Chapter 15

Question 1

What is Industrial Microbiology

Answer 1

Use of microorganisms for the large-scale production of organic products. Typically enhancing production of something they normally make

Question 2

How did industrial microbiology originate

Answer 2

Originated with alcohol and lactic acid fermentations. Later productions of antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, food additives and enzymes

Question 3

What is biotechnology

Answer 3

Genetic engineering used to alter organisms to produce new or better products

Question 4

What are properties of a useful industrial microbe

Answer 4

1. Rapid growth on a large scale on inexpensive medium
2. Produces desired product quickly
3. Should not be pathogenic
4. Can be affected by genetic manipulation

Question 5

What are some microbial products of industrial interest

Answer 5

Food (GMOs), probiotics, enzymes, antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, food additives

Question 6

What are commodity chemicals

Answer 6

Inexpensive chemicals produced in builk. Ex. ethanol, citric acid, biofuels

Question 7

What are primary metabolites

Answer 7

Produced in large amounts during the exponential growth phase as part of normal metabolism Ex. ethanol, acetate, amino acids

Question 8

What are secondary metabolites

Answer 8

Often produced during the stationary phase and are not essential for growth (not housekeeping). Formation depends on growth conditions and some are produced by spore-forming microbes during sporulation. Ex. antibiotics

Question 9

What is a fermentor

Answer 9

A vessel for large scale microbial growth.

Question 10

What is large scale growth

Answer 10

Fermentation - but can be aerobic or anaerobic growth depending on organism and desired product

Question 11

What is essential for large-scale fermentors

Answer 11

Impellers and spargers and proper growth conditions

Question 12

What are impellers and spargers in fermentors

Answer 12

They are used for mixing and supplying oxygen for aerobic growth

Question 13

What are growth conditions in fermentors

Answer 13

The temperature, pH, nutrients are controlled with sensors and computers

Question 14

Describe industrial fermentors

Answer 14

Closely monitored during production run, the growth and product formation must be measured, and growth conditions must be controlled and altered as needed

Question 15

What are antibiotics

Answer 15

Compounds that can kill or inhibit the growth of microbes and are produced by microbes as secondary metabolites

Question 16

What are actinomycetes

Answer 16

Most antibiotics are produced by actinomycetes soil bacteria or filamentous fungi

Question 17

How are new antibiotics discovered in the lab

Answer 17

Laboratory screening. First you spread a dilution sample of possible antibiotic producing bacteria on selective medium. Then overlay the plate with an indicator organism that can be killed by antibiotics. The colonies that produce antibiotics will have a zone of growth inhibition where they have inhibit the growth of the stuff in the indicator overlay.

Question 18

Which vitamin is produced exclusively by microorganisms

Answer 18

Vitamin B12 because of the complicated structure

Question 19

What are amino acids used for

Answer 19

They are used as animal feed additives and nutritional supplements. Also used as starting materials in the chemical industry.

Question 20

What are enzymes used for

Answer 20

They can be used as industrial catalysts

Question 21

What are exoenzymes

Answer 21

Extracellular enzymes that are secreted into the medium that hydrolyze (digest) polymers such as starch, cellulose, protein, nucleic acids, and lipids

Question 22

What produces exoenzymes

Answer 22

Normally produced by bacteria to obtain food monomers for uptake

Question 23

What are bacterial proteases used in

Answer 23

They can be used in laundry detergents (contain amylases and lipases)

Question 24

What is biotechnology

Answer 24

Use of living organisms for industry, but usually implies GMO

Question 25

What is a genetically modified organism (GMO)

Answer 25

An organism whose genome has been altered with foreign genes. Genetic engineering allows expression of eukaryotic genes in prokaryotes

Question 26

How do you express eukaryotic genes in prokaryotes

Answer 26

Achieved by cloning the gene from spliced mRNA (so introns are removed because bacteria do not have a splicesome) and using a bacterial expression vector

Question 27

Describe the process of putting eukaryotic genes in prokaryotes

Answer 27

You start with the eukaryotic mRNA. Then you add primers to the strand and use reverse transcriptase to form sscDNA with a hairpin loop. cDNA is like DNA but no intron sequences. Then the RNA is removed with alkali and a DNA polymerase I is used to form dsDNA and a nuclease is used to cleave the primer sequence off. The final product is a ds cDNA that can be spliced ino a vector and cloned

Question 28

What are some problems with protein synthesis in a foreign host

Answer 28

Degradation by intracellular proteases, toxicity to the host, and overexpressed protein may form inclusion bodies, insoluble protein aggragates

Question 29

What is a protein fusion

Answer 29

Fusion of a target protein with a carrier protein can facilitate protein purification. Fusing your target protiein with a well-behaved protein to facilitate proper protein folding.

Question 30

How do you make a protein fusion

Answer 30

Have a vector that will code for your target protein as well as a carrier protein that will bind to the target protein. The target protein can be cleaved off later with proteases

Question 31

What are some recombinant vaccines

Answer 31

1. Vector vaccine
2. Subunit vaccine
3. DNA vaccine (genetic vaccine)
4. Polyvalent vaccine

Question 32

What is a vector vaccine

Answer 32

Vaccine made by inserting genes from a pathogenic virus into a relatively harmless carrier virus, which is used to infect animals or humans to induce an immune response

Question 33

What is a subunit vaccine

Answer 33

Contains only specific protein or proteins from a pathogenic organism (coat protein), overexpressed in cloning host cells and purified to make vaccine. This purified protein is injected as a vaccine and will result in an immune response

Question 34

What is a DNA vaccine

Answer 34

Defined fragments of pathogen DNA containing genes that encode immunogenic proteins are delivered by injection. The pathogen genes are expressed in the subject to cause an immune response. Ex. displaying the virus proteins on the surface of the membrane to induce an immune response.

Question 35

What is a polyvalent vaccine

Answer 35

A single GMO vaccine that immunizes against two or more different diseases

Question 36

What is agrobacterium tumefaciens used for

Answer 36

It is a bacterial plant pathogen and can be used to introduce DNA into plants. A. Tumefacians contains the Ti plasmid which is responsible for virulence

Question 37

What is the Ti plasmid and what does it do

Answer 37

A tumor inducing plasmid. A. Tumefaciens naturally genetically modifies plant cells to make food for the bacteria . A modified version of the Ti plasmid is used for genetic engineering of plants.

Question 38

What is T-DNA

Answer 38

The segment of the Ti plasmid that is transferred to the plant and can have foreign DNA inserted into it.

Question 39

Describe the process of genetically modifying plants

Answer 39

Foreign DNA is introduced into a cloning vector and inserted into E.coli. E.coli can then transfer this vector to A. tumefaciens (one containing a disarmed Ti plasmid) through conjugation. Then the cloning vector is transferred to the plant cells and incorporated into the plant cells chromosome to allow for growth of transgenic plants

Question 40

What is BT Toxin

Answer 40

A protein originally from Bacillus thuringiensis that is genetically engineered to be placed in plants to produce insect resistance.