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BIOTECHNOLGY

It is the application of biological organisms, systems or processes to manufacturing & service industries. Microbes,
plant & animal cells are used to make substances that are useful to human beings.

Why Micro-organisms are used in Biotechnology

1. Savings on fuel because they carry out reactions at moderate temperatures.

2. They are very efficient because they produce purer products & less waste.
3. They can be genetically engineered to produce compounds needed for humans.

The Role Micro-organisms in Food Production

Making Bread.
Yeast is the microorganism used in bread making but the only fermentation product needed is carbon
dioxide. The carbon dioxide makes bubbles in the bread dough. The bubbles make the bread ‘light.’
in texture.
The enzymes in yeast act on the sugar added to the flour & ferment it to alcohol & carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide
makes the dough to rise. If sugar is not added, the enzymes in the flour will catalyze the conversion of starch in
the flour to glucose. And then the yeast will use the glucose for respiration\fermentation.

Note: All seeds have enzyme which speeds up the digestion of food stored in the cotyledon, to be used by the
embryo during germination.

Sour Milk (madila)

The milk is put into a large container & bacteria (lacto bacillus) are added to ferment the milk. The bacteria
convert the milk sugar, lactose, to lactic acid. The lactic acid will coagulate (solidify) the milk protein. Water will
then remain at the bottom of the container & coagulated protein floats on top. The mixture is sieved to remove the
wastewater from the curd or sour milk. At this stage the milk is sometimes stirred to obtain evenly thick & smooth
sour milk. Then the sour milk will be ready for packaging & distribution. Why is sour milk refrigerated?

Chibuku (traditional brew)

Mealie meal, water & malt are mixed & left to ferment & this mixture is called wort. This is the first fermentation
process, the enzymes found in the malt brake down starch (mealie meal) to maltose & glucose & then ferment
these sugars to alcohol. After this fermentation, the mixture is cooked at 970C for about one hour. Yeast & lactic
acid are added. Lactic acid gives chibuku its sour taste. The second fermentation process will then occur. The
yeast cells will then ferment maltose & glucose (sugars from the first fermentation) to produce alcohol. After the
second fermentation process, the mixture is then served. Chibuku is pasteurized, before packaging to kill both
yeast cells & any other micro-organisms.

Single Cell Protein

The aim here is to produce food in bulk using micro-organisms or the organism being the food itself. It can be
used to feed humans & animals. Unicellular algae, fungi & bacteria have been used.
Filamentous fungus which is very rich in proteins can be produced in large amounts & be used as a meat
substitute. The fungus is grown in in a medium containing glucose and mineral salts at a suitable temperature
using specially designed fermenters. The process used is called continuous culture. The medium is circulated
around the fermenter and the fungus is filtered at a steady rate and dried. It contains a lot of protein, dietary fibre
& very little amount of fat.

Wine
Grape juice is the basis for wine making, yeast is the microorganism that causes fermentation.
The grapes are crushed to release sugar. The extracted juice is treated with Sulphur dioxide to kill bacteria and
naturally occurring yeast. The sugar and pH are adjusted, and yeast is added. The juice is aerated at first, the
yeast respires aerobically, and its population increase rapidly. When aeration stops the yeast ferments the sugar;
glucose, anaerobically to alcohol and carbon dioxide. The yeast found on the grape skin will bring about
fermentation, but the outcome would be unpredictable.
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Yoghurt & cheese

Bacteria are used to ferment milk to form yoghurt & cheese. The bacteria act on the milk sugar (lactose) &
convert it to lactic acid, which in turn coagulates the milk protein, casein to produce a thick creamy substance
(yoghurt). The lactic acid gives the yoghurt its slightly sour taste. In cheese making, the mould can also be
involved e.g., adding spores of penicillium at the fermentation stage to give varieties of cheese.

The Role of Micro-organisms in Fuels & Other Chemicals

▪ Fuel
❖ ALCOHOL
In some countries e.g., Brazil, yeast is used to ferment sugar from sugar cane to alcohol (ethanol). The
ethanol is distilled & then concentrated to about 96% alcohol. Pure alcohol will burn in the same way as
petrol. It is used in car engines that are specially adapted. Unlike petrol, it does not pollute the atmosphere.

❖ BIOGAS- e.g., METHANE

Micro-organism such as methanogenic bacteria can be used for production of biogas, e.g., methane gas.
This gas can be produced from decomposing/ break down organic matter e.g., sewage, agricultural waste,
manure in the absence of oxygen. This process occurs in anaerobic digesters and produces methane-rich
biogas. This gas can be used as a substitute for the gas used for cooking, which is a fossil fuel.

