Microbial Biotech 1 & 2

Question 1

gram + vs gram -

Answer 1

+: permeable cell wall; purple stain; more peptidoglycan
-: impenetrable cell wall, red, less peptidoglycan

Question 2

applications of microbial biotech + examples**

Answer 2

forensics
- paternity tests
- scientific investigations
agriculture
- plant agriculture
- food processing
- farms
medicine
- diagnostics
- therapeutics
- vaccines
industry
- energy production
- new materials
environmental and energy
- biofuels (energy)
- cleaning through bioremediation
- preventing environmental problems

Question 3

enzymes for food processing industry (industrial biotech)

Answer 3

• proteases (clear & flavor rice wines)
• peptidase (cheddar cheese)
• lipase (digestive aid, develops cheese flavors)

Question 4

industrial enzymes

Answer 4

detergents: amylase, lipase
textiles: amylase, catalase
oil-field applications: cellulases
- cellulase also for stone washing jeans
- protease –> chymosin for cheese making

Question 5

how do enzymes work?**

Answer 5

help break down larger molecules
- a molecule is broken down multiple times at different parts of body by different enzymes

Question 6

applications of environmental biotech

Answer 6

microbial bioremediation: use of microbes to remove pollutants
- biostimulation (stimulate growth of resident microbes)
- bioagumentation (externally add microbes)

Question 7

biofuel*

Answer 7

fuel produced by microbes
1. biogas: methane production in wastewater treatment plants (remove pollutants from domestic and industrial waste)
2. bioalcohols: microbes genetically engineered to produce ethanol and other biofuels from biomass (plant-based material) in effort to reduce dependence on fossil fuels

Question 8

biofuel first gen vs second gen**

Answer 8

energy: bioalcohols
- first-gen bioalcohols produced by microbial fermentation of sugar from food sources (e.g. corn, sugarcane, and beets)
- second-gen: waste product from plants that we don’t eat (e.g. cellulose*)
– breaking down cellulose is not easy –> most microbes cannot simply break cellulose into ethanol –> first have to ferment with specialized enzymes and then use microbes to finish process and convert to ethanol (pre-treatment, enzyme hydrolysis, and microbial fermentation)**
– first-gen doesn’t need pre-treatment or enzyme hydrolysis –> microbes could convert to ethanol easily

Question 9

metagenomics**

Answer 9

study of composition of microbial communities without need for isolation and culturing
- tool for bioprospecting
- quantitative and qualitative
- gene quantification in metagenomics: DNA extracted from microbial community –> mapped to reference sequences that have been annotated with specific genes –> each read that matches annotated reference = gene is present –> result = list of counts of specific genes from sample
- benefits: thermostable DNA polymerase, biocatalysts (substances that speed up or activate any biochemical reactions), paper bleaching, stone-washed jeans, etc.

Question 10

bioprospecting**

Answer 10

mining of diverse environments for genes and enzymes of novel properties (e.g. thermostable polymerases)

Question 11

applications of agricultural biotech

Answer 11

plant pests and control
- biocontrol: use of microbes to control pests that cause plant damage
– competition - for nutrients and space (e.g. Pseudomonas syringae produces ice-nucleation active protein –> freezes buds of plants –> Frostban)
– antibiosis - production of chemicals that kill other microbes (e.g. Bacillus thuringiensis protects again insect pests)

Question 12

applications of medicine biotech/vaccines

Answer 12

• insulin can be recombinantly produced in bacteria and yeasts
• botox
• vaccines: whole organisms, or parts of pathogen, that are given to humans or animals by mouth or by injection to stimulate immune system against infection by those pathogens (or similar pathogens)
• types of vaccines:
  1. subunit vaccines: made with parts or subunits of microbes
  2. attenuated vaccines: weakened microbes
  3. inactivated vaccines: killed microbes
  4. DNA and RNA vaccine: codes for antigen from microbe (vaccine codes for genetic material to make necessary protein)

Question 13

what microorganisms promote plant growth in roots and soil

Answer 13

rhizobacteria/rhizobium, etc.
- plant growth promoting bacteria live within the rhizosphere, where roots of plant leave soil

Question 14

vaccine treatments

Answer 14

a. antibiotics: small molecules that typically kill pathogens
b. antibodies: large, complex molecules that neutralize microbes or their products

Question 15

microbes have developed _______ to many antibiotics

Answer 15

resistance
- need to keep discovering more or artificially creating

Question 16

microbial forensics

Answer 16

deals with tracing sources of possible terrorist attacks that employed microbes as bioweapons
- bioterrorism: use of biological materials as weapons to harm humans, or the animals and plants humans depend on for food