Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and as such form a group of critically important chemical compounds. Many of these are essential for nutrition in human and animal diets, have uses as food additives, flavors, intermediates and cosmetic ingredients, and also have broad pharmaceutical applications. Given the abundance of amino acids in nature, worldwide markets have developed for amino acids from both naturally-occurring and artificial sources. Major sections of this book examine the principles and examples of recently developed production methods for various types of amino acids, for derivatives, and for biocatalysts.