本书是“高等学校专业教材”之一，全书共分16个章节，主要介绍了有关生物技术(偏重于发酵工程)的基础知识，并以专题的形式来表现。具体内容包括无机化学，有机化学，分析化学，生物化学，分子遗传学，代谢等。该书可供各大专院校作为教材使用，也可供从事相关工作的人员作为参考用书使用。

本教材共16课，每课有正文(A、B两篇独立的课文)，阅读材料(两篇)，补充资料和练习四大部分。最后还安排了附录，收录了英汉微生物名称、国际上有关生物技术的期刊名称。

在课文内容上，主要选择了有关生物技术(偏重于发酵工程)的内容，包括以下专题：无机化学，有机化学，分析化学，生物化学(糖、蛋白质、核酸)，微生物学(菌种、操作方法)，分子遗传学，代谢，酒(啤酒、葡萄酒、威士忌)，生物能源，动植物细胞培养，干细胞培养，抗生素，药品的临床评价等药学内容，环境生物技术，发酵动力学，生化反应器(液态及固态发酵罐)，分离纯化等下游技术，化学分析方法，论文(摘要、前言、材料与方法)。在最后，还安排了英语论文两篇、专利。每篇课文均有补充资料，如补充的专业词汇、构词法、翻译理论与技巧、CA缩略语精选、写作句型句例。课文中的大多数专业词汇还注有音标。

本书可作为工业生物技术专业(发酵工程或生物工程)高校及大专中专学生的专业英语教材，由于在内容上有所拓展，故也适应于发酵工厂或研究所的有关技术人员参考。

Lesson 1

 Text A Elements and Compounds

 Text B Atomic Bonds and Molecules

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Water as a Solvent

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) True-False Questions

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 2

 Text A Nomenclature of Alcohols

 Text B Carbohydrates

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Amino Acids

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) The Plant Kingdom

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 3

 Text A The Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle: A Carbon and Energy Wheel

 Text B Induction and Feedback Repression

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Toluene Biodegradation Pathways

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Regulation of Branched Metabolic Pathway

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 4

 Text A Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids

 Text B Proteins

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Macromolecules

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Assay Procedure for Protein Concentration

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 5

 Text A Enzymes

 Text B Hydrolytic Enzymes

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Cattle Feed Enzymes and Probiotics

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Inhibition of Enzyme Activity and Immobilized Enzymes

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 6

 Text A Microorganisms and Viruses

 Text B Introduction to Microbiology

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Cell Quantification

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Maintenance and Storage

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 7

 Text A Gene Cloning in Bacteria

 Text B Gene Control in Prokaryotes

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Quality of the DNA Vaccines

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Selection of Mutagens

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 8

 Text A Conventional Batch Fermentation Processes for Ethanol Production

 Text B Batch and Continuous Processes

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Various Phenomena That Occur Within SSF Bioreactor

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Oxygen Transfer

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 9

 Text A Fermenters

 Text B Cost Estimation for Biotechnology Projects

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Bioreactors for Solid-state Fermentation

 Reading Materials ( 11 ) Other Fermenter Design and Ancillary Equipment

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 10

 Text A An Idealized Process of Bin-separation

 Text B Chromatography

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Sterilization of Air by Filter Cartridges

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Separation Process

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 11

 Text A Waste Treatment

 Text B Biodegradation

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Waste and Recycling

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) In-vessel Composting

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 12

 Text A Introduction to Animal Cell Culture

 Text B Transgenic Plants

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Genetic Modification of Animals and Transgenic Mice

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Plant Cell Cultivation

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 13

 Text A Innate Immune and Inflammatory Responses

 Text B Anti-bacterial Antibiotics

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Stem Cell Basics

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Preclinical Safety and Toxicology Testing of DNA Vaccine

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 14

 Text A Bioconversion of Cellulose and Hemicellulose to Ethanol

 Text B Algae-Based Fuels Set to Bloom

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Biodiversity

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Hydrogen Production by Photo-reactive Rhodop s e udo mo nas

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 15

 Text A Brewing Process

 Text B Distillation and Distilled Spirits

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) White Wine Production

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Scotch Whiskey

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Lesson 16

 Text A Abstracts and Patents

 Text B Materials and Methods

 Reading Materials (Ⅰ) Introduction (Ⅰ)

 Reading Materials (Ⅱ) Introduction (Ⅱ)

 Additional Information

 Exercises

Paper 1

 Large-Scale Production of Monoclonal Antibodies in Suspension Culture

Paper 2

 The Determination of Ethanol in Beer Using A Bioelectrochemical Cell-Dye-Linked Alcohol Dehydrogenase Incorporated Bioelectrochemical Cell

US Patent

 Apparatus and method for the continuous cultivation of microorganisms in a culture liquid

Appendix

 A List of Cultures of Industrial Microorganisms

 A List of Journals Relating to Biotechnology