Characteristics of an ideal industrial microbe

Characteristics of an ideal industrial microbe

Microorganisms are used to provide a wide range of products due to the ease of mass cultivation, speed of growth, use of cheap substrates, diversity of potential products, ability to readily undergo genetic manipulation for new products, etc.

Traditional fermentations were performed using a mixture of microorganisms present in the raw materials or the local environment, e.g. food and alcoholic beverage fermentations. Modernization in fermentation resulted in the isolation and use of microorganisms either obtained from natural environment or from culture collections. Most of these microorganisms were subsequently modified by strain improvement strategies to improve their industrial applications.

Fermentation industries often prefer to use established GRAS (generally regarded as safe) microorganisms, particularly for the manufacture of food products and ingredients. Where pathogens and genetically modified microorganisms are used as the producer organism, additional safety measures and special containment facilities must be taken.

The choice of a microbe as an industrial microbe is done depending upon several criterias, among which the process economy is the major consideration.  The characteristics of an ideal industrial microbe are as follows

1.     The nutritional characteristics of the organism should be minimum. Since the process should be able to be carried out using cheap medium, the organism should be able to grow using it.  It should have tolerance to high concentrations of carbon or nitrogen sources. The organism should not show catabolite repression

2.        It should be safe, non-pathogenic and should not produce toxic agents

3.      The optimum temperature of the organism may be above 40° since this considerably reduces the cooling costs in fermentation and therefore the use of a microbe having such an optimum temperature will be beneficial.

4.     It should have reduced oxygen needs and it should cause lower viscosity of the culture so that oxygenation will be easier.  It should exhibit decreased foaming during fermentation

5.       The productivity of the organism should be high, that is its ability to convert substrate into a high yield of product per unit time. The organism should produce minimum undesirable products or bye products

6.       The organism should be stable and should be amenable to genetic manipulation.

7.       It should show rapid growth and require shorter fermentation times

8.     The organism should be suitable to the type of process to be used and should not react with the fermenter equipment

9.     The organism should allow maximum and easy product recovery from the culture. It may have permeability alterations to improve product export

10.    It should be resistant to phage attacks

 

 

 

References

1. Industrial Microbiology: An Introduction, M J. Waites, N L. Morgan, J S. Rockey, G Higton
2. Principles of fermentation technology, PF Stanbury, A Whittakker, SJ Hall, 1995, Butterworth-Heinemann publications