Acetic acid fermentation

Acetic acid fermentation is the aerobic microbial conversion of ethanol into acetic acid by acetic acid bacteria. It underlies vinegar production and requires oxygen.

Acetic acid bacteria: A group of bacteria that oxidize ethanol and other compounds, often producing acetic acid. These organisms carry out the fermentation by oxidizing ethanol in the presence of oxygen.
Vinegar: A sour liquid containing acetic acid, commonly made by fermenting ethanol-containing liquids. Acetic acid fermentation is the principal biological route used to make vinegar.
Ethanol: A two-carbon alcohol with formula C₂H₅OH, used in beverages, fuels, and chemical production. It is the substrate that acetic acid bacteria oxidize.
Alcoholic fermentation: An anaerobic metabolic process in which yeasts convert sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide. It produces the ethanol that acetic acid fermentation consumes, under contrasting oxygen conditions.
Alcohol dehydrogenase: An enzyme family that catalyzes the oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds. Membrane-bound forms begin ethanol oxidation in many acetic acid bacteria.
Vinegar production: The manufacture of vinegar by converting ethanol-containing feedstocks into acetic acid. It applies the microbial conversion at food-production scale.
Aerobic respiration: Cellular energy metabolism that uses oxygen as the terminal electron acceptor. Acetic acid fermentation is an aerobic oxidation coupled to respiratory electron transfer.
Lactic acid fermentation: A metabolic process that converts sugars or related substrates into lactic acid. It produces a different food acid and does not describe aerobic ethanol oxidation.
Aldehyde dehydrogenase: An enzyme family that oxidizes aldehydes into carboxylic acids. It converts the acetaldehyde intermediate into acetic acid.
Surface culture vinegar fermentation: A vinegar-making method in which bacteria oxidize ethanol at the liquid surface exposed to air. Surface exposure supplies oxygen to the bacteria during slower vinegar production.

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