Microbial Biotechnology

Question 1

Who discovered micro-organisms?

Answer 1

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek called them ammalcules

Question 2

General information on microbes?

Answer 2

Represents more than 60% of the earths life.

Question 3

What are the growth characteristics of microbes?

Answer 3

Growth is limited due to nutrient availability
And they produce toxic compounds
Need to grow in carefully controlled environments
Can cause diseases.

Question 4

What is a pandemic?

Answer 4

Endemic that has spread over a wide geographical area.
Plague
COvid-19
HIV
Smallpox
Ebola
Zika

Question 5

What is biological warfare?

Answer 5

Using biology as weapons
Germany used anthrax and the plague in WW1
WW2 lab experiments on prisoners.
Biological weapons banned in 1975.

Question 6

What is a vaccine?

Answer 6

Infecting an individual with a small part of a disease so that the bodycan make antibodies or using genes from a disease causing agent

Question 7

How were vaccines discovered?

Answer 7

During the smallpox epidemic people infected themselves with cowpox. Was eradicated in 1977. COpies of the disease are kept in USA and russia - for incase of reemergence.

Question 8

What is directed evolution?

Answer 8

mimics the natural selection process to change proteins or nucleic acids depending on the consumer’s specific needs.

Question 9

Can exinct diseases reemerge?

Answer 9

Yes, in 2002 the polio virus was synthesized by using its genome and allowing i to self-assemble.

Question 10

What was the first protein to be produced by recombinant DNA technology?

Answer 10

Insulin, was previously obtained from pigs, but some minor health issues due to pigs and humans not being the same.

Now insulin is produced using large-scale industrial plants with fermentation, centrifuges and purification columns.

Question 11

Is there a solution/ vaccine for malaria?

Answer 11

It is treatable but there are no vaccines.
But artemesin is an anti-malarial compound.

New production method of artemisinin
Producing artemisinic acid in S.cerevisea
Chemically convert artemisinic acid into artemisinin.
Production costs the same as it would to extract it from plants.

Question 12

Why can artemesinin not be exracted from plants?

Answer 12

Much longer process takes up to a year and a half whereas synthetically takes a couple weeks.

Question 13

What industries are microbes responsible for?

Answer 13

Washing powders
Plastics
Cleaning environmental pollution
Pharmacuticals
Food industry enzymes
Alcohol