Screening marine microbes for novel biosurfactant production for utilisation in the food industry.

微生物来源的生物表面活性剂作为天然、无毒、可生物降解和可持续的替代品提供了巨大的市场潜力，可替代目前食品工业中使用的化学衍生表面活性剂（2007年，仅美国食品加工中对表面活性剂的需求就达到4.05亿美元）。在这项研究中，PML应用有限公司将系统地筛选其大型和多样化的海洋细菌储存库，以寻找具有高生物表面活性剂生产力和新型化学结构和功能的新型生物表面活性剂生产生物。这项筛选计划是英国首个同类和规模的项目，预期成果是鉴定出几种关键的海洋细菌菌株，可供全球制造商用于生产新型和更健康的食品配料。

Biosurfactants of microbial origin offer huge market potential as natural; non-toxic; biodegradable and sustainable replacements for chemically derived surfactants currently used in the food industry (In 2007, demand for surfactants in food processing in the United States alone totalled $405 million). Within this study, PML Applications Ltd will systematically screen its large and diverse marine bacterial repository for novel biosurfactant producing organisms with the potential for high biosurfactant productivity and novel chemical structure and functionality for use in food systems. This screening programme represents the first of its kind and scale in the UK with an envisaged output being the identification of several key marine bacterial strains that could be utilised by manufacturers worldwide for the production of novel and healthier food ingredients.