Question

You're the manager of a factory that produces enzyme-washed blue jeans (the enzymes lighten the color of the denim, giving a "faded" appearance). When the most recent batch of fabric came out of the enzyme wash, however, the color wasn't light enough to meet your standards. Your quality control laboratory wants to do some tests to determine why the wash enzymes didn't perform as expected.

If you could design a modified version of the enzyme to ensure that it would function optimally in the harsh conditions of the washing vat (such as high temperature or high pH), which of the following could you do to achieve this goal?

Answer 1

Change the enzyme tolerance

Step-by-step explanation:

Using enzymes in manufacturing is a very effective way to achieve many of the results that we desire. However, there are a number of conditions that must be taken into consideration when using this medium. Since enzymes require specific conditions to function; this is the limitation of using enzyme in manufacturing.

If you as the manufacturer finds that there are issues in the efficiency there are practical steps that can be takes with the current scientific advancements.

1. Introduce a mutation: This should be one that changes the enzyme tertiary structure enough for it to tolerate a flux in conditions but does not interfere with production efficiency or cost of production.
2. Slowly change conditions and allow evolution: This is in the case that the enzyme is produced on-site and the manipulation of the tertiary structure is a bit difficult. In organisms such as yeast or e. coli, this is practical and attainable albeit time consuming.

Finally, harnessing and manipulating the enzyme structure and function is an incredible advantage in manufacturing and options are available to optimize production.