Deck 12: Microbial Biotechnology

Question 1

Which of these is NOT considered a biofuel?

A) ethanol
B) methane
C) solar cells
D) algal lipids
E) butanol

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Why is an affinity tag fusion protein is produced?

A) To increase the biological activity of the protein.
B) To increase overall expression of the cloned gene.
C) To facilitate the purification of the recombinant protein.
D) To ensure correct transcription termination.
E) To ensure that translation starts correctly.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Eukaryal proteins that are expressed in bacteria frequently have low biological activity.Why?

A) The introns were not removed from the mRNA.
B) The protein was not modified by glycosylation.
C) Eukaryotic proteins are only partly translated by bacteria.
D) The eukaryal genetic code is different from bacterial genetic code.
E) The translation termination rarely occurs correctly.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of these would be an example of a "secondary metabolite" fermentation product?

A) ethanol
B) acetone
C) butanol
D) penicillin
E) propanol

Question 5

Which of these would be an example of a "primary metabolite" fermentation product?

A) ethanol
B) penicillin
C) streptomycin
D) bacitracin
E) erythromycin.

Question 6

For optimal expression of a eukaryal gene in bacteria,the expression vector must contain all of the following except one.Which would it NOT include?

A) a bacterial promoter
B) a bacterial termination sequence
C) a bacterial ribosomal binding site
D) a protein to remove the introns
E) a regulatable promoter

Question 7

When are secondary metabolites are produced?

A) During biosynthesis of amino acids.
B) During catabolism.
C) After exponential growth has ceased.
D) Before exponential growth begins.
E) As byproducts of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis.

Question 8

Which of these utilizes "error-prone polymerase chain reaction"?

A) site-directed mutagenesis
B) directed enzyme evolution
C) random mutagenesis of the genome
D) gene linkage experiments
E) gene regulation experiments

Question 9

Which primary fraction of plant biomass is used as feedstock for biofuels production?

A) disaccharides
B) cellulose
C) pectin
D) chitin
E) protein

Question 10

What does the term fermentation refer to in an industrial microbiology setting?

A) The anaerobic growth of microbes.
B) The production of acids and alcohols.
C) The production of all fermentation products.
D) The mass culturing of microbes for the production of a product.
E) A low energy yielding catabolic process.

Question 11

Most motor vehicles sold in this country burn ethanol rather than gasoline.

A) United States
B) Canada
C) Mexico
D) Russia
E) Brazil

Question 12

Why might butanol be a better biofuel than ethanol?

A) Butanol has a higher octane rating.
B) Butanol is easier to produce.
C) Butanol contains more energy per unit volume.
D) Butanol can be produced from cheaper feedstocks.
E) Butanol costs less to produce.

Question 13

Under what condition would directed enzyme evolution be more appropriate that site-directed mutagenesis?

A) When attempting to produce an altered enzyme.
B) When you want the enzyme to catalyze a different type of reaction.
C) If very little is known about the enzyme structure.
D) If you want to permanently disable the enzyme.
E) If you want the enzyme expressed in a different organism.

Question 14

Current biofuel research is focused on the use of microalgae for the production of this material.

A) ethanol
B) methanol
C) biodiesel
D) cellulase
E) methane

Question 15

How do fed batch reactors maximize cell density,and therefore product yield?

A) By limiting a nutrient over time.
B) By maximizing cell growth rate.
C) By supplying excess essential vitamins.
D) By providing excess oxygen for growth.
E) By maintaining an anaerobic environment.

Question 16

Which was the first recombinant human protein produced and marketed commercially?

A) insulin
B) human growth hormone
C) recombinant factor VIII
D) cytochrome c oxidase
E) thyroid hormone

Question 17

Expression vectors are used for which of these processes?

A) site-directed mutagenesis
B) directed enzyme evolution
C) recombinant protein production
D) random mutagenesis
E) DNA shuffling experiments

Question 18

Which of the following methods have been used to increase product production by an industrial microbial strain?

A) site-directed mutagenesis
B) random mutagenesis
C) transformation
D) transduction
E) all of these choices have been used.

Question 19

A fed-batch reactor is different from a chemostat because a chemostat culture:

A) promotes density with a limiting nutrient.
B) replaces cultures with fresh medium.
C) has very high cell densities.
D) uses excess nutrients.
E) is aerated while a fed-batch culture is anaerobic.

Question 20

Although plant biomass is plentiful for use as biofuel,which major problem needs to be overcome?

A) Increasing the efficiency of breakdown of cellulose into glucose.
B) Decreasing the cost of production of plant biomass.
C) Increasing the production of cars that can run on ethanol.
D) Polluting by-products of the conversion of glucose to ethanol.
E) Increasing use of biofuels may drive crop prices down.

Question 21

Why are microbial enzymes for the production of many pharmaceutical drugs sometimes favored over chemical synthesis?

A) Microbial enzymes catalyze stereospecific reactions.
B) Microbial enzymes are easier to obtain.
C) Microbial enzymes are cheaper to produce.
D) Microbial enzymes are more temperature sensitive.
E) Microbial enzymes catalyze the reaction at a faster rates.

Question 22

Which of these amino acids are commonly used as supplements in animal feed to promote growth?

