Enzymology and Protein Chemistry

Industrial fermentation processes for enzymes

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Industrial fermentation is the intentional use of fermentation by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi to make products useful to humans. Fermented products have applications as food as well as in general industry. Some commodity chemicals, such as acetic acid, citric acid, and ethanol are made by fermentation. The rate of fermentation depends on the concentration of microorganisms, cells, cellular components, and enzymes as well as temperature, pH and for aerobic fermentation oxygen. Product recovery frequently involves the concentration of the dilute solution. Nearly all commercially produced enzymes, such as lipase, invertase and rennet, are made by fermentation with genetically modified microbes. In some cases, production of biomass itself is the objective, as in the case of baker's yeast and lactic acid bacteria starter cultures for cheesemaking. In general, fermentations can be divided into four types:

•  Production of biomass (viable cellular material)
•  Production of extracellular metabolites (chemical compounds)
•  Production of intracellular components (enzymes and other proteins)
•  Transformation of substrate (in which the transformed substrate is itself the product)