over 100 recombinant proteins are in use:

50 antibodies - $50 billion

Insulin - $16 billion

Blood clotting factors - $16 billion

Others - $25

Main uses:

Replacement for missing or defective proteins

Inhibition of infectious agents

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9
Q

Insulin production in E. coli

A

Type 1 diabetes - lack of insulin

High blood sugar

Gene for insulin production put into plasmid - E. coli take up plasmid and replicate

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10
Q

Subunit vaccines

A

Fragments from the pathogen

Developed before recombinant DNA tech

Pathogens could be grown in liquid culture and secreted proteins were used in the vaccine

Hep B was the first example

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11
Q

Inactivated vaccines

A

Killed pathogen

Hep A, influenza. rabies

Can not be isolated or cultured in vitro or are too expensive to culture

Risk of infection if alive

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12
Q

Attenuated vaccines

A

Live, weakened pathogens - no longer express toxin gene

Can be a natural or GM mutant

Safer to produce but need a lot of research to identify the toxic genes

Risk they can revert to pathogenic strain

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13
Q

Sequence genomes of pathogens to develop new vaccines

A

Sequence pathogen genomes to determine which proteins are responsible for the immune response

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14
Q

Use viral genomes to develop new vaccines

A

clone genes of interest into a plasmid and insert into vaccine genome

Recombinant vaccinia virus as a vaccine against smallpox or influenza e.g.

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15
Q

DNA based vaccines

A

Add the gene encoding the antigen into plasmid

Bind the DNA to a charged particle and inject

DNA will bind with genomic DNA particles and the antigen will be expressed temporarily - triggering a localised immune response

cheaper to make and easier to store

first done in 2005 against Wests Nile virus

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16
Q

Edible vaccines

A

Can express antigens in plants and then eat the plants

GM potatoes containing Hep B vaccines are in trials

Have to eat enough of it and had to be raw

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17
Q

Stem cells

A

Potency:

totipotent cells can differentiate into all cell lineages to regenerate a whole organism - only embryonic stem cells can do this in mammals

Pluripotent cells are capable of forming all the cell lineages within an embryo but not extraembryonic lineages

Mulitpotent cells have the potential to differentiate into many, but not all, cell lineages

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18
Q

Hematopoietic stem cells

A

HSCs

found in bone marrow

multipotent - replenish red and white blood cells

Found near blood vessels within the marrow ‘vascular niche’ and at the interface between the bone and marrow ‘endosteal niche’

Lymphoid and myeloid progenitors - differentiate into two further cell lines - make up the different red and white blood cell types

19
Q

Intestinal epithelial stem cells

A

ISCs

Found in small intestine

Can differentiate into 4 diff cells:

Absorptive epithelial cells

Goblet cells

Enteroendocrine cells

paneth cells

20
Q

Embryonic stem cells

A

ESCs

derived from blastocyst

Pluripotent - capable of forming all cell lineages within an embryo

21
Q

Induced pluripotent stem cells

A

iPSCs

differentiated adult cells into stem cells

changes in gene expression allow this reversion

Not clear if identical to ESCs

Low efficiency of production

Can cause tumours

22
Q

Stem cell therapy

A

HSCs used with bone marrow transplants

Tissue regeneration

Diabetes

Spinal cord injuries

Leukaemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anaemia

23
Q

Treatment for diabetes

A

Induce stem cells to differentiate into pancreatic B cells that produce insulin

Treat those that don’t produce insulin

More work needed to prevent immune system attacking B ells

24
Q

Animal cloning

A

Nuclear transplantation

Remove a nucleus from an egg

Add to a different nucleus

Allow to develop into frog

Shows that a nucleus from a differentiated cell can regenerate an entire organism

25
Forensic biotech
Fingerprints Blood type DNA technology DNA fingerprinting DNA databases DNA barcoding Biometrics
26
Blood typing
Glycolipid antigens A,B and O Different alleles of the same gene O has one fewer carbohydrate A has N-acetyl-galactosamine B has galactose
27
DNA fingerprinting
Analysis of DNA fragments for ID DNA extracted, cut with restriction enzyme and run on gel Southern blot was used - DNA transferred to a nylon filter DNA probes used and bound to complementary DNA radiation sensative film placed over blot and DNA bound to the probes appear as bands on film restriction pattern matched to the victim
28
Phenotypic biometrics
Look at phenotypes to identify individuals Fingerprints Retinal scans - pattern of blood vessels in back of eye Iris recognition systems - pattern of iris Facial recognition
29
DNA barcoding
Used to identify species Uses conserved regions of genome: fungi (ITS) Plants (chloroplasts) Animals (COI) Fish in restaurants horse meat scandal ID of insect larvae
30
Bioremediation
Use of living organisms or their products to break down waste and pollutants in the environements Contaminated drinking water: trapped in soil and rocks - can't wash ground water If oil and gas is mixed with ground water - need a bioreactor containing bacteria to separate the clean water
31
Bioremediation microbes
Petroleum-eating bacteria E. coli for heavy metals - use metallothioneins to neutralise heavy metals - cadmium and mercury
32
Bioremediation of oil spills
Exxon Valdez - 1989 42 million litres of oil off Alaskan coast Clear from surface using skimmers and vaccums Wash rocks with water Added fertiliser to encourage growth of bacteria to degrade Oil will remain for hundreds of years Deepwater horizon - 2010 Explosion released 600 million litres of oil into Gulf of Mexico various removal methods - Bioremediation degraded 50% of oil released
33
Biorefining of fossil fuels
FFs with high sulphur contnet: Thiobacillus + Sulfolobus bacteria can be used to convert inorganic FeS2 to sulphates - can be washed away - only accounts for 30% of sulphur in fossil fuels Rhodacoccus can break down thiophene (where rest of sulphur is found)
34
Other bioremediation EGs
Recovering valuable metals Degrading radioactive chemicals White rot fungi to degrade lignin - waste agricultural product
35
Phytoremidiation
Using plants for bioremediation of soil, water and air
36
Biofuel
Fuels produced through biological processes Issues - expensive - fuel instead of food? - waste products
37
Biogas
Burning biomass for fuel Can also produce gas from animal dung in small bioreactors instead
38
Bioethanol
Sugarcane or maize - raw materials Microbes convert sugars into ethanol - production is expensive 14 litres of sugar residue and 100 litres of water needed to make 1 litre of ethanol Fuel additive
39
Biodiesel
Derived from plant oils + animal fats Standalone fuel - replacement for diesel
40
Biofuel from algae
algae and cyanobacteria No competition for land use - oils easily refined into diesel Easy to genetically manipulate algae to produce ethanol and butanol Can also make biohydrogen and biomethane Produce 10x the output of traditional biofuel feedstocks Needs a lot of fertilizer
41
Green biotechnology
Use of crop plants and agricultural systems GM crops very succesful: 4 GM crops dominate global production Soybean - 50% Maize - 31% Cotton - 13% Oilseed rape - 14% Two main traits of GM crops - Herbicide tolerance and insect resistance
42
Herbicide tolerance
Resistance to glyphosate Glyphosate blocks AA synthesis Introduction of a mutant EPSPS gene - glyphosate cannot bind - resistance
43
Insect resistance
Bt toxin - toxic protein that binds to inset epithelial cells in digestive tract and creates holes

Life Processes (9 decks)

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