208-227 Molecular Biology of Food Microorganisms

208-216 Food Microbiology

Microbes have been used in the food industry for centuries to extend shelf life and confer traits that alter the flavour, texture or nutritional value of the starting food materials. Improving the capability of microbes to perform their function has changed from natural selection of strains to targeted improvement through mutagenesis and the application of molecular biology techniques. This subject will provide an understanding of the principles involved in strain improvement and will include fundamentals of regulation and deregulation of biochemical pathways in microbes; mutagenesis and strain improvement methods; basic molecular biology techniques and their application in altering carbon flow in bacteria or protein synthesis; and current examples of manipulation of microbes and their use in the food industry.

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• describe how genes are regulated in microbes and the results of deregulation of these to produce particular traits, using classical mutagenesis or molecular genetic approaches;

• develop strategies for improving the performance of food microbes, based on models used currently in the food industry;

• understand the principles of molecular biology as applied to strain improvement for particular outcomes in the food industry; and

• source and analyse information from protein and DNA databases.

One 2-hour examination (40% of final marks), one on-line practical examination (20% of final marks), one assignment, maximum 3000 words (20% of final marks) and preparation of practical reports (20% of final marks).