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33 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Fermenters: What is biotechnology? |
The maintenance of natural biomolecules (molecules for maintaining the lives of living organisms) for good and services using science and engineering |
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What is a fermenter and what does it do? |
It is a large vessel that grows and cultivates microorganisms that produce biomolecules on a large scale |
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Give an example of a useful resource that a fermenter can produce. |
- Penicillin - Cheese - Quorn - Yoghurt |
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List the conditions in fermenters that affect growth rates. |
- Aseptic precautions - Nutrients - Temperature - pH - Oxygenation - Agitation (stirring) |
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How do aseptic precautions affect microorganism growth? |
It stops other microorganisms developing, which would reduce the yeild of the desired biomolecules produced |
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How does agitation affect microorganism growth? |
It makes sure that all cells are given the optimum conditions |
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How do nutrients affect microorganism growth? |
It ensures that they always have enough food, the right pH, and the right temperature to grow |
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How does oxygenation affect microorganism growth? |
Most fermentation reactions are aerobic, so they need oxygen to survive |
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How does temperature and pH affect microorganism growth? |
- Yeast uses enzymes to break down the sugars and nutrients - Therefore, high temperature leads to denatured active sites, low temperature leads to slow processes - High pH and low pH leads to denatured active sites |
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Microorganisms in food: What are the advantages to microorganisms in food production over animals or plants? |
- Rapid population growth: They can produce biomass much faster - Ease of manipulation: They are a lot easier to handle - Production is independent of climate: It only needs a small area and can be built anywhere; animals need a lot of space and other conditions - Use of waste products: The waste products can be used for nutrients for growing microorganisms. This means more efficient and less waste |
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Mycoprotein: What fungus is used in mycoprotein manufacture? |
Fusarium |
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What is added to a mycoprotein manufacturer? (and why) |
- Glucose syrup and minerals are added to supply energy and neutrients for growth - Air is added for oxygen production - Ammonia is added for nitrogen production - These gasses' bubbles create a circulation so that all the fungus gets the right nutrients. They can't use a stirrer because it would break the long fibres |
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What, other then the mycoprotein, is removed from a mycoprotein fermenter? |
Excess gasses |
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Why does a mycoprotein fermenter need a cooling system? |
- The fungal cells generate heat from their metabolic reactions - To make sure it does not get too hot for growth, this cools it down |
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How is the mycoprotein treated when it is extracted before it is ready for packaging? |
- It heats it to kill cells and remove the bitter taste - It drys and presses it to remove the water |
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What is the advantages of using mycoprotein as a food source? |
- It does not have any saturated fat (unlike red meat), so reduces the chance of heart disease - It has a lot of fibre (unlike red meat). This necessary, and can also reduce the risk of bowel cancer. - It can reduce the rate of glucose absorption, so reduces the chance of type 2 diabetes |
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Yogurt: How is yogurt made from milk? |
- Milk is heated to 40 degrees (so the bacteria can thrive) - A culture of bacteria is added, e.g. lactobacillus bulgaricus - The bacteria convert lactose to lactic acid - This thickens the milk and makes it more acidic (sour taste) |
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How is the effect that yogurt backteria has on milk different to cheese-making enzymes? |
- With yogurt, they make it thicken - With cheese, the enzymes make it separate |
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Enzyme Technology: What is chymosin, where is it made and what is it used for? |
- An enzyme that affects proteins in milk that makes it separate - Originally extracted from calves stomachs, now can be made by genetically modified bacteria, which is veggie friendly - Into curds, which are solid - And whey, which is liquid - The curds are used to make cheese |
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What is invertase (or sucrase), where is it made and what is it used for? |
- An enzyme that converts the sugar sucrose into glucose and sucrose - It is produced by yeast - Used to make sweets sweeter - And soft centres to sweets |
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Name 2 enzymes used in biological washing powders, and what they are used for. |
- Proteases digest proteins - Lipases digest fats and oils - These are often found in clothes - The enzymes can work at lower temperatures then washing powders without enzymes - This saves time and energy heating the water up |
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Why are people lactose intolerant? |
- Lactase is the enzyme that breaks down lactose sugar. - Lactose intolerant people cannot produce lactase, so cannot break it down |
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How can lactose free milk be made? |
- The lactase enzyme contained within a sodium alginate solution - This is then dripped into a calcium chloride solution, which forms alginate beads containing the enzyme - This makes the enzyme immobilised, which means it can be easily separated from the product, so it can be used over and over again - The milk is then run over these beads over and over again to produce lactose-free milk |
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How is human insulin-producing bacteria made? |
1. DNA from a human cell is cut using restriction enzymes. These leave a few unpaired DNA at either end, called sticky ends 2. A bacteria plasmid is cut with the same restriction enzymes 3. They are mixed together, and the sticky ends pair up 4. The enzyme ligase is added that joins it all up in a loop like the plasmid was 5. The recombinant DNA (means has a mix of differenr DNA) is then inserted back into the bacteria |
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Global Food Security: What is global food security, and how does population effect it? |
- It is the ability to provide enough food for everyone on Earth - The population is growing, so we need to produce more food |
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What is a conventional method to increase crop yield? |
- Plant breeding programmes - Plants with good properties are crossed over multiple generations. It is repeated many times until a high yield crop is produced - Other desirable qualities include needing less fertiliser and pest resistance |
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How do farmers manage pests to stop plant damage? |
- Using crop verities that are less attractive to pests - Attracting natural predators to the pests - Using chemical pesticides - Using pheromone traps to lure and kill them - Rotating crops to prevent a build up of pests |
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Why and how is the bacteria agrobacterium tumefaciens used to create transgenic plants? |
- The bacteria naturally infects plants and inserts it's DNA into the plant - By inserting a gene that produces something useful into the agrobacterium (like for insulin) and then infecting the plant with it an transgenic plant is made - This makesagrobacterium the vector |
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What's a benefit of transgenic crops? |
- Eating flavanoids (made from a modified agrobacterium tumefaciens) in tomatoes to make purple tomatoes that can help cancer patients. |
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What is a disadvantage of transgenic crops? |
- They can be too expensive for the farmers to grow / customers to by - This is especially a problem in developing countries |
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What is an example of an insect-resistant plant? |
- The bacteria that produces the chemical Bt toxin that poisons insects is called bacillius thuringiensis - By inserting this intoagrobacterium then infecting the crop, the transgenic crop is made |
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What are the advantages to producing Bt crops? |
- Crop damage is reduced, so yield increases - Chemical pesticides are not needed, so non-harmful insects are not killed, which is good for biodiversity |
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What are the disadvantages to producing Bt crops? |
- The seeds for them are more expensive to make - The insect pests may become resistant to the Bt toxin - The gene may spread to wild varieties of the species, making them resistant |
