FAQs of Fermentation
- What is Fermentation?
It is the process by which a substance is broken down into simpler substances. Fermentation refers to the metabolic process by which organic molecules, mainly carbohydrates such as starch or sugar, are converted into acids, gases or alcohols in the absence of oxygen. - What is Microbial Fermentation?
It is the enzymatic decomposition and utilization by microbes. Fermentation is a process that helps break down large organic molecules into simpler molecules through the action of microorganisms. Microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria convert organic matter into energy and sugar. - What is Microbial Fermentation in Biotechnology?
Fermentation is defined as the chemical changes brought about by using microorganisms, for example, in the biotechnology industry for the production of pharmaceuticals, food ingredients and animal feed. - What is Microbial Fermentation in Pharmaceutical Industry?
Fermentation is the process used to cultivate microorganisms or other organic materials into important pharmaceutical products such as antibiotics, peptides, therapeutic proteins, enzymes and oligonucleotides. - What is Precision Fermentation?
Precision fermentation uses the microbial host as a cell factory for the production of specific functional components. Precision fermentation relies on genetic modification to produce the desired end products. In the alternative dairy and meat sectors, precision fermentation uses microorganisms to produce microbial proteins. - What is Industrial Fermentation?
Industrial fermentation is the intentional use of fermentation to manufacture products useful to humans. Industrial fermentation also has a wide range of applications in the chemical industry. Commercial chemicals, such as ethanol, acetic acid, and citric acid are made by fermentation. In addition, industrial enzymes, such as lipases and invertase, are made by the fermentation of genetically modified microorganisms. - What is Fermentation Feedstock?
Fermentation feedstock refers to materials that can be fermented into chemicals, such as the fermentation of grains to produce ethanol. The term can also refer to products created through the fermentation process that can be further used as a raw material in another manufacturing process. - What are Examples of Products of Fermentation?
The fermentation process can produce a wide variety of chemical products. In addition to the most common fermentation products, ethanol, lactic acid, carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2), there are valuable products such as carbohydrates, amino acids, peptides, recombinant proteins, antibodies, polysaccharides, plasmid DNA, flavonoids, and saturated fats, etc.
Classification of these products:- Cell biomass: viable cellular materials.
- Extracellular metabolites: 1) primary metabolites such as ethanol, glutamic acid, lysine, citric acid, vitamins and polysaccharides; 2) secondary metabolites such as penicillin , cyclosporin A , gibberellin, and lovastatin .
- Intracellular components: enzymes and other proteins, such as catalase, amylase, protease, pectinase, cellulase.
- transformed substrates: the transformed substrate is itself the product, such as steroid biotransformation.
- Which Medicines are Made from Microorganisms?
Common antibiotics such as streptomycin, tetracycline, vancomycin, and erythromycin, were all natural products found from bacteria. Since their discovery, they have been a major part of the fight against deadly infections, greatly improving the ability to treat infectious diseases.
Furthermore, in the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs, consisting of payloads, linkers and antibodies), the payload is the key component with cytotoxic potency. Broadly speaking, ADC payloads can be small molecules (cellular toxins), protein toxins, proteins, enzymes and others. Through microbial fermentation, many cytotoxic payloads can be produced as an important component of ADCs.
Bacterial plasmids are the vectors of choice for cell and gene therapy (CGT). With the rapid development of CGT, it is inevitable that the industry will need to produce more plasmid DNA at larger production scales. The cultivation of plasmid DNA by microbial fermentation (e.g. E. coli) and the design of the plasmid fermentation process enable DNA to be produced economically on a scale of kilograms and beyond.
