Microbes, or microscopic organisms, are widely used in large-scale industrial processes. Microbes can be used to create biofertilizers or to reduce metal pollutants. Microbes can also be used to produce certain non-microbial products, such as the diabetes medication insulin, vaccines, etc. These slides will give insights into uses of microbes in production of enzymes, antibiotics, beverages, vitamins, vaccines, probiotics, etc

1. USE OF MICROBES IN
INDUSTRY
-Prof. Snehal B Jadhav

2. Microbes-Introduction
 Microbes/Micro-organism : A microscopic organism, which may exist in its single –
celled form or in a colony of cells
 They are widely used in industry for production of – dairy products, beverages,
antibiotics, etc. and also are useful for transformation of chemicals that helps in
decreasing environmental pollution.
 The different types of microbes are:
1. Algae
2. Bacteria
3. Fungi
4. Protozoa
5. Virus.

3. Industrial Microbiology
Definition: Branch of Biotechnology and Microbiology,
which involves study of various microorganism and its
application in Industry.

4. Application of Microbes in Nature
MICROBE – PLANT INTERACTION
 Many microbes are found in nature and help plants to grow
 Rhizobacteria found in the soil fixates nitrogen which is required
for many crops to grow Roots Microbes
OXYGEN PRODUCTION
 Cyanobacteria or ‘blue-green algae’ produce oxygen in the ocean

5. Application of Microbes in Nature
DECOMPOSITION
 Defined as the breakdown of raw organic
materials to a finished compost
 The fungi invade the organic matter in soils
first and are then followed by bacteria.
 Without this recycling of inorganic nutrients,
primary productivity on the globe would stop.

6. Applications of Microbes in Industry
 In large-scale industrial processes, microbes are widely used to
synthesize a number of products valuable to human beings such
as:
1. Food additives.
2. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
3. Biofuels, metabolites, and biofertilizers.
4. Few Chemicals, Enzymes and other Bioactive Molecules.
5. Vaccines and other Antibiotics to kill or retard the growth of
disease-causing microbes.

7. Microbes in Industrial Products
 Microbes play a crucial role in the fermentation process, to obtain a
number of products.
 The common products obtained by fermentation process are fermented
beverages, malted cereals, broths, fruit juices, antibiotics, etc.
BEVERAGES
 Yeasts are the widely used microorganism for the production of
beverages like beer, brandy, rum, wine, whiskey, etc.
 In these industrial process, the species of yeasts, Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, generally called as the Brewer’s Yeasts are used for
fermenting fruit juices and malted cereals to produce ethanol.
 After the fermentation, these beverages are distilled to produce both
alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages including whiskey, brandy, rum,
etc.

8. Microbes in Industrial Products
ORGANIC ACID
 Various microbes are used for the industrial production of organic acids like
citric acid, lactic acid, acetic acid , fumaric acid, gluconic acid, etc.
 Aspergillus niger, Acetobacter acute and Lactobacillus are few examples of
microbes used for the industrial production of organic acids
 Lactic Acid: It is produced by the microaerophilic bacteria belonging to the
genus Lactobacillus
 It is used as a preservative of food, as an adjunct or substitute for vinegar, in
the form of calcium lactate for calcium supplement, in plastic and leather
industry
 Citric Acid: Cultures of Aspergillus niger are fed on a sucrose or glucose-
containing medium to produce citric acid
 Used mainly as acidifier, flavoring agent, preservative, as a chelating agent,
etc

10. Microbes in Industrial Products
AMINO ACIDS
 Corynebacterium glutamicum used for
commercial production of L-glutamic
acid, L- lysin, L-valine, etc.
 These are used as food flavoring, for
various clinical purposes such as post-
operative therapy, as a supplement to low
protein diet, etc.

11. Microbes in Industrial Products
ENZYMES
 Microorganisms are majorly used for the production of industrial enzymes through the safe
gene transfer methods. The first industrially produced microbial enzymes were obtained
from the fungal amylase in the year 1896 and were used to cure indigestion and several
other digestive disorders.
 Microbial enzymes are most widely used in the food and beverage industries and to a
lesser extent in clinical and analytical laboratories and as protease detergent
 The major commercial utilization of microbial enzymes is in food and beverage industries,
in pharmaceutical, textile and leather, analytical processes, detergent and dairy industry
 Most enzymes are synthesized in the logarithmic phase of the batch culture and may
therefore be considered as primary metabolites. However some are produced by idiophase,
type culture or can be a secondary metabolites
 Most if the commercial enzymes are obtained form aerobic microorganism.
 Two process are generally used:
1. Submerged Fermentation method
2. Semisolid or Solid Culture method

