PRODUCTION OF AMINO ACID FROM CASSAVA

Amino acid

Amino acids are the main components of protein, protein are found in all living organism and play an important role in living cells. Approximately 20 amino acids are the common constituents of protein.

The general formula of an amino acid is

R————-CH——-COOH
|
NH2

All of the amino acids, except glycine have two optically active isomers symbolized by D-or L-before their names.

Amino Acids are the main components of the elementary nutrients of living organism. There are eight and possibly ten, amino acids that are essential for existence and must be ingested through food. The Nutritional value of protein is governed by the Quantitative and qualitative balance of individual essential amino acid.

Protein is metabolized continously by all living organism and are in dynamic equilibrium in living cell.

An organic acid containing both a basic amino group (NH2) on dipolar ions. The 25 amino acid that have been established as protein constituent, are a amino acid (i.e. the -NH2 group is attached to the carbon atom next to the L series), many other amino acids occur in the free state in plant or animal tissue 22 amino acid with structures identical with those that exist today have been identified in the pre-cambrian sedimentary rock indicating their presence atleast 3 million years ago. Amino acid are the main components of protein (qv.). Proteins are found in all living organisms and play an important role in living cells. Approximately 20 amino acids are the common constituents of proteins. Braconnot in 1820 isolated the simplest amino acid, glycine, from gelatin, the most recent one of nutritional importance is L-threonine which was found by rose in 1935 to a growth factor of rats. The presence of many uncommon amino acids has been reported in various living metabolites, such as antibiotics, some other microbiolozical products and in non-proteinaceous substances of animals and plants, plant amino acid have been review recently by Bell. There are eight and possibly ten, amino acids that are essential for existence and must be ingested through food. The nutritional value of proteins is governed by the quantitative and qualitative balance of individual essential amino acids. It has been clearly shown that the nutritional value of a protein can be improved by the addition of amino acids absent in that protein. Most of the amino acids absorbed through the digestion of proteins are used to replace body proteins. The remaining portion is metabolized into various bio-active substance such as harmones, purine and pyrimidine bases, the precursors of DNA, RNA and other nucleotides, or is consumed as a energy source.
The history of amino acid discoveries is closely related to advances in analytical methods initially, quantitative and qualitative analysis depended exclusively upon crystallization from protein hydrolysates. The quantitative precipitation of several basic amino acids including phosphotungstates, the separation of amino acid esters by vacuum distillation and precipitation by sulfuric acid derivatives were developed successively during the last century. After World War II, analytical methods for amino acids were improved and new methods were introduced. The first was the microbiolozical assay using a lactic acid bacterium which requires all of the regular amino acids for its growth. This method is still used for the microdetermination of amino acids. Later, chromatographic separation using filter paper, ion exchange resins and other absorbents were rapidly developed. Twenty years ago all L-amino acids from the synthesized racemic mixtures. Since 1956, methods of production of L-amino acid have changed extensively. The first important change was made by kinoshita and co-workers who invented a new fermentation process using corynebacterium glutamicum bacteria to produce many other amino acids. A number of useful amino acids e.g. L-lysine and L-theorine are now economically produced by fermentation. Recently L-lysine, L-aspartic acid and L-tryptopho have been produced lay rapid enzymatic conversion of easily available precursors. The progress of these biosynthetic procedures for various amino acids has been reviewed by Nakayama. Glycine, alamine, methionine and some other amino acids are still produced by chemical synthesis. Chemical manufacturing procedures for amino acids are diocuned in a monography by Kaneko and co-workers. Most of the natural amino acids are currently available commercially and their uses are growing. Amino acids and their analogues have their own characteristic effects in flavoring nutrition, and pharmacology.

Amino Acid

Amino acids are used in many industrial applications as bulk biochemical to produce a wide range of products such as animal feed additives, flavour enhancers in human nutrition or as ingredients in cosmetic and medical products.

Besides the amino acids important role as intermediates as building blocks of proteins, they are involved in the regulation of key metabolic pathways and processes that are crucial for the growth and the maintenance of organisms. In particular, they promote health by several actions, including maximizing the efficiency of food utilization, reducing the adiposity, regulating the muscle protein metabolism and controlling the growth and immunity of the organism.

Amino acids can be produced by different processes such as extraction from protein hydrolysates, chemical synthesis or enzymatic and fermentation pathways with the aid of microorganisms. In particular, the fermentation process is becoming one of the most promising processes for amino acids commercial production because of the new genetic engineering tools applied to maximize yield, specificity and productivity of the target compounds.

The interest in the production of amino acids has increased over the years resulting in the development of a variety of technologies.

The development of new applications for amino acids, such as pharmaceutical, food additives, feed supplements, cosmetics, polymer materials and agricultural chemicals, led to a fast increase in the amino acid production.