Question

Assertion: Flocculation is used for cell separation during downstream processing.
Reason: Density of cells remains same after flocculation.

• A. [A] is true and [R] is false.
• B. [A] is false and [R] is true .
• C. Both [A] and [R] are true and [R] is a correct explanation to [A].
• D. Both [A] and [R] are true but [R] is not a correct explanation to [A].

Answer 1

The correct option is A [A] is true and [R] is false.

Process of clumping together of cells using inorganic salts or mineral acids is called as flocculation. For recovering products present in the media, cells need to be separated from the media. To facilitate separation using centrifugation, cells are put through process of flocculation in which organic salts or mineral acids are used to make cells clump together. This increases their density as compared to the surrounding media helping in easy separation.