Application of 2-D Gel Electrophoresis to Study Intracellular Events in Industrial Fermentations

Abstract

Most industrial bioprocesses are generally conducted in batch or fed batch modes with limited process control capabilities. The cell is essentially treated as a black box which takes up nutrients and produces the desired product. Improvements in product yield and productivity have been achieved primarily by random media manipulation and shotgun mutation programs. Although traditional biochemical and genetic methods have resulted in dramatic improvements in production since the late 1940s, they are not based on fundamental understanding of cellular metabolism. Attempts to optimize product yield and nutrient availability have met with only limited success because of a lack of knowledge concerning regulatory metabolism in these organisms. Environmental factors which trigger the onset of bioproducts production are not completely understood, and means to sustain biosynthesis of these bioproducts are usually unknown. Catabolite repression, feedback regulation of product synthesis, degeneration of synthesis, and degradation of the extracellular product are some problems frequently associated with these industrial fermentations [3]. In addition, the diversity of industrial significant metabolites and the organisms which produce them makes it even more difficult to draw general conclusions about cellular regulation. A general and convenient means is needed to study and to monitor intracellular events of cellular metabolism associated with product biosynthesis of industrial significant organisms at a fundamental level. Such a method would allow meaningful comparisons among different industrial significant bioproduct producing cells.