Sophorolipids Characteristics, Production, and Applications - Biosurfactants: Research Trends and Applications - page 117

CONCLUSION
Interest in the use of sophorolipids (also known as biosurfactants) in commercial
products and, during last few years, increase in the number of publications in the
area are a clear indication that sophorolipids have a very vast application in research
and industries. In some specific industrial sectors such as cosmetic and pharma-
ceutical, biosurfactants have high application potential and will probably play a
major role after a short period of time. Sophorolipid is a choice molecule because of
high-valued surface properties. They also possess a high degree of biodegradability
and environmental compatibility. Sophorolipids are a type of glycolipid biosurfac-
tants that have potential to be used in the cosmetics industry as they show various
properties like antiradical properties, stimulation of dermal fibroblast metabolism,
and hygroscopic properties to support healthy skin physiology. Future prospects
of sophorolipid-based products include several types of facial cosmetics, lotions,
beauty washes, and hair products. Still the industrial use of the sophorolipid is
limited because of the high costs involved in the production process. Thus an opti-
mization of renewable energy sources and other fermentation conditions must be
optimized to achieve cheaper production technology. Although optimization of the
production process is the key factor to improve yield, type, and to reduce costs,
the genetic and metabolic engineering using recombinant DNA techniques could
be a better solution for the manipulation of biosurfactant production, chain prop-
erties, surface properties, as well as yield. A little success has been achieved to
the development molecular tools of C. bombicola . Due to this, successful mutant
strains can be created. These studies open new perspectives to increase production
yields and might become the instrument to overcome the limitations for sophoro-
lipid commercialization.
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