Biochemical Engineering (2)

PREPARED BY: ABEERA MALIK

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 Viruses
Viruses are smaller than bacteria and are not technically alive on their own —they must infect a host cell (living cell) to survive.

Viruses do not utilize energy to grow or to respond to the surrounding.

Size: its ultramicroscopic size ranges from 20nm to 450nm.

Activity: Are inactive macromolecule outside of the host cell, while active solemnly inside the host cells.

Basic Structure: Its basic structure consist of protein shell (capsid) , that is surrounding the nucleic acid core. Nucleic acid is either DNA or RNA, but
not both. They lack all the machinery necessary to make proteins and catalyze reactions. They Also lack the Enzymes for most metabolic activities.

This group also includes sub-viral particles and prions, which are the simplest of life forms, made of naked ribonucleic acid (RNA) or simply protein

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Virus Life Cycle

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 Typical Virus Size comparison.

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 Cell Theory:
In 1838 Schleiden and Schwan first proposed the cell
theory.

Theory stated that:

 All living are composed of cells and their products.
Thus the concept of basic building block for life was
emerged.

 All cells carry out life activities (requires energy, grow,

have a limited size)

 New cells arise only from the division of the parent

cell, by the process of cell division.

 All cells contain the hereditary information important

for transferring information to the next generation.

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Basic Cell Structure

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Cell Structure
 All living organisms are composed of cells
 What is true for Escherichia coli is true for elephants
 Cells are b/w 1 and 50 micrometer in diameter.
 Basic components of eukaryotic cell:

◦ Cytoplasm
◦ Cell membrane
◦ Nucleus
◦ Ribosome

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Cell Components

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DNA
DNA determines
Heredity
Cell reproduction
Protein synthesis
When DNA is damaged by foreign substances, various toxic effects including:
Mutations
Cancer
Birth effects
Defective immune system

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Cell Membrane
 Act as a barrier from external environment
 It closes the cell and regulates the passage of ions, nutrients, metabolic products and fat
soluble substances into and out of it.
 It is composed of phospholipid bilayer (about 8mm thick) and fats soluble substances into and
out of it.
 Highly selective membrane enabling the cell to concentrate specific metabolites and excrete
waste.
A number of complex transformation takes place across the membrane.

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 Cytoplasm
Colloidal in nature
Thick semi-transparent and has higher water contents
It contains:
Hydrophilic components (protein particles, carbohydrates and salts)
Hydrophobic components (lipids or fats)

Main function of cytoplasm is absorption and excretion

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 To study :

Difference Between Prokaryotic cell and Eukaryotic cell.

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 Applications of Prokaryotes
Metabolically the most diverse of all living systems
Responsible for most degradation processes
Can be grown aerobically and anaerobically
Form a wide range of organic products (this property has both positive and negative impact on society)
Positive Impact

represent a massive resource of biocatalysis for the biotransformation of organic materials and the degradation of
herbicides, insecticides and other man-made chemicals

Negative Impact

Represent the principal agents causing the deterioration of biomaterial e.g food and wood and are major hazards
to public health (food poisoning and other diseases)

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Classification of organisms
Classified according to their structure and function
The three basic kingdoms are:
 Plants
 Animals
 Protists (Neither plants nor animals)

Later it was found that Protist are mostly unicellular but some have many cells
Further it was also found out that some Cells have a membrane around the nucleus (eukaryotes)
Classifications show differences in several characteristics including:
 Energy and nutritional requirements
 Rates of growth and product release
 Method of reproduction
 Morphology

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Naming the microorganisms
They are named in Latin using binary nomenclature
First name represents the group or genus
Second name represents the species
Example: Escherichia coli C600

National collection of industrial and marine bacteria (NCIMB)

American type culture collection (ATCC)
Strain:
A strain is a subset of a bacterial species differing from other bacteria of the same species by some
minor but identifiable difference.

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 Escherichia coli (E. coli)
Escherichia coli (E. coli) chosen as a test
microorganism.
E. coli is currently the most specific indicator for
faecal contamination of a water source and
therefore it is considered as a model organism in
laboratory research.
The cells are about 2μm long and 0.5μm in
diameter, with a cell volume of 0.6 –0.7 μm3
(Kubitschek, 1990).

What is the optimum growth temperature for

e.coli?

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Escherichia Coli.
E. coli is a rod-shaped prokaryotic cell which has a long, rapidly
rotating flagellum (tail) used for movement.
A strain of E. coli is a sub-group within the species that has unique
characteristics that distinguish it from other E. coli strains.
These differences are often detectable on the molecular level and may
result in changes to the physiology or life cycle of the bacterium.
For example, a strain may gain pathogenic capacity or the ability to
resist antimicrobial agents.
Different strains of E. coli are often host-specific, making it possible to
determine the source of faecal contamination in environmental
samples.

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 Different Bacteria
Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa)
 It is a gram-negative rod shaped free living bacterium
that is ubiquitous in the environment.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus)

 It is a gram positive bacterium usually arranged in
grape like irregular clusters.
 Although it occurs widely in the environment it is found
mainly on skin and the mucous membranes of animals.
 S. aureus can be released into environments including
swimming pools, spa pools and other recreational
waters by human contact.

Legionella pneumophila(L. pneumophila)

 It is a gram negative rod shaped bacterium.

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Yeasts
Rhodosporidium turoloides(R. turoloides)

Y4 is oil producing or oleaginous yeast (Wu et al. 2011).

Since these species contain intracellular valuable compounds

such as lipids, therefore the disruption of this yeast would be
interesting in order to release the lipids contained in vacuoles
within the yeast cell.

Once the lipids are released biodiesel could be produced via a

conventional trans-esterification process.

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