Microbes in industrial products:

The large scale production of various compounds in industries takes place in large fermentors. Fermentor is a large container in which fermentation takes place.

Fermented beverages:

Beverages are formed by fermenting malted cereals and fruit juices with Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce ethanol.

• Wine and beer are produced without distillation.
• Whisky, brandy and rum are produced by distillation.

Antibiotics:

Antibiotics are some chemical substances produced by living micro-organisms against disease causing other micro-organisms.

• Penicillin was the first antibiotic to be discovered by Alexander Flaming.
• Alexander Fleming while working on Staphylococci bacteria, once observed a mould growing in one of his unwashed culture plates around which Staphylococci could not grow.
• He found out that it was due to a chemical produced by the mould Penicillium notatum.
• And the chemical is known to be penicillin.
• But the function of penicillin as an effective antibiotic was discovered by Ernest Chain and Howard Florey and they were too awarded with Noble prize for their work.

 

Organic acids and alcohol:

Ethanol is produced by yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Organic acid	Microbe	Type of microbe
Citric acid	Aspergillus niger	Fungi
Acetic acid	Acetobacter aceti	Bacteria
Butyric acid	Clostrodium butylicum	Bacteria
Lactic acid	Lactobacillus	Bacteria

Enzymes:

 

Enzymes	Uses
Lipase	Used to remove oily stains from laundry and in manufecture of detergents.
Pectinase and protease	To clear packed juices.
Streptokinase (from streptococcus bacteria)	Used as clot buster for removing clots from blood vessels of patients and checks the chances of heart attack.

Bio-active molecules:

Molecule	Source organism	Use
Cyclosporin A	Trichoderma polysporum	Used as immunosuppressive agent in organ transplant patients.
Statin	Monascus puppureus (fungus)	Used as blood cholesterol lowering agent.