Industrial Production & Bioremediation
SYNOPSIS
Microbes for industrial production
Preservation of cultures
Methods of industrial production
Major products of industrial microbiology
Bioremediation
Biosensors & microarrays
Microbes for industrial production
Finding microorganisms in nature
Only a small percentage of microbial species have been cultured
Bioprospecting: Hunting for new microorganisms with potential for commercial exploitation
Great deal of interest in microbes from extreme environments
Challenge is to develop cost-effective techniques for their culture
Microbes for industrial production
Genetic manipulation
Site-directed mutagenesis is the insertion of short segments of DNA (using recombinant DNA technology) into a gene to lead to desired changes in its protein product
Recombinant DNA can be transferred between different organisms, creating combinations of genes with exhibit desired characteristics
Shuttle vectors: Vectors (such as bacterial plasmids) that can replicate in more than one species
Expression vectors: Vectors that have transcriptional promoters capable of mediating gene expression in the target species.
Microbes for industrial production
Genetic manipulation
Gene expression can be modified by altering transcriptional regulation, fusing proteins, and removing feedback regulation controls
This is used for pathway architecture, or metabolic pathway engineering, to increase or regulate production.
Natural genetic engineering
Growing cultures under marginal (“stressful”) growth conditions and selecting for new strains (spontaneous mutations) that have increased growth in those conditions
Preservation of cultures
Periodic transfer + refrigeration
Mineral oil + refrigeration
Washed culture + refrigeration
Freezing
Freezing with 50% glycerol
Drying
Lyophilization (freeze drying)
Ultracold freezing