In the past 30 years, several different structural trehalolipids
have been discovered and numerous producing strains have
been isolated and characterised. Microbial trehalose lipids
showed many interesting potential applications in different
fields. In the future, our increasing ability to analyse the
microbial diversity in natural environments is expected to
expand our knowledge of microbial trehalolipids, leading
to the discovery of new chemical structures and producer
strains. However, the commercial success of microbial tre-
halolipids is currently scarce. This is mainly due to the high
cost of production, which is owing mainly to the fact that the
desired molecules are bound to the cellular envelope rather
than secreted in the growth medium, and also because of the
requirement of non-renewable
n
-alkane carbon sources. In
bioremediation, trehalolipids share, with other biosurfac-
tants, a lack of knowledge about the mechanisms of inter-
actions among hydrocarbons, surfactants and cells which
limits their extensive application.
In the food, biomedical and cosmetics area, in which low
amount of high value product is required, the complex mix-
ture of different components will presumably hamper appli-
cations and the research seems to be at its infancy even if it isexpected to provide a new venture for industrial investments
[35].
If the research on microbial trehalolipids is to succeed in
overcoming these drawbacks it will meet the expected market
demands of efficient, affordable and environmentally friendly
surfactants.