title: Metabolic variability in bioprocessing: implications of microbial phenotypic heterogeneity.
abstract: Phenotypic heterogeneity is a major issue in the context of industrial bioprocessing. Stochasticity of gene expression is usually considered to be the main source of heterogeneity among microbial population, but recent evidence demonstrates that metabolic reactions can also be subject to stochasticity without any intervention of gene expression. Although metabolic heterogeneity can be encountered in laboratory-scale cultivation devices, stochasticity at the level of metabolic reactions is perturbed directly by microenvironmental heterogeneities occurring in large-scale bioreactors. Accordingly, analytical tools are needed for the determination of metabolic variability in bioprocessing conditions and for the efficient design of metabolic engineering strategies. In this context, implementation of single cell technologies for bioprocess monitoring would benefit from knowledge acquired in more fundamental studies.
authors.affiliation: University of Liège - Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Unité de Bio-Industries, Passage des Déportés 2, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium. Electronic address: F.Delvigne@ulg.ac.be.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Delvigne
authors.affiliation: University of Liège - Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Unité de Bio-Industries, Passage des Déportés 2, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium.
authors.forename: Quentin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zune
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa, Departamento de Procesos y Tecnología, Avenida Vasco de Quiroga 4871, Colonia Santa Fe, Delegación Cuajimalpa, Distrito Federal, C.P. 05300, México.
authors.forename: Alvaro R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Lara
authors.affiliation: Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Bygning 1, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Waleed
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Al-Soud
authors.affiliation: Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Bygning 1, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Søren J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Sørensen
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D005658:Fungi / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D005838:Genotype; D007218:Industrial Microbiology; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods; D010641:Phenotype
keywords: bioprocess optimization; metabolic engineering; microbial stress; stochasticity