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IGCSE 0610 - Biotechnology &

Genetic Modification (2023-2025)

🎧 Genetic modification is changing the genetic material of the organism by

removing, changing or inserting individual genes

Bacteria are useful in biotechnology and genetic modification due to their rapid
reproduction rate and their ability to make complex molecules
Bacteria contains plasmids, which are circular rings of DNA
↳ They can be inserted, removed or changed in new genes
There are no ethical concerns about manipulating the DNA of bacteria

Examples of genetic engineering

⤷ Insulin production
↳ Cheap insulin available
↳ Diabetics take insulin to regulate their blood-glucose concentration
↳ Genetic engineering allows human insulin to be made in the bacteria cells, this
produces cheap, human insulin in high quantities
⤷ Herbicide and insect resistant plants
↳ Genes can be inserted into plants to make them resistant to herbicides and insects
↳ Less crops die → larger yield for farmers

Biotechnology

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 ⤷ Biotechnology involves using microorganisms and biological substances to carry out
functions in manufacturing process

Biofuels
↳ Yeast is a single celled fungus that uses sugar as its food source
↳ When it respires anaerobically, ethanol and carbon dioxide are produced
↳ The ethanol produced can be used as a biofuel as alternative to fossil fuels
Bread
↳ Yeast will respire anaerobically if it has access to sugar
↳ During break making, yeast is mixed with flour and water and respires anaerobically,
producing carbon dioxide
↳ The carbon dioxide cause the bread rise

Fruit juice production

↳ Pectinase is an enzyme used in fruit juice production
↳ Pectinase breaks down pectin, which is found in plant cell walls
↳ This releases the contents of the cell, increasing yield of fruit juice
↳ Adding pectinase to fruits also helps produce a clearer juice, as the large
polysaccharides like pectin can make the juice seem cloudy, breaking them down
makes them clear

Biological washing powders

↳ They contain enzymes that are similar to the digestive enzymes

↳ They help breakdown large, insoluble molecules quickly like fats and proteins into
smaller, soluble ones
↳ They are also effective at lower temperatures and can be used to clean delicate
fabrics

Lactase

↳ Lactose is the sugar found in milk

↳ The enzyme, lactase can be used to make lactose-free milk

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 ↳ When lactase is added to milk, it breaks down the lactose into glucose and galactose,
which can be safely consumed by lactose-intolerant people.

Penicillin production
↳ Penicillium is a fungus used to produce penicillin, an antibiotic.

↳ The penicillium mould produces a chemical to prevent it being infected by certain

types of bacteria, the chemical is isolated and named penicillin

↳ The fungus is placed in a fermenter to keep it at the optimum temperature and pH, so
the penicillin yield is high. There is also an air inlet so that aerobic respiration can take
place, and all other microorganisms are killed to limit contamination and competition.

Fermenter
⤷ Fermenters are containers used to grow microorganism in large amounts
⤷ The advantage of using fermenters is that conditions can be carefully controlled to
produce large quantities of the specific microorganism
Examples of microorganisms can include:
⤷ Bacteria and fungi
↳ Insulin
↳ Penicillin
↳ Mycoprotein

Production of insulin
⤷ The gene for human insulin has been inserted into bacteria which can then produce
human insulin
↳ This is then collected and purified for medical use to treat people with diabetes

Mycoprotein

⤷ The fungus is cultured on an industrial scale in fermenters

⤷ It grows and multiplies within the fermenter

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 ⤷ The fungal biomass is harvested and purified to produced mycoprotein
⤷ Mycoprotein is a protein-rich food suitable for vegetarians
↳ Used in quorn products

Conditions Why and how is it controlled?

Fermenter is cleaned by steam to kill

microorganisms and prevent chemical
Aseptic precautions
contamination ↳ This ensures that only the
desired microorganism will grow

Nutrients are needed for the use in respiration to

Nutrients release energy for growth and to ensure the
microorganisms are able to reproduce

Temperature is monitored and maintained using

the water jacket to ensure an optimum
environment for the enzymes, in order to
Optimum temperature
increase enzyme activity ↳ Too high →
denatured enzymes ↳ Too low → slow work
process

pH is monitored ensure at optimum value for

Optimum pH specific enzymes ↳ pH can be adjusted using
acids and alkalis

Oxygen is needed for aerobic respiration to take

Oxygenation
place

Stirring ensures that the microorganisms,

Agitation nutrients, oxygen, temperature and pH are
evenly distributed throughout the fermenter

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 Genetic modifications
Process of genetic modification using bacterial production of a human protein:

1. Isolate the bacterial DNA (plasmid) making up a human gene using restriction
enzymes
↳ This forms sticky ends

2. Cut the bacterial plasmid DNA with the same restriction enzyme
↳ This forms complementary sticky ends

3. Insert human DNA or DNA from another organism into the bacterial plasmid DNA
using DNA ligase to form a recombinant plasmid
↳ As the DNA has matching sticky ends, the ligase will link them to form a single,
unbroken molecule of DNA

4. Insert the recombinant plasmid into bacteria

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 5. Multiplication of bacteria containing recombinant plasmids
↳ Reproduced to make multiple copies so that the recombinant plasmid can spread
quickly

6. Expression in bacteria of the human gene to make the human protein

🎧 Restriction enzyme are used to isolate the required gene

Examples of genetic modification

1. The insertion of human genes into bacteria to produce human proteins
↳ The gene for human insulin inserted into bacteria to produce human insulin

2. The insertion of genes into crop plants to confer resistance to herbicides

↳ Crop plants, such as wheat and maize, have been genetically modified to make
them resistant to certain herbicides, this means that when a herbicide is sprayed, it
only kills off weed but does not affect the crop plant

3. The insertion of genes into crop plants to confer resistance to insect pests
↳ Crop plants, such as wheat and maize, have also been genetically modified to
contain genes from a specific bacterium that produces a poison that kills insects.
This makes them resistant to insect pests

4. The insertion of genes into crop plants to improve nutritional qualities

↳ Crops have been genetically modified to produce additional vitamins

Advantages and disadvantages of GM crops

Advantages Disadvantages

Reduced use of chemicals such as Increased costs of seeds ↳ Companies

herbicides and pesticides ↳ This is better that make GM seeds tend to charge
for the environment higher prices

Increased yield from the crops ↳ Not Risk of inserted genes being transferred to
competing with weeds for resources wild plants by pollination ↳ Weeds are also

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 Advantages Disadvantages
at risk of gaining the gene which can
make them resistant

Reduced biodiversity as there are fewer

Increased supply of food plant species when herbicides have been
used

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