Fermentation
Fermentation
!Phylogenetic tree of bacteria and archaea, highlighting those that carry out fermentation. Their end products are also highlighted. Figure modified from Hackmann (2024).
Fermentation
This complex metabolism utilizes a wide variety of substrates and can form nearly 300 different combinations of end products. Fermentation occurs in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The discovery of new end products and new fermentative organisms suggests that fermentation is more diverse than what has been studied.
Definition
In 1876, before the discovery of anaerobic respiration, Louis Pasteur described it as "la vie sans air" (life without air). It was also common for fermentation to be defined based on how fermentation forms ATP which was catabolism that forms ATP through only substrate-level phosphorylation.
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