Biotechnology has been happening for thousands of years.

Biotechnology means using raw materials found in nature and turning them in to something else which is useful. For centuries people have used living cells found in nature to make foods like bread and cheese and drinks such as wine and beer. None of these products could be made without the use of living organisms. In more recent times, biotechnology has become big business as scientists identify ways of using cells to benefit us from medicines and growing new tissues to GM foods as we have already seen in previous topics. For this topic, we are going to focus on the use of micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungi and how they are used to our benefit in everyday life. There are a number of reasons that make bacteria and yeast so useful as parts of production

Fresh milk directly from cows (or sheep or goats for that matter) naturally contains many bacteria. If the milk is left without further treatment the bacteria will continue to multiply. This is why milk is pasteurised this reduces the numbers of bacteria to a level where they cant be harmful if ingested To make cheese or yoghurt the milk has to be curdled (coagulated). This is done using singlecelled bacteria such as Lactobacillus which feed on the sugar lactose, found naturally in the milk, which they break down to lactic acid. This process is called lactic acid fermentation. Yoghurt To make yoghurt, a starter culture of special yoghurt making bacteria are added to pasteurised milk to making lactic acid from lactose making the milk clot. The clotted milk forms natural yoghurt which is then put in to tubs. Different flavourings and colourings are added to commercial products.

Using yeast Yeast is a single celled fungus. Yeast cells contain a cell wall like a plant cell but do not contain chlorophyll so can not make their own food like plant cells do by photosynthesis. Yeast cells replicate by asexual reproduction by budding which can be seen in this video on yeast In ancient times, when people first made wine from grapes they did not know that wine was produced due to yeast. Yeast can be seen on the surface on many fruits as a bloom which looks like grey dust. When the fruit gets too ripe it bursts giving the yeast access to all the sugar in the fruit tissues. When wine was first being made, people just left the grape juices to mix and ferment with the bloom, none the wiser than the bloom was in fact yeast and without it there would be no alcohol! All living cells need energy. They get energy by breaking down glucose (sugar) in a process called respiration (our next topic!). Normally cells carry out respiration in presence of oxygen which results in lots of energy being produced which is essential for the cells survival. Yeast cells are able to respire without oxygen although it is not as efficient at producing energy, however there are some benefits for us humans. When yeast cells respire without oxygen, sugar (the food source) is used by the cells producing carbon dioxide + alcohol + energy. While some vital energy is produced as intended, carbon dioxide and alcohol are released as waste products. This process is called alcoholic fermentation. Alcoholic fermentation is used to produce commercial foodstuffs including bread and beer. Use of microbes in food and drink industry Wine is produced by alcoholic fermentation when the preferred strain of yeast is added to crushed ripe grapes (they are crushed to release the fruit juice which contains the sugar). During the fermentation process, as the alcohol concentration builds up past 15% the yeast cells become poisoned and drop to the bottom of the fermentation vessel. The wine can then be filtered and bottled. The sugar in the dough mixture is fermented by the yeast into carbon dioxide and alcohol. The carbon dioxide bubbles become trapped in the dough, making it rise. The alcohol produced is burnt off through the baking process. Without the yeast in the dough, the bread would end up flat. Yeast and Beer Fermentation Beer production relies on the fermentation of maltose by yeast. Maltose comes from starch in barley grains which are left to germinate under controlled conditions. During germination, the enzyme amylase digests the starch in the grains into maltose sugar this process is called malting. After malting a heat treatment is used to denature the enzyme and to kill the seedlings, preventing them from using the maltose for their own growth leaving the sugar to be used for beer production, specifically to feed the yeast.

When brewing beer commercially, it is important that measures are in place to make sure each batch is the same as the next i.e. each batch of beer is consistant. Commercial brewers have to provide the best possible conditions to benefit yeast growth not doing this will cost time and money! Examples of conditions include ensuring a plentiful food supply (from the malting process), providing a suitable temperature to promote yeast growth (using a thermostat controlled fermenting vessel), and having a lack of competition for food (boiling wort(sugar in grain mash with water) in the wort kettle before the yeast are added to kill any other micro-organisms). Other uses of microbes Microbes have also been used to make non-food products such as fuels. Biogas and gasohol are examples of fuels made using microbes. Gasohol is a fuel currently popular in countries like Brazil. It is made when crops such as sugar cane, wheat and corn are broken down with yeast feeding on the sugar contained within the plants (the sugar is stored as starch or cellulose and requires enzymes to be broken down into sugar the yeast can use). As above, when there is a lack of oxygen, the yeast will produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. The alcohol is flammable and is mixed with petrol to become gasohol which can be used to fuel cars. Biogas is a fuel produced by the action of bacteria. Waste produced by animals is a good food source for many types of bacteria. The bacteria can break down the waste and in doing so produce a gas called methane. Methane can be used as a fuel for a variety of situations. Sweden has used this method to fuel their transport systems. Here is a video of Biogas in action in Kenya explaining how it works and the benefits to the community compared with traditional fuels. Another useful way of using microbes made the news a few years ago as seen in the video below. Microbes can be used to clean up man-made pollution such as toxic waste and oil spills. Here is a news clip from 2010 when the large BP oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and bioremediation was suggested as a way of cleaning up the oil.

