Biotechnology Flashcards
What are biotechnology and bioremediation applied to?
Real world processes and global issues
What did Lorenzo present?
Seven microbial bio-processes to help the planet
What are Spodoptera littorals?
Cotton moths
What are considered on of the most destructive pests in subtropical range?
Cotton moths
What do cotton moths affect?
Agricultural - crops
Where were there significant outbreaks in Europe of cotton moths?
Spain, Italy, Greece and Crete
Where have cotton moths damaged?
Native to Africa, Middle East and Mediterranean countries of Europe
What are cotton moths Greenhouse pests of?
Tomato, pepper and melon
What are biological controls of cotton moths?
- Pre 1968 control using methyl pyrethroids = resistance emerged
- Use of parasites and predators for slow release of pheromone formulation for mating disruptions used with limited success
- Nuclear polyhedrosis virus
Describe the development of nuclear polyhedrosiss virus:
- Naturally discovered in 1937
- Isolates and purified in 1977
- Virus is specific to moth cotton without affecting beneficial insects
- UK overseas development administration funded project to investigate the potential of purified NPV as practical control agent
What is an alternative nuclear polyhedrosis virus?
Bacillus thuringiensis
What is silage?
Fermented grass that is harvested from fields
How is silage produced?
By lactic acid fermentation of glucose and sucrose in grass/corn
What can silage be used for?
Winter food for cattle
What does silage do?
Lower pH and reduces spoilage, better milk yields
What are advantages of silage?
Nutritional advantages and reduce food stock looses
Define bioremediation:
Use of biodegradation processes to detoxify or to remove pollutants
Define biodegradation:
Naturally occurring degrading properties of microorganisms are used to break down compounds in the enviroment
How much petroleum and petroleum fractions introduced into the marine environment?
3.4 million tonnes
What are the main routes of petroleum into the marine environment?
Tanker spills, natural oil and tar seeps
Where are hydrogen contaminated drill cuttings removed from?
Oil platforms
Where are hydrogen contaminated drill cuttings buried?
Landfils
What is one of the most known petroleum?
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
How many tons of oily drill cuttings per life of a well?
700 tons
What remains really high when oily drill cuttings when brought to shore waste?
Saline
When have oil-based drilling fluids be used since?
1930s
What did drilling fluid originally formulate from?
Crude oil
What is being used to formulate drilling fluid?
Low toxicity mineral oil
Do drilling fluids readily degrade on the sea floor?
No
What phases do drilling fluids consist of?
Oil phase
Brine phase
Is dilution of the waste expensive?
Yes
Why are conventional microbial treatments are unsuitable?
High salinity of waste
What tolerates and grow in high saline?
Halophiles
What can halophiles withstand?
Metabolic burden with the drill cutting place on them
What can halophiles degrade?
Oil
Define halobacteria:
Red-pigmented externally halophilic Archaea
What is the most predominant organism found in hyper saline environment?
Halobacteria
How to enrich halophile environment?
- 1g sample added to Classical Halophile Medium
- Growth used as selection criteria
- Incubated before sub-culturing
- Positive enrichments were offered drilling fluid as sole carbon source in Minimal Halobacterial Broth
What are Gyda oil fields?
Highly saline
What did original sample of Gyda oil contained?
Brine droplets
What are brine droplets originated from?
Formation water in the well
How were isolated obtained from Gyda oil?
Continuous sub-culturing from enrichments
When were aromatic compounds discovered?
19th Century
What do aromatic compounds smell like?
Sweet
What are a problem with aromatic compounds?
Very toxic
Cancerogenic
What are possible with aromatic compounds?
Huge range of chemical reactions and compounds possible
What are examples of aromatic compounds?
Benzene, vanillin, TNT, 2,4-D
What does 2,4-D do?
- Filters through soils, sediments into ground waters and the subsurface
- Accumulation exceeding government limits and are toxic
What is the half-life of 2,4-D?
10 days
What was the usage of 2,4-D in US in 2017?
18 million tons
What is the basic 2,4-D degradation?
-2,4-D
to
-Succinic acid
What are released during 2,4-D degradation?
Chloride ion are released so they can be measured and used to be observe the half-life of 2,4-D
What is there a massive build up of at former production sites of WWI and II?
TNT
When did TNT production increase exponentially?
1940 and 1980
What does TNT enrich surfaces, sediments and seeping into ground water?
Hydrophilic intermediates
What can partially degrade TNT?
Bacteria i.e Pseudomonas strains
What can degrade TNT release?
Toxic intermediates
What are highly possible solutions for soil contamination with explosives?
Design bacterial consortia that consist of species that cross-feed each other TNT intermediated for further degradation and mineralisation
What can we engineer bacteria for biotechnology?
Bacterial cell factories
What can bacterial cell factories be used for?
Design of microbes to produce or degrade complex organic chemicals
What are said about Pseudomonas putida?
Can-do-it-all
What is Pseudomonas putida?
Soil-dwelling, non pathogenic bacterium
What is the function of Pseudomonas putida?
Have the ability to naturally degrade a host of aromatic compounds such as toluene
Does Pseudomonas putida have a large or small genome?
Large genome
What is Pseudomonas putida rich in?
Secondary metabolism
What is Pseudomonas putida resistant to?
Oxidative stress
Does Pseudomonas putida have a low or high NADH turnover?
High
Why does Pseudomonas putida have a high NADH turnover?
Instead of going towards pyruvate, a part of GA3P is recycled back into hexoses
- Clamping the exit from the cycle using repressor
- By measuring flush through cycle using actuator
What is metabolic funnelling?
Convert complex molecules to intermediates and precursors that the cell can use in central metabolism
What does metabolic funnelling connect?
Upper metabolic pathway of aromatic compounds to central metabolism
What are the steps in integrated synthetic biology and biotechnology?
Step 1: Know the pollutant, find and know the pathway
Step 2: Select and know the host
Step 3: Build and optima the pathway in the host context
Describe Step 1: Know the pollutant, find and know the pathway of integrated synthetic biology and biotechnology:
- Determine contaminate and find catabolic pathway
- Determine properties of pathway building blocks
- Detect and quantify pathway building blocks
Describe Step 2: Select and know the host of integrated synthetic biology and biotechnology:
- Chose between environmental strain, laboratory chassis or consortium
- Acquire genomic sequence and genome-scale metabolic model
- Decipher factors responsible for host cell benefits
Describe Step 3: Build and optima the pathway in the host context of integrated synthetic biology and biotechnology:
- Experimental tools
- Computational tools
Describe the experiment tools of Step 3: Build and optima the pathway in the host context?
- Knockout, up or downregulate endogenous or exogenous genes
- Balance expression of target gene
- Improve performance of enzymes
Describe the computational tools of Step 3: Build and optima the pathway in the host context?
- Predict fluxes in genomic context of host, find bottleneck
- Simulate pathway of dynamic and balance expression of target genes
- Improve enzyme performance
What is restoring of global cycles using synthetic biology and biotechnology?
Recoupling Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus cycles so homeostatic and balanced
