Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
Illustrate the design of a bioreactor. Highlight the difference between a flask in your laboratory and a bioreactor which allows cells to grow in a continuous culture system.
Advertisements
Solution
Small volume cultures cannot yield appreciable quantities of products. To produce in large quantities, the development of bioreactors, where large volumes (100-1000 litres) of culture can be processed, was required. Thus, bioreactors can be thought of as vessels in which raw materials are biologically converted into specific products, individual enzymes, etc., using microbial plant, animal or human cells. A bioreactor provides the optimal conditions for achieving the desired product by providing optimum growth conditions (temperature, pH, substrate”, salts, vitamins, oxygen).
Simple stirred-tank bioreactor
Sparged stirred-tank bioreactor through which sterile air bubbles are sparged
| Flask | Bioreactor |
| Flask is used for small laboratory scale testing of a culture. | Bioreactor is used for commercial production |
| The cells harbouring cloned genes of interest may be grown on a small scale in the laboratory. | The cells can also be multiplied in a continuous culture system wherein the used medium is drained out from one side while the fresh medium is added from the other to maintain the cells in their physiologically most active log/exponential phase. This type of culturing method produces larger biomass leading to higher yields of desired protein. |
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Name two commonly used bioreactors.
Draw a labelled sketch of sparged-stirred-tank bioreactor. Write its application.
From what you have learnt, can you tell whether enzymes are bigger or DNA is bigger in molecular size? How did you know?
Describe briefly the following:
Bioreactors
Describe briefly the following:
Downstream processing
In a pathological lab, a series of steps were undertaken for finding the gene of interest. Describe the steps, or make a flow chart showing the process of amplification of this gene of interest.
Gene Amplification using primers can be done by ______.
In addition to the Taq polymerase enzyme, which other thermostable DNA polymerases have been isolated to be used in PCR?
During the purification process for recombinant DNA technology, the addition of chilled ethanol precipitates out ______.
During the process of gene amplification using PCR, if a very high temperature is not maintained in the beginning, then which of the following steps of PCR will be affected first?
Rising of dough is due to ______.
Which of the following should be chosen for best yield if one were to produce a recombinant protein in large amounts?
While doing a PCR, ‘denaturation’ step is missed. What will be its effect on the process?
Do biomolecules (DNA, protein) exhibit biological activity in anhydrous conditions?
Read the paragraph given below and answer and questions that follow:
| Enzyme Taq polymerase, is extracted from a eubacterial microorganism Thermus aquaticus from Yellowstone National Park in Montana, USA and isolated by Chien et al. (1976). Taq polymerase successfully replaced the DNA polymerase from E.coli that was being used in PCR earlier and this shift revolutionised the PCR technique. |
- Taq polymerase after its discovery replaced E.coli DNA polymerase in PCR technique. Explain giving reasons why was the need felt for the change?
- What is a primer and its importance in PCR?
- Write the importance of PCR as a diagnostic tool.
State the advantage of using Thermostable DNA polymerase.
Bioreactors are the containment vehicles of any biotechnology-based production process. For large scale production and for economic reasons the final success of biotechnological process depends on the efficiency of the bioreactor.
Answer the following questions w.r.t. the given paragraph:
- List the operational guidelines that must be adhered to so as to achieve optimisation of the bioreactor system. Enlist any four.
- Mention the phase of the growth we refer to in the statement "Optimisation of growth and metabolic activity of the cells".
- Is the biological product formed in the bioreactor suitable for the intended use immediate? Give reason in support of your answer.
Given below are two statements:
Statement I: The DNA fragments extracted from gel electrophoresis can be used in construction of recombinant DNA.
Statement II: Smaller size DNA fragments are observed near anode while larger fragments are found near the wells in an agarose gel.
In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
Main steps in the formation of Recombinant DNA are given below. Arrange these steps in a correct sequence.
- Insertion of recombinant DNA into the host cell.
- Cutting of DNA at specific location by restriction enzyme.
- Isolation of desired DNA fragment.
- Amplification of gene of interest using PCR.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
