Fermentation is more than a method for making food and drinks. From vinegar and vitamin C to ethanol and industrial polysaccharides, it has played a major role in producing everyday chemicals for centuries. In this article, we explore the scientific history of industrial fermentation, from ancient preservation techniques to modern precision fermentation, and show how CarbExplore continues to build on this legacy with its Fermentic Platform.
When you dig around your bathroom and kitchen cabinets, you may not be aware how many of those important chemicals are made via fermentation. Take vinegar: Acetic acid is a common household item found in salad dressings but is also a cleaning favourite for descaling or eliminating unpleasant odours. If you dig a little deeper into your cabinet, you may find some vitamin supplements, including vitamin C to prevent colds and feel more energetic. And digging further, you find ethanol, helpful to clean scratches and other wounds. All these various bathroom and kitchen staples are often produced in large quantities via industrial fermentation. While we may think of fermentation in the context of food and beverages, fermentation has a long history of being a key manufacturing process for the chemical industry.
In today’s blog, we will explore the history of using fermentation as a chemical producer, and the role it continues to play today.
Fermentation is thought to have played a key role in human nutrition, with the technology a key factor in preventing food spoilage and preserving nutrients. Humans evolved eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, which we then became dependent on for many of our essential vitamins. For instance, while most animals can synthesize vitamin C, and therefore do not need to get it from their diet, higher primates (which includes us!) have lost the ability to do so. Thus, it is essential for us to get enough vitamin C through our diet. While it is readily available in many fruits and vegetables, these may be harder to find in colder regions. It is also a very unstable molecule, quickly degrading when exposed to oxygen. This makes it a challenge to get enough vitamin C in colder months and regions, or (classically) when travelling by sea, leading to serious illnesses such as scurvy. However, fermentation proved to be a useful tool in preserving vitamin C. Many kinds of fermentation use fresh vegetables (e.g. sauerkraut) or meat and preserve them in low oxygen and low pH environments, perfect conditions to keep vitamin C stable for longer, helping us to stay healthy throughout the winter.
While fermentation has been used for millennia as a tool for food preservation, the understanding of the underlying science is a relatively modern discovery. In the 18th century, Antoine Lavoisier, a pioneer in our understanding of chemistry, proposed that fermentation was a simple chemical reaction. While not wrong, the “simple” part was perhaps optimistic. Later, in the 19th century, several scientists observed microorganisms in fermented foods and suspected their key role in fermentation. Louis Pasteur, from whom we get the word and process “pasteurization”, demonstrated that lactic acid fermentation was caused by bacteria. However, how microorganisms were able to ferment was still a mystery. Pasteur theorized microorganisms contained a vital force called “ferments” that could carry out these fermentations.
In comes the discovery of enzymes. In fact, the etymology of enzyme betrays its connection to fermentation: from the ancient Greek ἔνζυμον (énzymon), meaning leavened, the process of rising dough from the carbon dioxide produced by yeast fermenting sugars in bread dough. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Eduard Buchner studied the fermentative ability of yeast extract, finding that this cell-free extract was able to ferment sucrose. Further research uncovered the various metabolic steps these enzymes carry out within an organism to be able to do different forms of fermentation. And from there, by understanding the underlying science of fermentation, further optimization, by selecting for productive and tolerant strains, meant that industrial scale fermentation could now be implemented.
Now, many common household chemicals are produced via fermentation. Whether that is using the microbe’s natural abilities, such as using acetic acid bacteria to make acetic acid, or via precision fermentation, where a microbe has been engineered to produce certain chemicals, such as the use of yeast to make vitamin C. While fermentation has been used at the industrial scale for centuries, in the production of wine, beer, vinegar, or staple foods such as kimchi, understanding the underlying science behind these processes has allowed for optimization and innovation at an unprecedented scale. Things are no different in the carbohydrate space. Polysaccharides such as dextran and xanthan gum come from fermentation using lactic acid- and Xanthomonas bacteria.
At CarbExplore, we recognize the historical, cultural and scientific value of fermentation. In our Fermentic Platform, we search for and isolate new microbes able to produce polysaccharides. Armed with our scientific knowledge, we can dive deep into the chemistry of our fermenting microbes and their products, innovating in the fermented carbohydrate space.
Get in touch with our team to explore collaboration opportunities.
