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.