Batch or continuous culture
"Batch or continuous culture" is a free, interactive Class 12 Biology simulation for NEET, built on the NCERT section "Bioreactors and downstream processing" in Biotechnology: Principles and Processes. Batch vs continuous culture: draining spent medium while adding fresh keeps cells in log phase and keeps product flowing. NEET has asked about this idea 3 times in 10 years of papers.
From the lesson Inserting DNA and getting the product in Biotechnology: Principles and Processes. Change the values and watch what happens.
What it shows
NCERT §9.3.5, §9.3.6
Batch vs continuous culture: draining spent medium while adding fresh keeps cells in log phase and keeps product flowing.
Controls
3 to try
- Togglebatch / continuous
- Sliderdilution (flow) rate 0–1 per h
- Readoutcell density curve, growth phase, product yield
Try this
Hold the culture in log phase at steady density for 24 h without washing the cells out.
Common mistake
Thinking cells keep growing exponentially in a closed batch.
In NEET
10 years of papers
Asked 3 times in 10 years of NEET.
See the past questions: Genetically Engineered Insulin, Biotechnology: Principles and Processes (chapter)
The idea behind it
NCERT §9.3.4, §9.3.5
- Recipient cells made competent take up DNA from their surroundings.
- If recombinant DNA carrying an ampicillin-resistance gene enters E. coli, those cells become ampicillin-resistant.
- Spread on agar plates containing ampicillin, only the transformants grow and untransformed cells die. The ampicillin-resistance gene here is the selectable marker.
- Inside a bacterial, plant or animal cell, the foreign DNA in the vector is multiplied. Usually the final aim is a desirable protein, so the gene must be expressed, and it is expressed under suitable conditions.
- A protein made when a gene is expressed in a heterologous host is a recombinant protein.
- After the gene is cloned and expression is optimised, production is scaled up. Small laboratory cultures can be used to extract the protein and purify it by separation techniques.
- In a continuous culture system, spent medium drains out on one side as fresh medium flows in on the other. Cells stay in their most active log (exponential) phase, giving more biomass and a higher yield of protein.
Questions
4 answers
- What does the "Batch or continuous culture" simulation show?
- Batch vs continuous culture: draining spent medium while adding fresh keeps cells in log phase and keeps product flowing.
- What mistake does the "Batch or continuous culture" simulation fix?
- A common mistake it clears up: thinking cells keep growing exponentially in a closed batch.
- Has NEET asked about this idea?
- Yes. NEET has asked about this idea 3 times in 10 years of papers.
- Is this simulation free?
- Yes. It is free and runs in the browser on a phone or a laptop. It belongs to the lesson "Inserting DNA and getting the product" in Biotechnology: Principles and Processes (Class 12 Biology).
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