7.15 - Industrial Fermentation

Mycoprotein from Fusarium (Quorn)

• Mycoprotein is a protein-rich food made from a fungus.
• It's used mainly to make meat substitutes for vegetarian meals - for example, Quorn.
• It's produced by culturing large quantities of microorganisms under controlled conditions.

How mycoprotein is produced

1. The fungus Fusarium is grown in a fermenter.
2. It's fed on glucose syrup, which it uses as its food.
3. It's grown in aerobic conditions (with oxygen present).
4. As the fungus grows, it builds up a large mass of fungal tissue called biomass.
5. The fungal biomass is harvested from the fermenter and purified to produce the mycoprotein.
6. The mycoprotein is processed into a high-protein meat substitute.

Producing human insulin in a fermenter

Human insulin can be produced by genetically modified bacteria - bacteria that carry the human insulin gene, so they make human insulin as they grow.

How it's produced

1. The genetically modified bacteria are grown in huge numbers inside a fermenter, under controlled conditions that keep them growing and reproducing quickly.
2. As they grow, the bacteria make insulin.
3. Once a large amount has been produced, the insulin is harvested from the culture.
4. It is then purified to remove the bacteria and other unwanted material.

What the insulin is used for

• The purified human insulin is used to treat people with diabetes.
• These include people with Type 1 diabetes, whose pancreas does not make enough insulin.