White Biotechnology for Amino Acids

Amino acids are basic biomolecules with varied applications in food/feed additives, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. Industrial production of amino acids is a fast growing and multimillion dollar business. Lysine and glutamic acid are the major amino acids in terms of tonnage and market share. Fermentative production is the most preferred means for the commercial production of most amino acids due to process economics and optical purity. A brief outline of the history and production processes of amino acid fermentation and evolution of the biosynthetic pathways is discussed here. Some aspects of glutamic acid, lysine, methionine, threonine, and aromatic amino acids are detailed including the biosynthetic pathways, strain improvement strategies, and production processes.