Question

Example of substrate and microbes used in microbial transformation

Answer 1

Biotransformation is a process by which organic compounds are transformed from one form to another to reduce the persistence and toxicity of the chemical compounds. This process is aided by major range of microorganisms and their products such as bacteria, fungi and enzymes. Biotransformations can also be used to synthesize compounds or materials, if synthetic approaches are challenging. Natural transformation process is slow, nonspecific and less productive. Microbial biotransformations or microbial biotechnology are gaining importance and extensively utilized to generate metabolites in bulk amounts with more specificity. This review was conceived to assess the impact of microbial biotransformation of steroids, antibiotics, various pollutants and xenobiotic compounds.

Keywords: microbial biotransformation; bioconversion; metabolism; steroid; bacteria, fungi