Production of Antimicrobial Compounds by Fermentation.

The production of biologically active metabolites, e.g., antimicrobial compounds, is an essential step in the discovery and development process of medicinal drugs based on natural products. To get a hand on the compound of interest it first has to be biosynthesized by the corresponding producer, mostly a microorganism. In this chapter, a general workflow, which can easily be adapted to the lab, is described. Both fermentation on solid and in liquid medium is explained, and examples of hand on procedures are given.