Use of bacterial biofilms to produce high added-value compounds

Abstract

In the past decades, progress has been made on the beneficial features of microbial biofilms for the production of biotechnological and industrial relevant substances. The use of biofilm reactors as biocatalysts has been established as an interesting approach in the production of valuable compounds, including antibiotics, enzymes, bioethanol, organic acids, and biohydrogen. Despite the potential of biofilm systems for the sustainable production of added-value compounds, the manufacture of recombinant proteins using this system has been scarcely investigated for the past 30years. Biofilm reactors present many advantages over suspended cell reactors, especially due to their higher biomass density, operational stability, and potential for long-term operation, which facilitate continuous processing and improve volumetric productivities. Bacteria remain the favorite organism for recombinant protein production, and it has been successfully used in the synthesis of high-value products in both planktonic and biofilm states. This chapter reviews the main applications of productive bacterial biofilms on fermentation and bioconversion processes for the production of recombinant proteins and other added-value compounds, and addresses the different biofilm systems described for this purpose. (c) 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.