RESUMO
Riboflavin (vitamin B2) is an essential nutrient for humans and animals that must be obtained from the diet. To ensure an optimal supply, riboflavin is used on a large scale as additive in the food and feed industries. Here, we describe a historical overview of the industrial process of riboflavin production starting from its discovery and the need to produce the vitamin in bulk at prices that would allow for their use in human and animal nutrition. Riboflavin was produced industrially by chemical synthesis for many decades. At present, the development of economical and eco-efficient fermentation processes, which are mainly based on Bacillus subtilis and Ashbya gossypii strains, has replaced the synthetic process at industrial scale. A detailed account is given of the development of the riboflavin overproducer strains as well as future prospects for its improvement.
Assuntos
Fermentação , Riboflavina/biossíntese , Animais , Bacillus subtilis/metabolismo , Eremothecium/metabolismo , História do Século XX , História do Século XXI , Humanos , Riboflavina/síntese química , Riboflavina/históriaRESUMO
The discovery of vitamins as essential factors in the diet was a scientific breakthrough that changed the world. Diseases such as scurvy, rickets, beriberi, and pellagra were recognized to be curable with an adequate diet. These diseases had been prevalent for thousands of years and had a dramatic impact on societies as well as on economic development. This Review highlights the key achievements in the development of industrial processes for the manufacture of eight of the 13 vitamins.
Assuntos
Disciplinas das Ciências Naturais/história , Vitaminas/história , Ácido Ascórbico/síntese química , Ácido Ascórbico/história , Ácido Ascórbico/metabolismo , Biotina/síntese química , Biotina/história , Biotina/metabolismo , História do Século XX , Humanos , Ácido Pantotênico/síntese química , Ácido Pantotênico/história , Ácido Pantotênico/metabolismo , Piridoxina/síntese química , Piridoxina/história , Piridoxina/metabolismo , Riboflavina/síntese química , Riboflavina/história , Riboflavina/metabolismo , Tiamina/síntese química , Tiamina/história , Tiamina/metabolismo , Vitamina A/síntese química , Vitamina A/história , Vitamina A/metabolismo , Vitamina E/síntese química , Vitamina E/história , Vitamina E/metabolismo , Vitaminas/síntese química , Vitaminas/metabolismoRESUMO
The first observation of a pigment in milk with yellow-green fluorescence can be traced to the English chemist Alexander Wynter Blyth in 1872, but it was not until the early 1930s that the substance was characterized as riboflavin. Interest in accessory food factors began in the latter half of the 19th century with the discovery of the first vitamin, thiamin. Thiamin was water soluble and given the name vitamin B(1). However, researchers realized that there were one or more additional water-soluble factors and these were called the vitamin B-2 complex. The search to identify these accessory food factors in milk, whole wheat, yeast, and liver began in the early 1900s. As there is no classical nutritional disease attributable to riboflavin deficiency, it was the growth-stimulating properties of the food extracts given to young rats that provided the tool with which to investigate and eventually extract riboflavin. Riboflavin was the second vitamin to be isolated and the first from the vitamin B-2 complex; the essential nature of the vitamin as a food constituent for man was shown in 1939.