Question

After the biosynthetic phase, the product is separated and purified by the process called:
A. Agarose gel electrophoresis
B. PCR
C. Downstream processing
D. Insertional inactivation

Answer 1

Hint: Any bioprocess engineering setup depends on 3 main phases; the upstream, fermentation, and downstream process. It involves multi-step procedures for the recovery and purification of products of interest.

Complete answer:
A bioproduct refers to biological molecules such as an enzyme, protein, or even a microorganism, and the study of bioprocesses is known as bioprocess engineering. Any typical bioprocess consists of 3 different phases, namely; the upstream phase, the fermentation phase, and the downstream phase. The upstream phase mostly constitutes all processes done before the biosynthetic phase such as procuring the raw materials, preparing growth mediums, performing genetic engineering techniques to prepare bacterial or fungal cells, etc. The fermentation phase is the biosynthetic phase, it is the most important phase of the bioprocess and where the key bioproduct is being synthesized. Following the biosynthetic phase is the downstream phase or downstream processing. This phase involves all the isolation and product purification processes such as chromatography, crystallization, electrophoresis, etc. Downstream processing is a vital process in the entire bioprocess. A lot of care is taken in formulating this phase and it differs widely depending on the product. The biosynthesis phase is termed as fermentation as previously only fermented products were considered to be bioproducts, but with the advent of new technologies, we are able to produce proteins, hormones and enzymes.
Therefore, the correct answer is option C.

Note: Processes such as agarose electrophoresis comes under downstream processing as it involves the separation of compounds. PCR and insertional inactivation are processes that come under upstream processing as these involve preparing the cell to produce a product.