MICROBIAL ENZYMES

Enzymes Enzymes are widely used in different industries. For example,

amylases are used in the production of syrups from corn starch, in the
production of paper sizing (a coating for smoothness, as on this page), and in
the production of glucose from starch.
Gillcose isomerase is an important enzyme; it converts the glucose that
amylases form from starches into fructose, which is used in place of sucrose as
a sweetener in many foods. Probably half of the bread baked in this country is
made with the aid of proteases, which adjust the amount of glutens (protein) in
wheat so that baked goods are improved or made uniform. Other proteolytic
enzymes are used as meat tenderizers or in detergents as an additive to remove
proteinaceous stains. About a third of all industrial enzyme production is for this
purpose. Rennin, an enzyme used to form curds in milk, is usually produced
commercially by fungi but more recently by genetically modified bacteria.

VITAMINS
Vitamins arc sold in large quantities combined in tablet form and
arc used as individual food supplements. Microbes can provide
an inexpensive source of some vitamins. Vitamin BI] is
produced by Pseudomonas and Propionibacterium species.
Riboflavin (B2) is another vitamin produced by fermentation,
mostly by fungi such as Ashbya gossypii (ash'be-a gos-sip'e-e).
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is produced at the rate of 20,000 tons
per year by a complicated modification of glucose by
Acetobacter species

PHARMACEUTICAL
Modern pharmaceutical microbiology developed after World War II, when production of
antibiotics was introduced.
All antibiotics were originally the products of microbial metabolism. Many are still produced
by microbial fermentations, and work continues on the selection of more productive mutants
by nutritional and genetic manipulations
Vaccines are a product of industrial microbiology. The production of vaccines against
bacterial diseases usually requires the growth of large amounts of the bacteria.
Recombinant DNA technology is increasingly important in the development and production
of subunit vaccines
Steroids are a very important group of chemicals that include cortisolle, which is used as an
anti-inflammatory drug, and estrogens and progesterolle, which are used in oral
contraceptives. Recovering steroids from animal sources or chemically synthesizing them is
difficult, but microorganisms can synthesize steroids from sterols or from related, easily
obtained compounds.

Alternative Energy Sources Using Microorganisms

As our supplies of fossil fuels diminish or become more
expensive, interest in the use of renewable energy resources will
increase. Prominent among these is biomass, the collective
organic matter produced by living organisms, including crops,
trees, and municipal wastes. Microbes can be used for
bioconversion, the process of converting biomass into alternative
energy sources. Bioconversion can also decrease the amount of
waste materials requiring disposal. Methane is one of the most
convenient energy sources produced from bioconversion

Biofuels
As the supplies of fossil petroleum-based fuels become more expensive,
and sometimes uncertain, interest in renewable replacement fuels,
biofuels, is increasing. The initial interest has focused on ethanol, which is
already widely used as a supplement to gasoline (90% gasoline + 10%
ethanol), and the technology is well established. Brazil, for example,
produces large amounts of ethanol from sugar cane, about a third of its
transportation fuel. In the United States, a limited number of automobiles
are adapted to use E85 (15% gasoline + 85% ethanol). Ethanol has,
however, a number of deficiencies: it cannot be transported by
conventional pipelines (because it absorbs water so avidly), and it has
30% less energy content than gasoline. Also, to produce ethanol from corn
creates pressures on the supply and price of a valuable foodstuff.

 A theoretically attractive organism for producing biofuels is

algae. Algae offer a number of advantages; for one, they do not
take up valuable farmland needed for food production. Also,
algae produce 40 times the energy per acre that corn produces
and the land the algae grow on can be agriculturally
nonproductive as long as it has abundant sunlight

ALGAL BIOREAKTOR
Algal bioreactor is an artist's concept of a field of algal bioreactors
that could produce biofuels on an industrial scale.
Experimental algae production sites have even used the carbon
dioxide emissions from power plants to accelerate growth. The
algae can be harvested on an almost daily basis. Oils squeezed
from them can be turned into biodiesel fuel and possibly jet fuel:
typical algae yield 20% of their weight in oil, and some even more.
After oil extraction, the remainder, rich in carbohydrates and
proteins, can be used to produce ethanol or as animal feed.

Hydrogen Fuel
Hydrogen is an attractive candidate as a replacement for fossil
fuels, especially if it can be produced by splitting water. It can
be used in fuel cells to generate electricity and, if burned to
generate energy, does not produce harmful residues. Most
research into the production of hydrogen has concentrated on
physical and chemical methods, but it is also potentially
possible to use bacteria or algae to produce hydrogen from the
fermentation of various waste products or by modifications of
photosynthesis.