▪ Biological Enzyme Washing Powders

Fungi and Bacteria are the most common microorganisms used to produce enzymes.
The microorganisms are put in a fermenter. The fermenting tanks are filled with a nutrient solution, feedstock,
mineral salts are added, the pH is adjusted and a suitable temperature is maintained. If the enzymes are
extracellular the liquid feedstock is filtered from the organism and the enzyme is extracted. If the enzymes are
intracellular, the micro-organisms must be filtered from the feedstock. They are then crushed the enzyme
extracted with the water or other solvents.
When washing powders are prepared, some biological enzymes are added to help in removing stains from clothes,
e.g.- The enzyme lipase will act on fat stains & make easy to wash the clothes.
-The proteases would act on protein stains & remove the much faster & easier, e.t.c

The Role of Micro-organisms in Genetic Engineering

Genetic engineering is the transfer of genes from one organism to another of a different species. Genetic engineering
has been found to solve most problems, e.g.
Making insulin for people who are unable to produce it.
Replacing faulty alleles with normal alleles (Gene therapy)
Producing plants that are often resistant to diseases e.t.c

Bacteria are simple organisms & are often used in genetic engineering because they are easy to manipulate, since
their DNA called plasmids are not enclosed in a nuclear membrane.

 Insulin Production
A gene for insulin production in humans can be removed from the human cell & be pasted / attached to the DNA of
Escherichia coli ([Link]), a bacterium that lives in the human digestive tract. Special kinds of enzymes of called
restriction enzymes are used to cut in a very precise way, a specific base sequence of the DNS molecule to remove
targeted gene, which in this case will be the gene for insulin production. This cut of the DNA will then be attached to a
cut portion of the plasmid (bacterial circular DNA) using an enzyme called DNA ligase. The plasmids with the attached
human DNA will than be taken back into the bacterial cell where they start controlling the activity of the bacterial cell.
One of the instructions will be to produce insulin, which can then be extracted and used to help those people who need
it. The bacterial cells divide very rapidly making billions of copies of themselves and each bacterium will be carrying in
its DNA a true copy of the gene for insulin production, i.e. each bacterium cell inherits the human insulin gene.
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 Gene Therapy
It involves the use of genetic engineering to replace defective / faulty genes with normal genes. This is sometimes
done to correct hereditary diseases such as haemophilia, sickle cell anaemia, cystic fibrosis e.t.c. cystic fibrosis is
a disease in which the person lacks a gene which encodes for cell membrane protein. This results in cells, especially in
the air passages, producing a lot of thick & sticky mucus. In this case, the normal gene can be introduced into the
patient’ lungs by using a harmless form of flu virus. It is hoped, once inside the body that the DNA with the normal gene
can incorporate itself to the DNA of the body cell & thus correcting the disease. If a normal gene is inserted in any body
cell not a sex cell to correct a particular disorder, it cannot be passed on to future generations & this is called Somatic
gene therapy. If the healthy gene is inserted into a fertilized egg of a human being or an animal that has a specific
genetic defect, then it will be passed on to future generations resulting in a normal offsprings. This is called Germline
cell therapy.

 Crop / plant Resistance

Genetic engineering can be used to induce resistance in plants / crops in terms of resistance to diseases, pests or
environmental conditions such as drought, frost, wind etc. a gene may be inserted into the plant to enable it to produce
an insecticidal crystal protein which may affect the gut of pests e.g. caterpillars so that they cannot feed & eventually
die. Some genes transferred into the plant may make it resistant to herbicides. The field of growing crops can then be
sprayed with the herbicides which will selectively kill the weeds since they do not posses the resistance gene. Genetic
engineering can be used to produce plants with thicker & waxier cuticle which grow well in more arid areas. Some may
be engineered to have stronger stems of a more uniform height to be resistant to wind damage.

The Role of Micro-organism in the Production of Medicine (Antibiotics & Vaccines)

Vaccines
When inoculated; vaccinated; against a disease, a harmless form of bacteria or viruses is introduced into the
body. The body then make lymphocytes which then make the correct antibodies, so that if the real
microorganism gets in the body , the antibodies are already present or they can be quickly made by the
lymphocytes stored as memory cells.

Vaccines are injected or swallowed.

a. A harmless form of the microorganism e.g the BCG inoculation against tuberculosis

b. The killed micooganism eg whooping cough vaccine

c. A toxoid, i.e the inactived toxin from the pathogen eg the diphthera and tetanus vaccines

Antibiotics
Most of the antibiotics used come from Fungi or Bacteria.
These are chemicals that are used to cure bacterial diseases. E.g. penicillin which is produced by a mould fungus
Penicillium. Penicillin is used to cure bacterial diseases e.g. syphilis & gonorrhea. The antibiotic, streptomycin is
produced by bacteria called streptomyces.

Antibiotics are produced in fermenters. The tanks are filled with nutrient solution and mineral salts. A suitable pH and
temperature are provided. Sterile conditions are essential, if foreign bacteria or fungi get in the tank the processes of
antibiotic production will be disrupted. As the nutrient supply diminishes, the microorganisms start to secrete antibiotics
into the nutrient medium. The nutrient fluid containing the antibiotics is filtered off and the antibiotic is extracted by
crystallization.

Antibiotics attack bacteria in a variety of ways.

• Some of them disrupt the production of the cell wall and so prevent the bacteria from reproducing or even
cause them to burst open
• Some of them interfere with protein synthesis and so stop bacterial growth.

Penicillin was discovered by a scientist named Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928, who was growing bacteria on agar
plates, but he left one of the plates open by accident & a mould started to grow on the surface. He noticed that the
mould was stopping the bacteria from spreading; it seemed to be making a substance that killed the bacteria.
Eventually the substance was extracted & used to cure bacterial diseases.
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