Fermentation processes, characteristics

Bacteria from the genera Lactobacillus and Streptococcus are involved in the first steps of dairy production (3). The raw materials produced by their effects usually only acquire their final properties after additional fermentation processes. For example, the characteristic taste of Swiss cheese develops during a subsequent propionic acid fermentation. In this process, bacteria from the genus Propionibacterium convert pyruvate to propionate in a complex series of reactions (2). 

There are several barriers to the successful control of bioprocesses due to particular circumstances that are related to their characteristics the complexities of microbial metabolisms, the nonlinearity of microbial reactions, the frequent use of batch and fed-batch operations, and the limited availability of sterihzable online sensors for important process variables such as cell and product concentrations. Furthermore, it is difficult to construct mathematical models that can predict the entire range of batch or fed-batch operations that many fermentation processes require. 

Several biotechnological synthetic methods for D-pantothenic add and its precursor D-pantolactone have been developed over the past 15 years. Although all have reached preparative scale and might result in cost-effective production processes, they differ considerably in their process characteristics - for example educts and space-time yields, especially when a fermentation and biotransformation are compared. Compared with the chemical process, the biotechnological processes reduce waste production and provide the possibility of a more environmentally friendly yet still competitive means of production of D-pantothenic acid. 

Oxidative transformations of hindered synthetic phenols and a-tocopherol are analogous to the oxidation of various mono- and dihydric phenols of plant origin. Natural phenols present in fruits or green tea leaves are oxidized on contact with air and/or during fermentation (a process characteristic of tea leaves) and are transformed into dark colored quinoid systems, not harmful for human beings. It may be extrapolated that trace amounts of discoloring quinones or quinone methides arising from phenolic antioxidants in plastics are harmless as well. 

Regarding the components of bulk fermentation processes, the strain of the organism used to manufacture the drug substance for the clinical study should be compared with the strain to be used in commercial production. Strain identification includes microbiological, cultural, and biochemical characteristics. A comparison of the media composition and method of sterilization, sterilization parameters, and the pH of the medium after sterilization should be done. All fermentation stages, parameters, and conditions should be described in detail (i.e., temperature, pH) and documented. 

Independent use patents offer the weakest patent protection. They almost invite others to seek possibilities to circumvent them and they do not cover the products that result from the invented new use. Wherever the necessary requirements are fulfilled, product patents should be applied for. In the first example given above, it seems hardly justified to construct product claims for (all) products made by the modified fermentation process. The excipient with adjuvant effects could probably be patented as a product patent, claiming "vaccines containing substance X as a novel adjuvant" with the non-obvious advantage of a better tolerability or efficacy over existing adjuvants. As for the third example, any advantageous characteristic of the resulting product may be used to justify a product patent. 

Miso and natto are traditional Japanese foods made from soybeans by a fermentation process. These foods are produced by a mixed fermentation process using a characteristic microorganism and ripening for a given time. In these processes, the hydrolysis of proteins by microbial proteases results in the production of free... 

In conclusion, ET employment is possible for on-line monitoring of industrial fermentation processes under real conditions. Nevertheless, each process has its own characteristics and needs a special monitoring concept. In special cases, sensors other than the ET might be better for monitoring and control. 

The type of equipment to be used in a crystallization process depends primarily upon the solubility characteristic of the solute. Solutions from fermentation processes can be classified as follows ... 

The main advantage of the proposed wine analysis is its selectivity because only primary amines can be detected using this method. Also, byproducts do not interfere with phenols or thiols. The quality of the wine and its organoleptic characteristics are well defined considering the effects of the malolactic fermentation process. The electrometric methods assure reliable results for the 1-malic and 1-lactic acids assay. The biosensors construction for 1-malic and 1-lactic acids assay in wine are based on malate dehydrogenase and lactate oxidase enzymes.117 The reproducibility of the results as well as the selectivity make it reliable for establishing the quality of the wine. 

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