Advances on Bacterial and Fungal Biofilms for the Production of Added-Value Compounds

Abstract

In recent years, abundant research has been performed on biofilms for the production of compounds with biotechnological and industrial relevance. The use of biofilm platforms has been seen as a compelling approach to producing fine and bulk chemicals such as organic acids, alcohols, and solvents. However, the production of recombinant proteins using this system is still scarce. Biofilm reactors are known to have higher biomass density, operational stability, and potential for long-term operation than suspended cell reactors. In addition, there is an increasing demand to harness industrial and agricultural wastes and biorefinery residues to improve process sustainability and reduce production costs. The synthesis of recombinant proteins and other high-value compounds is mainly achieved using suspended cultures of bacteria, yeasts, and fungi. This review discusses the use of biofilm reactors for the production of recombinant proteins and other added-value compounds using bacteria and fungi.

Recombinant protein production in Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 biofilm

“…Moreover, biofilms are known to provide a fitness advantage under stress and harsh conditions [ 27 ], and this property could be useful to alleviate the host metabolic burden associated with heterologous protein overproduction. Furthermore, the sessile growth may allow for reaching high biomass concentration, indeed, it has been reported that biofilm reactors can retain 5-10 times more biomass per unit volume with respect to canonical one [ 28 ], and the high plasmid maintenance in biofilm [ 29 , 30 ] could guarantee good operation stability. All these properties could be very useful in industrial processes aimed at recombinant protein production.…”

“…The first system for high level heterologous protein production biofilm cells was aimed at the production of eGFP in E. coli [ 33 ]. These authors demonstrated that the biofilm environment enhanced plasmid maintenance and the studies of Mergulhao and coworkers [ 28 , 32 ] showed that the GFP production levels were higher levels than their planktonic counterparts. Moreover, recently E. coli biofilm was successfully used to produce the human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) in a continuous process [ 31 ].…”