12. Microbes in Industrial Products
ANTIBIOTICS
 Antibiotics are chemical substances produced by certain microbes which functions either by
killing or retarding the growth of harmful microbes without affecting the host cells
 Penicillin: Penicillin was the first antibiotic to be discovered by Alexander Fleming in the year
1928 from the fungus Penicillium notatum
 One of the most dramatic fermentation stories of the century started in the late twenties, when
Fleming recorded the effect of a stray mould, Penicillium notatum, upon some of his pathogenic
bacteria
 When Penicillium notatum was originally grown as a surface organism on liquid media, only 10
units/mL of penicillin were produced
 With improved media this was increased to 200 units/mL
 This was again improved by the use of Penicillium chrysogenum followed by the selection of
many mutants produced artificially with the aid of such mutagens as ultra-violet light.
 Nowadays, this antibiotic is produced under submerged aerated conditions in stainless steel vats

13. Microbes in Industrial Products
ANTIBIOTICS
 Tetrcyclines:
 Oxytetracycline was first obtained from Streptomyces rimosus and
chlortetracycline from Streptomyces aureofaciens
 The latter is normally used for commercial production and may be grown on a
variety of media including corn steep liquor, ground nut or soy bean meal
 Other Antibiotics:
 Although the antibiotics discussed here are derived from fungi or
actinomycetes, others such as subtilin and bacitracin are produced by bacteria.
The usefulness of the latter is limited by their greater toxicity.

15. Microbes in Industrial Products
VITAMINS
 Vitamins are organic compounds which are capable of performing many life-
sustaining functions inside our body.
 They are essential micronutrients which are required in small quantities for the
body’s metabolism. As our body cannot synthesize these vitamins, they need to
be supplied through the diet.
 Apart from plants and animals sources, microbes are also capable of
synthesizing the vitamins. There are few groups of microbes living in the
digestive tracts of both humans and other animals which are collectively called
as the gut microbiota. These microbes are involved in synthesizing vitamin K.
 Other examples of microbial vitamins include ascorbic acid, beta-carotene,
biotin, ergosterol, folic acid, vitamin b12, thiamine, pantothenic acid,
riboflavin, and pyridoxine.
 Out of all vitamins now available commercially, vitamin B12 and vitamin B2
(riboflavin) is the main that are produced by microbial fermentations

16. Microbes in Industrial Products
VITAMINS
 Vit B12 (Cynocobalamine) : This vitamin is recovered as a by-product of streptomycin
and aureomycin antibiotic fermentations. A soluble cobalt salt is added to the
fermentation reaction as a precursor to vitamin B12.
 Propionibacterium shermanii or Pseudomonas denitrificans are the bacteria which are
used now a days for fermentation processes.
 Vit B2 (Riboflavin): is recovered as a by-product of acetone butanol fermentation and is
produced by various Clostridium species.

17. Microbes in Industrial Products
 In Reshaping Molecules:
 In this, the organisms employed do not metabolize the substances presented to them but
merely have the enzymic capacity to change certain groupings within the molecule.
 Steroids have frequently been treated in this way and there are a large number of
organisms available to carry out a wide range of chemical changes
 Two well known examples of biotransformation are: use of a Zygomycetous fungus,
Rhizopus nigrinans to hydroxylate progesterone (progesterone is obtained by a series of
chemical steps from stigmosterol, extracted from soybeans) for the synthesis of cortisone
hormone.
 This conversion involves three reactions. The first reaction is a typical microbial
transformation carried out by Rhizopus nigricans and the other two reactions are
performed chemically as shown below:

18. Microbes in Industrial Products
In Food Industry
 Cheese and Yoghurt: Lactic acid fermentation produces yoghurt and cheese.
 Some fungi are also used to make cheese turn blue
 Bread and Dough products: Yeast is used to make this products

19. Microbes in Industrial Products
 In Vaccine Production
 Vaccines are made from microbes that are dead or inactive so that they are
unable to cause disease.
 The antigen in the vaccine is the same as the antigen on the surface of the
disease-causing microbe.
 The vaccine stimulates the body to produce antibodies against the antigen in
the vaccine.
 Live attenuated vaccines (LAV) are derived from disease causing pathogens
(virus or bacteria) that have been weakened under laboratory condition
 Currently available live attenuated viral vaccines are measles, mumps,
rubella, varicella, zoster, yellow fever, rotavirus, and influenza (intranasal).

20. Microbes in Industrial Products
Probiotics
 Probiotics are a combination of live beneficial bacteria and/or yeasts that naturally
live in your body
 Probiotics when administered in adequate amount confer a health benefit on the host
 In other words- Probiotics are made up of good bacteria that helps keep your body
healthy and working well
How do probiotics work?
 Interacting directly with the disease-causing microbes, making it harder for them to
cause disease
 Reinforce the natural barrier of the digestive tract protecting against pathogenic
microbes
 "Competitive exclusion" in which beneficial microbes directly compete with disease-
causing microbes for food and other resources, eventually crowding them out
 Interacting with and strengthening the immune system

21. Microbes in Industrial Products
Probiotics
 The two specific types of bacteria that are common probiotics:
 Lactobacillus.
 Bifidobacterium.
 Probiotics are also made up of good yeast. The most common type of yeast found in
probiotics is:
 Saccharomyces boulardii.