208-312 Biochemistry and Fermentation Technology

The objective of this subject is to develop students' ability to:

• describe the energetic balances within the cell and relate these to the nature of biochemical reactions;

• explain the effect of oxygen and substrate influences on the rate and nature of cellular reactions and pathways;

• describe qualitatively the structure and function of enzymes;

• describe the role of DNA and RNA in controlling protein synthesis and explain the significance of DNA to cell characteristics;

• describe the degradative and synthetic pathways for carbohydrates, fats and protein;

• explain the interaction of selected metabolic pathways;

• explain the microbiological biochemical and engineering aspects of industrial fermentations;

• explain the interaction of microbiological, biochemical and engineering factors on the design and operational efficiency of industrial fermentations; and

• evaluate fermentation technologies against criteria of efficiency, economics, and environmental impact.

The content includes introduction to biochemistry as important to the micro-organisms in dairy food manufacture and to human nutrition; the nature of biochemically significant compounds; bioenergetics of the cell; the role of ATP, its synthesis in catabolic pathways and use in biosynthesis and transport; ATP formation under aerobic and anaerobic condition; the role of enzymes, co-enzymes and vitamins; enzyme properties and functions as they influence reaction kinetics and thermodynamics of cellular reactions; introduction to structure and replication of DNA and RNA, and protein synthesis; metabolic pathways such as tricarboxylic acid cycle, glycolysis, oxidation of fats, and degradation of amino acids; synthesis of carbohydrates, fats and proteins; regulation of metabolism, cultivation of micro-organisms substrate use and product formation; fed-batch culture; continuous culture, chemostats, cell recycling; biological reactor design; engineering considerations; scale-up and scale-down downstream processing; and products and processes.

Two 2-hour examinations (50% each).