ABSTRACT
In conventional biotechnology, microorganisms have been used to produce a variety of traditional foods, such as beer, vinegar, wine, and malt whisky in Western countries; yogurt or cheese in Europe and Asia. In the 1980s, attention was focused on biotechnology as a result of the enormous potential of recombinant DNA technology and genetic engineering. The creation of genetically engineered microorganisms for the improved production of alcoholic beverages and fermented foods should be possible with the application of recombinant DNA techniques. Many thermophilic enzymes are produced by strains of Bacillus, many of which are of considerable industrial importance. The production of thermophilic enzymes in thermophilic and mesophil-ic strains of Bacillus is reviewed. Unlike prokaryotic systems, the subcellular organization of eukaryotic yeast cells enables them to carry out many of the posttranslational folding, processing, and modification events that are required for production of bioactive mammalian proteins.
