Organic and Fatty Acid Production, Microbial

Organic and fatty acids are groups of compounds with a variety of beneficial uses for mankind. Presently, organic acids are used mostly as food acidulants and as building blocks for other useful chemicals of low and high molecular weight (polymers). Fatty acids have a potential both as health-related compounds (polyunsaturated fatty acids) and as basis for energy (short chain fatty acids). Some of these acids are produced in industry by microorganisms, and for others there are chemical routes available mainly from petrochemicals. The recent development of advanced techniques in genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics will enable the increase of flux of carbon from the desired cheap and renewable carbon source to the required acid, and improve the fermentation processes to be economically competitive with the chemical processes. This article describes the potential of various microorganisms to synthesize high amounts of organic and fatty acids. It emphasizes those acids that are produced in industry by large-scale fermentation processes.