Ch. 16: Microbial Biotechnology

Question 1

Which of these would be an example of a primary metabolite fermentation product?
- penicilin
- streptomycin
- erythromycin
- ethanol
- bacitracin

Answer 1

ethanol

Question 2

Which of these would be an example of a secondary metabolite fermentation product?
- ethanol
- propanol
- penicilin
- butanol
- acetone

Answer 2

penicilin

Question 3

What does the term fermentation refer to in an industrial microbiology setting?
- a low energy-yielding catabolic process
- the anaerobic growth of microbes
- the production of all fermentation-based products
- the mass culturing of microbes, often for the production of a valuable product
- the production of acids and alcohols

Answer 3

The mass culturing of microbes, often for the production of a valuable product.

Question 4

Medical and pharmaceutical biotechnology innovations belong to the grouping sometimes referred to as:
- yellow biotechnology
- red biotechnology
- white biotechnology
- blue biotechnology
- green biotechnology

Answer 4

red biotechnology

Question 5

You aim to isolate insulin from a recombinant E. coli strain. During which phase of growth should its production be induced?
- log
- all of the phases are equivalent
- stationary
- death
- lag

Answer 5

stationary

Question 6

Expression vectors are used for which of these processes?
- DNA shuffling experiments
- recombinant protein production
- directed enzyme evolution
- site-directed mutagenesis
- random mutagenesis

Answer 6

recombinant protein production

Question 7

Which primary fraction of plant biomass is used as feedstock for biofuels production?
- disaccharides
- protein
- cellulose
- chitin
- pectin

Answer 7

cellulose

Question 8

Why are bioplastics often preferred over conventional plastics?
- bioplastics are stronger
- bioplastics are cheaper to produce
- bioplastics are biodegradable
- bioplastics are more pliable
- bioplastics are less dense

Answer 8

bioplastics are biodegradable

Question 9

Polyhydroxyalkanoates are associated with the production of what material?
- butanol
- biodiesel
- ethanol
- methane
- bioplastics

Answer 9

bioplastics

Question 10

Millions of tons of what amino acid, commonly used as a flavor enhancer, are produced annually?
- methionine
- glutamate
- valine
- leucine
- glycine

Answer 10

glutamate

Question 11

Which of these amino acids are commonly used as supplements in animal feed to promote growth?
- methionine and lysine
- aspartate and histidine
- glycine and glutamate
- tryptophan and pyrosine
- proline and valine

Answer 11

methionine and lysine

Question 12

The introduction of DNA into plants for the creation of transgenic plants often uses a plasmid-mediated process from which bacterium?
- Xanthomonas campestris
- Corynebacterium glutamicum
- Agrobaterium tumefaciens
- Rhizxobium leguminosarum
- Pseudomonas syringae

Answer 12

Agrobaterium tumefaciens

Question 13

Insect-resistant transgenic plants are produced by the insertion of a gene into the plant genome from which insect toxin-producing bacterium?
- Pseudomonas syringae
- Agrobacterium tumefaciens
- Corynebacterium glutamicum
- Xanthomonas campestris
- Bacillus thuringiensis

Answer 13

Bacillus thuringiensis

Question 14

T/F: Random mutagenesis is often used in industry to produce microbial strains that have increased production ability.

Answer 14

True

Question 15

T/F: Some types of anti-cholesterol drugs, such as the statins, are produced by microbes.

Answer 15

True