Zymomonas mobilis: a promising microrganism for alcoholic fermentation

Abstract

In many countries,  fermentation studies  regarding  the use of bacteria  instead of yeasts  to reduce  the period of alcoholic fermentation have been carried out. In Brazil, all the industrial alcohol production is carried out by yeasts as fermentation microorganisms and little is known about other microorganisms with potential to produce alcohol industrially. Brazil stands out in the energy sector worldwide and thus some institutions have been selecting microorganisms which are more effcient in the alcohol production process. Alcoholic bacteria from species Zymomonas mobilis present technological characteristics with potential to be used for alcoholic fermentation at industrial scale, since it exhibits promising abilities to transform sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide, at conditions similar to the ones required by yeasts. Zymomonas mobilis  is  a  unique  bacteria  among  the microbial world, with  peculiar  growth,  energy production and  response  to culture conditions, causing a great  interest  in  scientifc, biotechnological and  industrial  felds. The  bacteria’s  ability  to make  possible  energy production  in  favor  of  product formation, respond to physical and chemical environmental manipulation as well as its limited product formation make  it an  ideal microorganism  for  the study and development of microbial processes  for ethanol production.