Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Bioreactor Design and Operational System01:29

Bioreactor Design and Operational System

Bioreactors are engineered vessels designed to cultivate microorganisms under controlled conditions for industrial bioprocessing. They maintain sterility and allow precise regulation of pH, temperature, oxygen, and nutrient levels to optimize microbial growth and metabolite production. Bioreactors range from small laboratory units of 1 liter to industrial systems holding up to 500,000 liters, though only about 75% of their volume is actively used for fermentation. The remaining headspace...
Batch vs Continuous Culture01:14

Batch vs Continuous Culture

Fermentation is a foundational biotechnological process used to produce pharmaceuticals, biofuels, enzymes, and food additives. Among industrial strategies, batch and continuous fermentation are the two most widely applied. Although both rely on microbial conversion of substrates into desired products, they differ markedly in operation, productivity, and suitability for specific applications.Batch fermentation occurs in a closed system in which nutrient media and inoculum are added at the...
Scale-Up Processes01:14

Scale-Up Processes

The scale-up of microbial fermentation processes is essential in industrial biotechnology, allowing the transition from laboratory-scale experiments to commercial-scale production while aiming to maintain product yield and quality. This process requires meticulous adjustment of equipment design, process parameters, and contamination control strategies to accommodate increasing culture volumes.At the laboratory scale, cultures are typically maintained in 1 to 10-liter glass or autoclavable...
Bioreactor Controls-III01:22

Bioreactor Controls-III

Strain improvement is a foundational strategy in industrial microbiology aimed at maximizing microbial productivity, particularly because natural isolates typically yield commercially valuable products in very low concentrations. Although optimizing the culture medium and environmental conditions can improve yields, these adjustments are inherently limited by the organism’s genetic potential. As a result, the focus shifts toward genetic modifications to enhance biosynthetic capacity. The...
Bioreactor Controls-II01:18

Bioreactor Controls-II

In aerobic fermentations, oxygen is vital for microbial growth and metabolite production. Since air comprises only about 20% oxygen and the gas is poorly soluble in water—just 9 ppm at 20°C—supplying sufficient oxygen becomes a critical challenge, especially in high-demand processes like yeast growth or citric acid production. Even a fully saturated broth may offer only a few seconds of oxygen availability.To address this, sterile or scrubbed air is introduced into the fermentor via a sparger...
Bioremediation00:46

Bioremediation

Bioremediation is the use of prokaryotes, fungi, or plants to remove pollutants from the environment. This process has been used to remove harmful toxins in groundwater as a byproduct of agricultural run-off and also to clean up oil spills.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

When biosurfactants compete with pollutants: Rhamnolipid production and moisture-dependent performance in hydrocarbon-degrading environments.

Journal of hazardous materials·2026
Same author

Cross-feeding drives degradation of phthalate ester plasticizers in a bacterial consortium.

Frontiers in microbiology·2026
Same author

Testing the biodegradability of difficult compounds: a future challenge for the OECD/ISO standardization.

Applied microbiology and biotechnology·2026
Same author

Moisture governs diesel biodegradation in sand soil - polystyrene microplastic have a negligible impact.

Journal of hazardous materials·2025
Same author

Effects of defined organic layers on the fluorescence lifetime of plastic materials.

Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry·2025
Same author

Hydrochar from Agricultural Waste as a Biobased Support Matrix Enhances the Bacterial Degradation of Diethyl Phthalate.

Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Techniques for the Evolution of Robust Pentose-fermenting Yeast for Bioconversion of Lignocellulose to Ethanol
14:53

Techniques for the Evolution of Robust Pentose-fermenting Yeast for Bioconversion of Lignocellulose to Ethanol

Published on: October 24, 2016

Solvent-tolerant bacteria for biotransformations in two-phase fermentation systems.

Hermann J Heipieper1, Grit Neumann, Sjef Cornelissen

  • 1Department of Bioremediation, UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany. hermann.heipieper@ufz.de

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
|January 31, 2007
PubMed
Summary

Using solvent-tolerant bacteria in two-phase systems enables in situ product recovery during biotransformation. This approach mitigates toxicity issues, paving the way for cost-effective fine chemical production.

More Related Videos

Bioprospecting of Extremophilic Microorganisms to Address Environmental Pollution
07:20

Bioprospecting of Extremophilic Microorganisms to Address Environmental Pollution

Published on: December 30, 2021

Generation of Enterobacter sp. YSU Auxotrophs Using Transposon Mutagenesis
13:31

Generation of Enterobacter sp. YSU Auxotrophs Using Transposon Mutagenesis

Published on: October 31, 2014

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Techniques for the Evolution of Robust Pentose-fermenting Yeast for Bioconversion of Lignocellulose to Ethanol
14:53

Techniques for the Evolution of Robust Pentose-fermenting Yeast for Bioconversion of Lignocellulose to Ethanol

Published on: October 24, 2016

Bioprospecting of Extremophilic Microorganisms to Address Environmental Pollution
07:20

Bioprospecting of Extremophilic Microorganisms to Address Environmental Pollution

Published on: December 30, 2021

Generation of Enterobacter sp. YSU Auxotrophs Using Transposon Mutagenesis
13:31

Generation of Enterobacter sp. YSU Auxotrophs Using Transposon Mutagenesis

Published on: October 31, 2014

Area of Science:

  • Biotechnology
  • Biochemical Engineering
  • Microbiology

Background:

  • Product removal from aqueous media is a significant challenge in whole-cell biotransformation due to substrate and product toxicity.
  • Two-phase systems with an organic solvent phase facilitate in situ product recovery, maintaining bioavailable but tolerable concentrations of toxic compounds.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the use of solvent-tolerant microorganisms for overcoming toxicity issues in two-phase biotransformation systems.
  • To investigate adaptive mechanisms in bacteria that enable survival and growth in the presence of toxic organic solvents.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing two-phase systems comprising an aqueous and an organic solvent phase.
  • Employing solvent-tolerant bacteria capable of adapting to toxic organic solvents.
  • Analyzing adaptive mechanisms including membrane modifications, energy status changes, and active solvent extrusion.

Main Results:

  • Solvent-tolerant bacteria can survive and grow in the presence of toxic organic solvents, enabling effective in situ product recovery.
  • Adaptive mechanisms such as altered membrane properties and active transport systems are crucial for solvent tolerance.
  • Two-phase systems with adapted microorganisms offer a viable strategy for managing toxicity in biotransformations.

Conclusions:

  • Solvent-tolerant microorganisms are key to successful two-phase biotransformation systems.
  • Effective management of substrate and product toxicity is achievable through microbial adaptation and in situ recovery.
  • This approach holds promise for the economical biotechnological production of fine chemicals.