Methods for disruption of microbial cells for potential use in the dairy industry - a review

Lactic acid bacteria are being increasingly exploited for use in production of microbial bioproducts such as enzymes for food industry applications, The different techniques available for release of intracellular products include mechanical, physical, chemical, enzymatic and combined methods. The effectiveness of the various methods differs for different microbial species. Publicly accessible information is available mainly for yeasts or several well studied bacterial host cells such as Escherichia coli or Bacillus subtilis, while reports on disruption of bacterial cells applicable to uses in the dairy industry are scarce. In general, mechanical methods are non-specific, but their efficiency is higher and application broader in comparison to any of the other methods. Disruption characteristics such as pressure or number of passes for each device vary according to microbial strain, age of culture, temperature of cultivation, and cultivation medium. High-pressure homogenizer, Microfluidizer, and Bead Mill appear to be devices best suited for use in the dairy industry due to their wide range of applicability and accessible scale-up. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.