Industrial Microbiology

Lecture 1
Major Areas of Interests
In Industrial Microbiology

Prof. M A Malek, PhD

Department of Microbiology, University of
Dhaka
Microbes as Machine
 Microbes are biochemical machines ideally equipped to
manufacture valuable products on a molecular level.
 They are self replicating machines; once set on a motion,
they not only make a desired product but also assemble
copies of themselves.
 Industrial microbiology is the enterprise that exploits such
biological machines to work the will of men.
 The established technology can be upgraded by the
employment of new methods of genetic manipulation of
microbes and environmental manipulation.
 From industrial point of view there are many advantages of
using microbial conversion of low cost raw material to high
valued products over the techniques of chemical
conversion.
 Industrial microbiology is a well established factor in the
world economy, responsible for a current annual
production valued billions of dollar and the outgrowth of a
pervasive human activity with rich history that goes back
thousand years.
Microbes and Industry
Major Areas of Industrial Microbiology
• Industrially potent microorganisms
• Application of novel techniques for
improvement of microorganisms
• The art of fermentation processes
• Microbiological production of foods
and beverages
• Microbiological production of food
additives and flavoring.
• Microbiological production of
enzymes
• Microbiological production of
pharmaceuticals
• Microbiological production of
industrial chemicals
• Microbiological conversion of organic
wastes into feed, fuel and fertilizers
Categories of Industrial Microbes
The microbes that make products useful to man present a few
hundred species out of more than 100,000 that exist in nature.
There is no ready classification of microbes into useful and non-
useful. However, the industrial microbes can be grouped into four:
Molds
Useful in preparation of food, feed, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, etc.

Yeasts
Useful in preparation of food, beverage, chemicals, etc.
Bacteria
Useful in preparation of food, feed, pharmaceuticals, chemicals,
fertilizers, etc.
Actinomycetes
Useful in preparation of pharmaceuticals, chemicals,
bioconversions, etc.
Improvement of Microbes
Genetics for industry has now come of age. A range of
techniques for genetic programming is available that could
not been envisioned only a few years ago. These includes:
Site directed mutagenesis
to help in overcoming the intrinsic randomness of
procedures based on isolation of mutants.
Protoplast fusion
to increase the power of natural recombination.
Gene amplification
to amplify or duplicate of particular gene for desired
products.
Recombination of DNA
for transplanting natural genes and even making new genes.
 Fermentation Process
The art of fermentation, technically defined as the biochemical transformation of organic
compounds with the aid of microbial enzymes. Different types of
fermenters are designed and used for bioconversions. These are
following four categories:
Batch fermentation
It is a closed culture system which contain an initial, limited amount of nutrient. The culture is
passed through a number of growth phases. Production rate is relatively low. e.g. enzyme.

Fed-batch culture
The batch culture which are feed continuously or sequentially, with medium without the
removal of culture fluid so that the volume is increased. e.g. baker’s yeast.

Semi-batch culture
The culture system in which the culture is harvested at regular intervals and replaced by an
equal volume of fresh medium. The culture is passed a relatively moderate log growth
phase. The rate of production rate is relatively higher than that of batch culture. (vinegar,
O. acids)

Continuous culture
It is a steady state culture system which consists of continuous supply of nutrients &
continuous withdrawal of products. The culture is passed a long log growth phase.
Production rate is relatively very high. (vinegar, O. acids)