Immobilized-cell physiology: current data and the potentialities of proteomics

Despite the sustained development of immobilized-cell (IC) technology over the last 20 years, our knowledge of IC physiology has remained for a long time in the shade of the technological advances involving IC systems. This review surveys the main physiological responses of artificially and naturally immobilized microorganisms and presents recent data on protein expression in ICs that support the existence of a specific metabolic behaviour of microbial cells in the immobilized state.