Microbes used in Production of vitamin

Microbial production  is only source of vitamin B12 but vitamin B2 or riboflavin  is also manufactured up to some extent microbiologically.

Remember 👌👌only water soluble vitamin can be produced commercially with the use of microbes. 

Any fat soluble vitamin has not been synthesised so far with the use of microbes.  Beta carotene which is converted into vitamin A , can be synthesised by use of  microbes.

In nature, vitamin B12 is synthesised by metabolic activity of microbes. It is synthesised by bacteria streptomyces and not by any yeast or fungi. It also is said to be that vitamin B12 is also produced by the fermentation but vitamin B12 is recovered only by streptomycin and auremycin antibiotic fermentation.

Fermentation by bacteria Bacillus megatherium, syreptomyces olivaceus , Propionibacterium sharmanii also produces vitamin B12.

The process using the Propionibacterium is widely used and is more productive of vitamin B12.

Bacillus megatherium uses Beet molasses, ammonium phosphate, cobalt salt as substrate for fermentation up to eighteen hours and produce 0.45 mg vitamin B12 per litre.

Streptomyces olivaceus ferments glucose soybean cobalt salt up to six days and release 3.3 mg vitamin B12 per litre.

Propionibacterium sharmanii use corn, glucose cobalt salt with ammonium chloride for seven day fermentation. This fermentation include anaerobic for three days and aerobic for four days. As a result, 23 mg vitamin B12 is produced per litre.

Another species of Propionibacterium freudenreichii  produces 8 mg vitamin B12 per litre for 33 hours of fermentation.

Practically,  vitamin B12 is formed during fermentation, present in cells of bacteria. Large high speed centrifugation are used to accumulate the bacteria and filters  are used to remove the bacterial cells.

The vitamin B12 is released from the cells by acid or heating or cyanide treatment. when cyanide is added than it decomposes the coenzyme  form of vitamin and result the formation of vitamin B12 or cyanocobalmin. Now this is absorbed by using of charcoal and purified between phenolic solvents and water. The vitamin is finally crystallised from aqueous solution acetone.