Question

What do you mean by “Nutrient repression”?

(a) Inhibition of unwanted enzyme production

(b) Production of unwanted enzymes

(c) Inhibition of cell nutrients

(d) Production of waste

This question was posed to me during an interview.

Asked question is from Large topic in portion An Overview of Biological Basics & Enzymes of Bioprocess Engineering

Answer 1

Right answer is (a) Inhibition of unwanted enzyme production

For explanation: The native metabolism of microorganism is so devised that there occurs no production of unnecessary enzymes. In other words, the microorganisms do not synthesize enzymes that are not required by them, since this is a wasteful exercise. The inhibition of unwanted enzyme production is done by nutrient repression. The nutrients may be carbon, nitrogen, phosphate or sulfate suppliers in the growth medium. For large scale production of enzymes, nutrient repression must be overcome.