ABSTRACT
The success of a bioprocess depends on the clarity of four basic aspects: the microorganism, the culture medium, the way that the bioprocess is conducted and product recovery steps. Culture media used in pharmaceutical biotechnology are chemical preparations that contain nutrients which provide the necessary organic and inorganic constituents for inoculated microorganisms to grow and generate primary or secondary metabolites. On the other hand, some microorganisms that apparently only grow in complex and nutrient-rich media can also grow in defined culture media if all the essential components such as minerals and growth factors are known and added. Nitrogen sources from complex media, whether organic or inorganic, are widely used in bioprocesses. The generation time of a microorganism is defined as the time required for a generation to occur, that is, the formation of two cells from just one, under standard nutritionally favourable conditions.
