Fungal Fermentation: Industrial

Ramunas Bigelis, Wyeth‐Ayerst Research, Pearl River, New York, USA

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0000357

Industrial fermentation with fungi is used to produce a number of commercial products. Fungal metabolism is exploited to manufacture ethanol, citric acid, steroids, antibiotics and other substances with applications in the food, fuel, chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Keywords: fungi; fermentation; metabolites; antibiotics; microbiology

Figure 1. Changes associated with citric acid production by submerged fermentation with Aspergillus niger (from Villet, 1981). —, Mycelium (mg dry wt per 0.5 mL); – –, citric acid (mg L–1); – - – -, respiratory quotient (an index of oxygen uptake); –×–×, sucrose (mg per 0.1 mL); - - -, pH; ××××××××, titratable acid.
Figure 2. Natural and synthetic penicillins are derived from the penicillin core, which bears the -lactam ring. Some examples of penicillins made by (a) fermentation with Penicillium species, (b) fermentation with Cephalosporium species, and (c) fermentation in the presence of synthetic precursors.
Figure 3. The chemical structure of cephalosporin C, an antibiotic obtained from species of Cephalosporium, and 7-ACA, its derivative which serves as starting material for many semisynthetic cephalosporins of clinical importance.
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 Further Reading
    book Arora DK (ed.) (1992) Handbook of Applied Mycology, vols 1–5. New York: Marcel Dekker.
    book Bennett JW and Ciegler A (eds) (1983) Secondary Metabolism and Differentiation in Fungi. New York: Marcel Dekker.
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    Bull AT, Goodfellow M and Slater JH (1992) Biodiversity as a source of innovation in biotechnology. Annual Review of Microbiology 46: 219–252.
    book Crueger W and Crueger A (1990) Biotechnology: A Textbook of Industrial Microbiology, 2nd edn. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.
    book Finklestein DB and Ball C (eds) (1992) Biotechnology of Filamentous Fungi. Technology and Products. Stoneham MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
    book Hui YH and Khachatourians GG (eds) (1995). Food Biotechnology. Microorganisms. New York: VCH Publishers.
    book Rehm HJ and Reed G (eds) (1986) Biotechnology, vols 1–8. Weinheim, Germany: VCH Verlagsgesellschaft.
    book Vandamme EJ (ed.) (1984) Biotechnology of Industrial Antibiotics. New York: Marcel Dekker.

Related Sub-Topics:

Food and Industrial Microbiology | Fungi | Microbial Respiration and Fermentation
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Article Title: Fungal Fermentation: Industrial
 
How to Cite close
Bigelis, Ramunas(Apr 2001) Fungal Fermentation: Industrial. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0000357]