Biotechnology

• Biotechnology


  Industrial use of living organisms to produce food drugs and other products
• Uses of biotechnology


  Healthcare and medicine, agriculture, food science and industry
• How do bacteria replicate

  binary fission
• What bacteria is used to culture yoghurt

  lactobacillus
• What bacteria is used to create fake meat

  fusarium
• Factors that effect rate of binary fission

  temeperature, moisture, oxygen concentration, pH, availability of molecules for aerobic respiration
• Ways in which food can be preserved

  freezing to slow enzymes, canning to reduce O2 for respiration, pickling to lower pH, boiling to denature enzymes and salting to draw out moisture by osmosis
• What bacteria is used to manufacture insulin?

  1. E coli
• How is insulin manufactured using e coli (3 steps)

  1. restriction enzyme used to cut out both human gene for insulin and a small section of plasmid DNA.
  2. Gene for insulin inserted into plasmid with ligase enzyme used to join DNA ends.
  3. DNA is reinserted into bacteria and left to divide.
• Ethical concerns about genetic engineering

  Human health, risks to wildlife in the countryside, fear of human engineering
• What are fermentors used for

  To culture microorganism
• What is allowed in/out of a fermentor

  substrate and sterile gas in, waste gas and product out
• How is a fermenter optimised for microorganism growth

  Paddle stirrers, water coolers to allow enzymes to work at optimum
• How are fermentors used to culture fusarium into mycoprotein

  Fusarium allowed to divide in aerobic conditions on glucose syrup in fermentors and then harvested and dried
• Aseptic technique


  Series of methods employed to prevent contamination
• Temperature of culture in classrooms compared to hospitals

  25C in classrooms, 37C in hospitals for optimum growth
• Steps to maintain aseptic conditions

  Inoculating loop dipped in ethanol and burned to sterilise, bunsen burner always on, heated glass rod used, incubated at 25C
• Clone


  identical genetic copy to the parent
• How do cuttings produce clones?

  meristem stem cells allow for cutting to grow in pot
• How does tissue culture produce clones?

  Tissue extracted and placed on nutrient growth medium, after which a callus of undifferentiated cells is formed and placed in a plant hormone medium, where platelets are formed
• How does artificial twinning produce clones?

  Female given hormone to stimulate egg release, which are fertilised and placed in surrogate uteruses to produce offspring
• How does somatic cell nuclear transfer produce clones?

  Both somatic and egg cell enucleated, with somatic nucleus placed into egg cell, which is electric shocked and divides into ball of cells, placed in uterus
• Pros of cloning


  faster than natural selection, medically useful, preserves biodiversity, high value animals can be cloned in large numbers
• Cons of cloning


  reduces variation, could lead to human cloning
• Production of monoclonal antibodies

  1. Mouse injected with antigen to stimulate antibody production by lymphocytes
  2. lymphocytes combined with tumor cell to produce hybridoma cell
  3. Cell divides and produces same monoclonal antibody, which is purified
• Ethical issues surrounding monoclonal antibodies

  Mice used, testing new drugs can lead to serious side effects on volunteers, such as organ failure
• uses of monoclonal antibodies

  Treatment of cancer when bound to radioactive substance or chemical delivered directly to cancer cell, diabetes treatment, blood tests, diagnosis
• How do pregnancy tests work

  Monoclonal antibodies not fixed to strip bind to HCG hormone and flow up strip to bind to fixed MABs, showing colour