Case scenario A waste productfor cheese making is whey. You have been tasked wit

Question

Case scenario A waste productfor cheese making is whey. You have been tasked with findinga use for the whey from Swiss cheese (aside from a dietary supplementfor humans). You isolate a microbe that is genetically related to Lactobacillus. This microbe is able to grow exceptionally well on the whey when you allow for aeration of the culture - it grows weakly without aeration and the pH drops dramatically over time due to an acidic waste product. See Figure 1 and Table 1 for the structure of lactose and the composition of whey. When you sequence the genome you identify genes for Embden Meyerhoff Parnas as well as oxidoreductases and quinones. You also notice it produces an interesting antibiotic when grown in a closed batch system. Table 1. Composition of milk, cheese whey and casein whey 6CH2OH % by weight Fat Lactose (milk sugar) Casein protein Whey protein Minerals Minor components Water TOTAL Milk 4.7 4.5 2.7 0.55 0.85 0.20 86.5 100.00 Cheese whey 0.05 5.0 0.10 0.65 0.50 0.30 93.4 100.00 CH,OH 5 2 Glucose Galactose Figure I. Lactose

Explanation / Answer

Answer:

Organism is capable of breaking down lactose and utilzing it for growth under aerobic conditions.

The pH of the culture goes down over time due to the production of acidic products.

Lactose degradation pathway:Lactase hydrolyzes alpha lactose into D-glucose and D-galactose,

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