Secondary Metabolites

Secondary metabolites are not essential for growth and reproduction

Formation of secondary metabolites depends on growth conditions,
medium and elicitors or inhibitors present in the medium
Secondary metabolites are often produced as a group of closely
related compounds
Production rate of secondary metabolites can be dramatically
increased

Secondary metabolites
Phenylaceticacid is added to maximize
production of penicillin G,
Fermentor:
The vessel in which industrial process is carried out are called as fermentor
The industrial process can be
Production of biomass
Production of primary metabolite
Production of secondary metabolites
Production of recombinant products
Bioreactors
Basic functions:
Should be capable of reliable aseptic continuous operation for several
days
Power consumption should be very low
Should have provision for sampling, aeration, pH adjustment and
temperature checking
Should be easy to operate, harvest, clean and maintain
Should be similar in geometry as that of lab fermenter and pilot plant
The performance of any bioreactor depends on

Sterile conditions
Biomass concentration
Nutrient supply
Metabolisms/microbial activities
Effective agitations
Aeration
Heat removal
Product inhibition
Correct shear conditions
Product removal
Types of fermentors:
Aerobic or anaerobic
Submerged or soild state
Batch, fed batch or continuous
Batch fermentation process
A tank of fermenter is filled with the prepared medium and steam sterilized
The inoculum of a pure culture is added to the fermenter, from a separate pure culture vessel
The temperature and pH for microbial fermentation is monitored and adjusted, and occasionally
nutritive supplements are added to the medium
After the proper time the contents are harvested
The fermenter is cleaned and the process is repeated
Thus each fermentation is a discontinuous process divided into batches
Fed- Batch fermentation process

Principle: under nutrient stress microbes gives better yield of certain
products


Continuous Fermentation Process

In continuous fermentation, the substrate is added to the fermenter
at a fixed rate.
This maintains the organisms in the logarithmic growth phase.
The fermentation products are taken out continuously.
Submerged
fermentor
Submerged fermentor
SSF involves the growth of micro-organisms on moist-solid particle with the
absence or nearly absence of free water

The solid particle acts as substrate and an anchorage for the cells
The inter-particle space is filled by the gas phase and majority of the water in the
system is absorbed within the moist-solid particles













Solid State Fermentation

General steps in SSF process.
Steps Process
Inoculum Preparation Selection of pure strain
Develop an inoculum of sufficient size and high
Viability
Substrate Preparation Cutting or granulation to obtain apropriate size.
Addition of water and nutritional supplements or
pre-treat with heat to increase the availability of
nutrients.
Sterilization
Inoculation , loading
and fermentation
Inoculation occurs either prior or after loading
Downstream
processing
Depending on process
Waste Disposal
Advantages of SSF over SmF