208-327 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 trains 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. In both lectures and practical classes, research projects investigating the topic of molecular biology of food organisms, are used as examples of curent methodologies used in the area.

Four practical reports (20%), each report is 3 pages - double spaced; one 1000 word assignment (20%), one 3-hour examination (60%).