A) glycine and glutamate
B) methionine and lysine
C) proline and valine
D) tryptophan and tyrosine
E) aspartate and histidine

Question 23

Which of these amino acids are used for the production of the sweetener aspartame?

A) glycine and asparagine
B) glutamate and asparagine
C) aspartate and phenylalanine
D) aspartate and glycine
E) tryptophan and proline

Question 24

Why is the use of cyanobacteria for the production of bioplastics is an attractive commercial investment?

A) Their PHA are stronger than those found in other bacteria.
B) The cost of production is less.
C) Their bioplastics are lighter than other types.
D) Their bioplastics are more pliable.
E) The PHA produced are easier to work with than other types.

Question 25

Why are bioplastics often preferred over conventional plastics?

A) Bioplastics are stronger.
B) Bioplastics are less dense.
C) Bioplastics are biodegradable.
D) Bioplastics are cheaper to produce.
E) Bioplastics are more pliable.

Question 26

Insect resistant transgenic plants are produced by the insertion of a gene into the plant genome from which insect toxin-producing bacterium?

A) Agrobacterium tumefaciens
B) Bacillus thuringiensis
C) Corynebacterium glutamicum
D) Pseudomonas syringae
E) Xanthomonas campestris

Question 27

The introduction of DNA into plants for the creation of transgenic plants often uses a plasmid mediated process from which bacterium?

A) Rhizobium legmuninosarum
B) Pseudomonas syringae
C) Corynebacterium glutamicum
D) Xanthomonas campestris
E) Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Question 28

Bioprospecting is the search for microorganisms that possess useful features for commercial applications.

Question 29

All secondary metabolites produced by microorganisms are used as antibiotics.

Question 30

Random mutagenesis is often used in industry to produce microbial strains that have increased production ability.

Question 31

In industry,fermentation must be done anaerobically.

Question 32

Why do microorganisms accumulate polyhydroxyalkanoates?

A) It is a waste product of metabolism.
B) It is used for cell wall synthesis.
C) It is a form of stored energy.
D) It acts as an outer capsule.
E) For osmotic protection.

Question 33

Millions of tons of this amino acid,commonly used as a flavor enhancer,are produced annually.

A) methionine
B) glycine
C) glutamate
D) valine
E) leucine

Question 34

Roundup Ready™ transgenic plants were created by inserting a glyphosate resistant gene from ___________________ into the plant chloroplast genome.

A) Rhizobium
B) Agrobacterium
C) Pseudomonas
D) Xanthomonas
E) Corynebacterium

Question 35

Microbes used for the production of amino acids are regulatory mutants for overproduction of the amino acid.The regulatory mutants are selected for by growing the microbe in the presence what material?

A) an antibiotic
B) a mutagen
C) an amino acid analog
D) the amino acid of interest
E) an excess of glucose

Question 36

The main advantage of using microorganisms for the production of amino acids over chemical synthesis is …

A) cost.
B) stereospecificity.
C) increased production yield.
D) ease of purification.
E) a single microbe will produce all 20 amino acids.

Question 37

PCR can be used to introduce mutations into a microbial genome.

Question 38

What vitamin is used to treat pernicious anemia?

A) C
B) B₁
C) B₁₂
D) niacin
E) B₆

Question 39

Polyhydroxyalkanoates are associated with the production of this material.

A) ethanol
B) methane
C) biodiesel
D) butanol
E) bioplastics

Question 40

Amylase enzymes followed by glucose isomerase are used to make which sweetener?

A) NutraSweet™ (aspartame)
B) high fructose corn syrup
C) saccharin
D) sucrose
E) Splenda™ (sucralose)

Question 41

Some types of anti-cholesterol drugs,such as the statins,are produced by microbes.

Question 42

A his-tag or strep-tag is part of the cloning area in expression vectors.How do these sequences function?

A) To increase gene expression from the cloned DNA.
B) In regulation of expression of the cloned DNA.
C) As unique restriction enzyme sites to aid in cloning DNA.
D) Affinity sequences to aid in purification of the recombinant protein.
E) As signal sequences for the secretion of the recombinant protein.

Question 43

Explain how the Ti plasmid- from Agrobacterium is used to create transgenic plants.

Question 44

Cyanobacteria are known to accumulate polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA).

Question 45

Why are microalgae an attractive source of biodiesel?

Question 46

Affinity tags often used in modern expression vectors to produce a fusion protein from the gene of interest,aids in recombinant protein purification.

Question 47

The bacterium Bacillus megaterium naturally accumulates the storage granule poly-β-hydroxybutyrate.This storage product is used to make _________.

Question 48

Bioreactors or fermentors are used in industry to maximize cell density and therefore also increase product ________.

Question 49

Modern laundry detergents contain proteases,lipases,amylases,and oxidases for the removal of stains.

Question 50

The preferred fuel of choice for the original Model T Ford was gasoline.

Question 51

The first recombinant protein produced for human use was ________.

Question 52

What are the advantages of using microbial enzymes for the synthesis of certain chemicals over conventional chemical synthesis?

Question 53

Expression of eukaryal DNA in bacterial cells requires the insertion of _______ into the plasmid expression vector.