Industrial Microbiology

& Fermentation (BT203)

Fermentation
of
Carbohydrates
T.A. Rima M. Akram

Metabolism
It refers to the chemical reactions that
occur within the cells of living
organisms.
Those reactions are catalyzed by
protein molecules called enzymes.
The identification of bacterial strain is
aided by determining such
biochemical reactions.

According to the metabolic function,

bacteria are classified into:
1- Oxidative bacteria: Utilize oxygen to yield carbon dioxide and
water.

2 -Fermentative bacteria: Utilize organic compounds for energy.

Instead of producing only CO2 and water,
they produce complex end products, such
as acids, aldehydes, and alcohols as well as
various gases, such as carbon dioxide,
hydrogen and methane. e.g. Streptococcus,
Lactobacillus and E. coli.

Fermentation of Carbohydrates
Bacteria often use carbohydrates as
energy sources.
Each bacterium has a collection of
enzymes that allows it to utilize diverse
carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates could be :
- Monosaccharides e.g. glucose, fructose
- Disaccharides e.g. lactose, sucrose
- Polysaccharides e.g. starch, cellulose

Figure 1: Types of Carbohydrates

 Disaccharides and polysaccharides

are monomers linked by glycosidic
bonds.
Bacteria must produce enzymes
that cleave these bonds in order to
transport the sugar to the cell and
utilize it
If the bacteria cannot produce
these enzymes then the complex
carbohydrate is not used (No
fermentation).

 Fermentative degradation of various

carbohydrates by microbes under
anaerobic conditions results in the
production of acids and/or gases.

How would I
?!Know

 To know whether a bacteria could

utilize a certain sugar, products of
fermentation are tested by an
indicator in a fermentation tube.
A fermentation tube is a culture
tube that contains a Durhams tube
(a small tube placed in an inverted
position in the culture tube) for the
detection of gas production as an
end product for the metabolism .

Durhams Tube Sugar Fermentation

Procedure:
1.

Prepare 3 different kinds of sugar media (Glucose,

Sucrose, Lactose). Do not forget the control for your
experiment ?!

2.

Add to each test tube phenol red indicator (pH

indicator).

3.

Add a Durham tube to each test tube.

4.

Inoculate your test tubes with the unknown bacteria.

5.

Incubate your culture at 37oC using shaker incubator

(135 rpm)

Your task!

Sample

Contro
l

Fermentation

Color

Yellow

Yellow

Red

Gas

yes

yes

No

Bacteria type

Fermentative

Fermentative

Oxidative

Picture

Observation
Possible reactions in fermentation tube:
a)

Negative reaction is indicated by the unchanged

red color of phenol red indicator.

b)

Positive reaction where phenol red changes color

to yellow due to acid production.

c)

Positive reaction where theres a color change

and a gas is trapped in the Durham tube

Figure 2: The possible results after a carbohydrate

fermentation experiment

Possible Results
A. The inoculated bacteria could
ferment the sugar to produce an
acid and CO2 gas in the
media(Positive Result).
B. The inoculated bacteria is not a
fermentative one so no reaction
took place.(Negative result)

Your task!

Sample

Contro
l

Fermentation

Color

Yellow

Yellow

Red

Gas

yes

yes

No

Bacteria type

Fermentative

Fermentative

Oxidative

Picture

Conclusion
When a bank of Durham tubes containing various
sugars are used, it could be possible to
determine what sugars an organism is able to
ferment yielding a gas and/or an acid.
The presence of an acid is detectable with the
color change of a pH indicator in the medium.
This indicator is red when the pH is above 7 and
yellow below this point.

Lab Report

Thank You