Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Production of Penicillin
Production of Penicillin
Learning objective:
To be able to identify useful products from
microorganisms
To be able to identify the microorganisms
used and the main stages in the production
of penicillin.
To be able to describe how Downstream
processing is carried out to extract and
purify the end-product of fermentation.
Downstream Processing
Products in a fermenter are impure and
dilute, so need to be purified by downstream
processing.
This usually involves filtration to separate
the microbial cells from the liquid medium,
followed by chemical purification and
concentration of the product
Downstream processing can account for 50%
of the cost of a process.
For example:
penicillin, ampicillin, amoxycillin,
methicillin
Inhibits enzymes involved in synthesis
of peptidoglycan for bacterial cell wall,
causing cell lysis.
Bacteriocidal
Narrow spectrum- little effect on Gram
negative cells.
Antibiotic production
There are over 10 000 different antibiotics
known, but only about 200 in commercial
use, since most new antibiotics are no better
than existing ones.
There is a constant search for new
antibiotics. Antibiotics are the mostprescribed drugs and are big business.
Finding a new antibiotic and getting it on to
the market is a very long process and can
take 15 years.