Industrial Application of Microbes

Microbes have been used to produce products for thousands of years. Even in ancient times, vinegar was made by filtering alcohol through wood shavings, allowing microbes growing on the surfaces of the wood pieces to convert alcohol to vinegar. Likewise, the production of wine and beer uses another microbe yeast to convert sugars to alcohol. Even though people did not know for a long time that microbes were behind these transformations, it did not stop them from making and selling these products. Both of these are early examples of biotechnology the use of microbes for economic or industrial purposes. This field advanced considerably with the many developments

in microbiology, such as the invention of microscope. Once scientists learned about the genetics of microbes, and how their cells produce proteins, microbes could also be altered to function in many new, and useful, ways. This sparked the application of biotechnology to many industries, such as agriculture, energy and medicine.

Genetic Engineering of Microbes

Genetic information in organisms is stored in their DNA. This molecule holds instructions for how the organism looks and functions. DNA is broken into sections called genes, each of which contains the template for a single protein molecule. Proteins serve as building blocks for the cell, and also carry out other activities. By studying microbes, scientists learned how to cut pieces out of a DNA molecule, and move them to another part. This changes how the cell looks or acts. Scientists can also take genes from one organism and insert them into the DNA of another. This gives the organism entirely new abilities. This type of genetic engineering the altering of an organisms genetic information has enabled scientists to use microbes as tiny living factories. One example of this is the production of insulin. In humans, the pancreas creates a protein called insulin that regulates glucose sugar levels in the blood. People with one type of diabetes cannot produce insulin, so they inject it into their blood throughout the day. To produce cheaper insulin, scientists inserted the human gene for insulin into the DNA of a common intestinal bacterium. This change enabled the bacterium to produce a new product human insulin.

Food and Agriculture & Microbes

As with the production of vinegar, microbes are used widely in the agricultural and food industries. Bacteria are used in the production of many food products, such as yogurt, many types of cheese and sauerkraut. Farmers also use a bacterium that produces a natural fertilizer. This type of bacterium is normally associated with bean plants, growing in nodules on the roots in a symbiotic mutually beneficial relationship. The bacterium converts nitrogen gas in the air to a form that plants can use like fertilizer. By adding bacteria to the soil, farmers can increase the productivity of the plants. Genetic engineering can also be used to produce plants with new abilities, such as enhanced resistance to pesticides, or increased nutritional content. In this case, microbes are used to insert new genes into the DNA of the plants. This results in genetically modified GM foods. Humans have long modified the genetics of agricultural plants and animals by breeding them to enhance specific traits. Genetical engineering, however, allows scientists to add genes that exist in totally unrelated organisms.

Energy & Microbes

During vinegar production with wood chips, bacteria grow on the surface of the wood, forming what is called a biofilm. Bacteria attached to a surface like this can produce many compounds, as well as block the flow of a fluid. The latter behavior has been used to increase the amount of oil extracted from an oil field. Bacteria growing in the wells block areas that are more open. When water is then pumped into the ground, the biofilms drive the water into other areas that still contain oil. This then forces the oil to the surface. Microbes can also be used to create fuels directly. Certain bacteria ferment glycerol to form ethanol, a biofuel that can be used in automobiles. The glycerol is a byproduct of biodiesel production, but it is more valuable if converted to fuel. With genetic engineering, microbes can also be altered to produce fuels that they dont usually make. One company has modified the DNA of yeast to create biofuel from sugarcane feedstock. The challenge to all of these methods is creating a process that produces fuels more easily and cheaply than conventional methods.

Crime and Security & Microbes

Certain types of bacteria thrive in high temperatures. These extremophiles organisms that prefer extreme conditions have cell components designed to withstand heat. One of these is a bacterium, Thermus aquaticus, that lives in hot springs and near thermal vents. It contains an enzyme that is involved in the copying of DNA inside the cell. This type of enzyme occurs in other organisms, but the one from T. aquaticus can withstand higher temperatures. Scientists use this enzyme to multiply very small amounts of DNA, such as from samples found at crime scenes. Other techniques are used to identify disease-causing microbes released by terrorists. The microbes can be identified from their DNA. These tests are extremely sensitive, and can find the DNA equivalent of a drop of water in a swimming pool. The U.S. Postal used microbe-detection techniques after letters contaminated with a dangerous microbe anthrax were sent through the mail. The tests identified the microbe as coming from the same source, meaning that a single person sent all of the letters.

Medical Application of Microbes

In addition to vaccines and antibiotics, microbes have been essential for many important contributions to medicine. Like diabetes, many diseases can be treated with compounds derived from microbes: cystic fibrosis, cancer, growth hormone deficiency and hepatitis B. In addition, genetic methods that were first developed in microbes now allow scientists to study genetic diseases in humans. This has resulted in the ability to test fetuses for genetic diseases. There have also been research studies of gene therapy in humans. This technique uses a microbe often a virus to insert new genes into cells. In theory, this could correct a condition caused by a genetic disease. Microbial genetics has also led to the ability to determine the sequence of DNA more rapidly, like reading a book. With this information, scientists can look for genes in

individuals that cause or contribute to diseases.

Single-celled fungus used in brewing and baking Process used to make wine and beer Single-celled organisms used to make cheese and yoghurt Substance produced by yeast during fermentation of glucose, can be used as an alternative fuel Substance produced by bacteria when milk goes sour Coagulation of milk caused by the action of lactic acid Employment of living cells to produce substances that are useful to human beings

Heating of milk to 73C for 15 seconds to kill harmful micro-organisms Gas produced by yeast during baking and brewing The major sugar found in milk Process of using microbes to clean up pollution e.g. oil spills Alternative fuel popular in Brazil which consists of alcohol mixed with petrol Alternative fuel made by bacteria breaking down organic waste material