Uses of Strain Development in Industrial Microbiology

All commercial fermentation procedures are characterized by improvements in microbial strains for the manufacture of industrial goods. Mutation, selection, and genetic recombination have all been used in strain development. Overproduction of primary or secondary metabolites is a complicated process, and developing better strains necessitates a thorough understanding of physiology, pathway regulation and management, and the creation of novel screening methods. Overproduction requires mastery in the process of fermentation of each new strain, as well as engineering know-how for media optimization and the tunning of process conditions.

Industrial strain development and its characteristics

What is a strain?

A strain is a group of species that has one or more characteristics that can distinguish it from other subgroups of the same species or strain. Each of these strains is identified by its name, number, or letter.

What is strain improvement?

The basic description of strain improvement is the science & technology of manipulating and improving microbial strains that can enhance their metabolic capacities.

Here are some ideal characteristics of strain:

• It can provide rapid growth
• It can provide genetic stability
• It is non-toxic to humans
• It has the ability to use cheaper substrates
• It can eliminate the production of compounds that can interfere with the downstream processing
• It can improve the use of carbon and nitrogen sources
• It can reduce the cultivation cost
• It has a shorter fermentation time
• Here is the basic purpose of strain development:
• It can increase the productivities
• It can regulate the activity of enzymes

It can introduce new genetic properties into the organisms by Recombinant DNA technology / Genetic engineering

As mentioned before, strain improvement is the foundation of any commercial fermentation process. The economics of fermentation is determined predominantly by the manufacturing cost per unit of products made and the cost associated with the plant construction and start-up.

Fermenter engineering design can lead to cheaper fermentation production and capital costs, but it is the improvement of microbial strains that saves a lot of money. Great efforts are then expended in order to develop industrial strains which have the increased ability to produce the compound interest at a faster rate. The important factor of increased fermentation process productivity is strain development. It can be used to test whether a production process can satisfy the increased demand without installing any more fermenters. The strain can synthesize a larger percentage of the product using the same amount of raw material which can help reduce the manufacturing cost significantly. For example, strains that use low-cost materials like starch or corn syrup, or molasses (instead of refined glucose), can help in reducing the cost of fermentation.

When considering the increased capacity and fermenters required to achieve in the absence of titer gains and strain development initiatives, and improving industrial strains is justified. Through strain development, one can free up fermenters and make other fermentation products in the pipeline easier to market. The utilization of genetically altered organisms to create nonmicrobial goods such as insulin, interferon, human growth hormone, and viral vaccinations cannot be manufactured efficiently using normal manufacturing processes, which is also critical.

What is industrial strain development?

It is because the metabolite concentrations produced by wild strains are too low for economic operations, industrial strain evolution is driven mostly by economic considerations.

Depending on the system, it is logical to isolate strains that need short fermentation time, don’t produce undesirable pigments, have reduced oxygen needs, have exhibited decreased foaming during fermentation, or the ones that can metabolize inexpensive substrates.

A combination of chemically similarly related compounds is frequently produced by wild strains. Mutants that synthesize one component as the main product are preferred because they simplify the product recovery process.

Changes in microbe genotype can result in the creation of novel metabolites. Mutants that manufacture customized antibiotics could be considered.

Microbial Food Ingredients

Many enzymes from yeasts, bacteria, molds, from plant and mammalian sources, are currently used for processing food ingredients. Some of the yeast species used for protein production are from genera Candida, Torulopsis, Saccharomyces, and Methylophilus. Enzymes are produced by either surface culture on solid substrates or submerged culture using liquid substrates. The success of commercial enzyme production depends on maximizing the activity of the microorganism and minimizing the costs of the substrate, incubation, and recovery procedures.

According to probiotics manufacturers, numerous health benefits are linked to consuming probiotics. However, many related side effects can affect a percentage of the population. Let us check out some of the side effects of using probiotics:

• Probiotics can cause unpleasant digestive symptoms.
• Probiotic foods can sometimes trigger headaches.
• Probiotics can increase infection risk.
• Probiotic strains can increase histamine levels.